Hi Gang,
My semi-old computer is not equipped with WAV to MP3 converter software; so when I record in Audacity, I need to save it as a WAV file (which are huge, e.g. latest track is 6+MB) but then can’t convert to MP3 to compress file for better upload, etc.
What do y’all recommend?
Thanks.
jason
Have you tried the LAME .mp3 converter Audacity recommends? From memory(and it will be on the Audacity web site), you follow the link to LAME, download it to the Audacity folder, and then use the “Export as .mp3” option in the File menu.
Terry
I use iTunes… Simply drag your .wav file into iTunes and then use “Advanced → Convert Selection to MP3”. iTunes is free…
Pat
For windows I suggest
http://www.itusoft.com/cd_ripper/free_cd_ripper.htm
It works really well for mp3 to wav as well
Cheers
Graeme
Thanks, mates.
CDex is a good program, is free and among all the freebees out there seems to produce the best sounding mp3s with little or no compression artifacts in the sound.
I tested about a dozen when I was looking for the same thing. This sounded best, hands down.
definitely go to the Audacity web site and download the mp3 LAME DLL encoder, then follow the instructions to install (it’s very easy). Then you have no worries and you can just save anything as mp3 if you want it that way straight from Audacity.
The DLL should be part of Audacity’s functionality, it’s only for legal reasons that they can’t integrate it as standard I think.
Actually I used to use Audacity with the Lame encoder to do this, then started using the program I mentioned which I found better. I’ve checked out CDex that Scott mentioned and I think it’s better still - you can use practically any encoder including Lame and set it up to be really easy. Try it out.
Cheers
Graeme
The problem with the Audacity endorsed MP3 converter is that it won’t upload properly to box.net.
I’ve been using this, but the sound quality degrades more than I like:
Recently, I’ve just been using my portable Sony MP3 recorder and it’s great.
Eric
Re: sound degradation, LAME has like a bajillion options that let you tweak every aspect of encoding if you’re so inclined, but it also has reasonable defaults for “high”, “medium” and “low” quality. Unless you’re happy with the choices Audacity presents, you will have to read a little bit into the LAME documentation.
Re: problems with box.net, I’d be surprised if that was the fault of the encoder. I’ve had ostensibly correct MP3s that would not play on an iPod, but after re-coding with LAME worked just fine.
I had the box.net support people look into it, and they said it’s a problem with the Audacity supported MP3 export…specifically, they said it wasn’t a true MP3 file (although the Audacity recommended program does encode through LAME). I don’t pretend to understand what the issue is, but they couldn’t get my file to work with box.net although they could open it in WMP and other programs just fine.
Eric