I REFUSE to be defeated!

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DixieMom
Posts: 19
Joined: December 29th, 2006, 7:36 am

Post by DixieMom »

Okay, I'm a nicky-new gal, so new I haven't even introduced myself. But I swear, I am threatening to throw in the towel! I have read and re-read all the techno-babble on how to get started, how to use Audacity (loaded, along with my Lame file, whatever that is) and have recorded something. I tried to send it to a friend so that she could listen to it on her MP3 but she couldn't receive it as it was in an AUP (Audacity) file. I try to send her the MP3 file but was told the file wasn't available. I even added my "tags".

I am throwing myself on your mercy. I refuse to be defeated by a stinkin' piece of software! Surely I, a computer ignoramus, can do this?

But I'm so lost, I don't even know how to tell you what I've done to get you to help me make it right! :roll:

So can anyone hold my hand for a while until I get my first recording through to a done deal. It'll be something short, I promise! :D

Thanks in advance,

Dixie
kristin
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Location: Des Moines

Post by kristin »

Welcome Dixie, don't get discouraged, I was completely overwhelmed my first day trying to figure everything out. Ok, I have a few questions for you.

First, can you access/listen to the mp3 file?

Second, how were you trying to send it to her?

Third, can you post a link to the file so we can check and see if anything is wrong with it?

If I'm getting ahead of myself with the problem and we need to take a few steps back let me know.
BaruMonkey
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Post by BaruMonkey »

The first thing to do is confirm that the right steps were taken in making the MP3. The way to do that is to:
1) Open the Audacity Project file (.aup)
2) Click on the File menu
3) Select "Export As MP3..."
4) Pick where you want to save the file (Desktop if you want easy access to it) and what you want to name it
5) Add the ID3 tags
6) Click OK

At this point, the .mp3 file should have been created in the folder you selected (on the Desktop in the example I gave). You might want to try to open that file, to see if it sounds right.

From that point on, that should be the only file you need, and you can do with it what you wish. The option I like is to upload it to http://www.mediafire.com -- once you do that, you can email it to your friend, and post the Download Link here.
_____________________________________________

If the file was created with those steps, and there's still a problem, then it might have been some sort of problem during the recording. To test that, make a new project file, record just a second or two, and do the same thing with that file. If there's STILL an error, well... let us know and we'll think of more ideas :-)
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Starlite
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Joined: April 30th, 2006, 2:17 pm
Location: Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada

Post by Starlite »

Hi Dixie, I think we all had problems with Audacity at one point or another. Here is a thread that has a link to some tutorials for it. I think they are very basic and helpfull:

http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4898

Good luck, this is supposed to be fun :)
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people." George Bernard Shaw
DixieMom
Posts: 19
Joined: December 29th, 2006, 7:36 am

Post by DixieMom »

kristin wrote:Welcome Dixie, don't get discouraged, I was completely overwhelmed my first day trying to figure everything out. Ok, I have a few questions for you.

First, can you access/listen to the mp3 file?

Second, how were you trying to send it to her?

Third, can you post a link to the file so we can check and see if anything is wrong with it?

If I'm getting ahead of myself with the problem and we need to take a few steps back let me know.
Thanks, Kristin! I feel better already, just knowing you and others are out here! :)

Yes, I can access and listen to the file (I'm assuming it's an mp3 file but I don't really know -- when I saved it as an mp3, it went to RealPlayer file).
But I'm not able to "send" it anywhere as a file.

I can also access it in Audacity but it comes up as the original track, where I can edit, etc. I think this might be a WAV file? (I really am dangerous because I have no clue what that is! :lol:

Obviously, I've done something wrong!

Dixie
DixieMom
Posts: 19
Joined: December 29th, 2006, 7:36 am

Post by DixieMom »

BaruMonkey wrote:The first thing to do is confirm that the right steps were taken in making the MP3. The way to do that is to:
1) Open the Audacity Project file (.aup)
2) Click on the File menu
3) Select "Export As MP3..."
4) Pick where you want to save the file (Desktop if you want easy access to it) and what you want to name it
5) Add the ID3 tags
6) Click OK

At this point, the .mp3 file should have been created in the folder you selected (on the Desktop in the example I gave). You might want to try to open that file, to see if it sounds right.
Okay, I just tried to follow the above steps but got stuck on #3. I selected "Export As MP3", followed the prompts, then was given the message that I needed the LAME file. It's in a folder in My Documents, but apparently, Audacity can't find it.

Okay, so I'm obviously lame.... :cry:

And thanks!

Dixie
Rowen
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Post by Rowen »

Audacity saves projects in its own format, which isn't wav. Hmm if you check the folder you saved your project and I'd guess you'd save your mp3 file in the same place? Least that's what I do. Check the file type says MPEG Layer 3 Audio (if your using windows you can use the Detail view in the explorer window, or you can right click on the file for the properties menu). If you have a file of the right name with that file type, then yes you do have an mp3, as to why you can't send it... At the moment I'm have no idea :S
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Starlite
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Location: Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada

Post by Starlite »

You can one of 2 things now. You can move the lame file (Provided you extracted it from zip) to your audacity progam folder, or you can tell audacity where to find it.

The key here is that it is UNZIPPED! When I unzip, I tell it to put it directly into the audacity folder and it seems to be able to find it there.

Esther :)
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people." George Bernard Shaw
Rowen
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Post by Rowen »

DixieMom wrote:
BaruMonkey wrote:The first thing to do is confirm that the right steps were taken in making the MP3. The way to do that is to:
1) Open the Audacity Project file (.aup)
2) Click on the File menu
3) Select "Export As MP3..."
4) Pick where you want to save the file (Desktop if you want easy access to it) and what you want to name it
5) Add the ID3 tags
6) Click OK

At this point, the .mp3 file should have been created in the folder you selected (on the Desktop in the example I gave). You might want to try to open that file, to see if it sounds right.
Okay, I just tried to follow the above steps but got stuck on #3. I selected "Export As MP3", followed the prompts, then was given the message that I needed the LAME file. It's in a folder in My Documents, but apparently, Audacity can't find it.

Okay, so I'm obviously lame.... :cry:

And thanks!

Dixie
Basic questions here I know but have you unzipped the file? Do you have this file lame_enc.dll? or lame-3.96.1? If you do have the first one, then you just need to tell Audacity where it is and it should work, if it isn't then something is up, maybe try a re-install of Audacity. If its the other one, then you'll need to unzip it, and put the file inside it somewhere easy to find and then tell Audacity where it is.

Edit: Well looks like I got beaten to that suggestion :P :)
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DixieMom
Posts: 19
Joined: December 29th, 2006, 7:36 am

Post by DixieMom »

Starlite wrote:You can one of 2 things now. You can move the lame file (Provided you extracted it from zip) to your audacity progam folder, or you can tell audacity where to find it.

The key here is that it is UNZIPPED! When I unzip, I tell it to put it directly into the audacity folder and it seems to be able to find it there.

Esther :)
Okay -- this is gonna really tell you something about my computer skills: I have no idea how to UNZIP a file! I can go to My Documents and SEE the Lame file, I can open it, but then I don't know how to UNZIP it!

So kindly, step-by-step, can you help this poor computer ignoramus how to do that?! :roll:

Thanks in advance for all your help! All of you! I don't know how to UNZIP or put this into my Audacity folder. Quite honestly, I don't think I have an Audacity folder! I access it by going to my Start Menu. If I have a folder, I am unaware.

Yes, I'm really that ignorant of this stuff.... :oops:

Dixie
DixieMom
Posts: 19
Joined: December 29th, 2006, 7:36 am

Post by DixieMom »

[/quote]

Basic questions here I know but have you unzipped the file? Do you have this file lame_enc.dll? or lame-3.96.1? If you do have the first one, then you just need to tell Audacity where it is and it should work, if it isn't then something is up, maybe try a re-install of Audacity. If its the other one, then you'll need to unzip it, and put the file inside it somewhere easy to find and then tell Audacity where it is.

Edit: Well looks like I got beaten to that suggestion :P :)[/quote]

I can find lame_enc.dll inside a file called lame-3.96.1. But I don't know how to move it or what to do with it! :oops:

Dixie
Rowen
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Post by Rowen »

That's ok :) Windows should be able to unzip files itself, its been a while since I've used windows to unzip stuff but you should be able to do the following.

Go to where the zip file (lame-3.96.1) is, open the file then either copy or move (just drag it to where you want it) lame_enc.dll.

You can put this file anywhere, as long as you remember where it is so that you can tell Audacity where it is.

So if you have a folder for LibriVox recordings you could put it there, of if you want to save it with your Audacity files, which makes sense too, do the following (hopefully you'll have a similar file system)

Start --> My Computer --> Local Disc --> Program files --> Audacity

Does that help? :)
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kri
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Post by kri »

I'm not sure if what Rowen tells you will work, but if it doesn't here's another way to unzip in Windows.

Go to the folder where you can see lame-3.96.1, and right click on it. Then click "Extract All" and click next when the prompt comes up. Then click browse and choose the Audacity folder in your computer to extract them to (or anywhere, it doesn't really matter). Then click next, and it will extract the files to where you told it to. Then click finish.

Now you have to tell Audacity where the file is. Read through this wiki page. It will tell you how to point Audacity to where Lame is, as well as how to set Audacity up the proper way for LibriVox.

That should get you started!
Rowen
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Post by Rowen »

kri wrote:I'm not sure if what Rowen tells you will work, but if it doesn't here's another way to unzip in Windows.
To be honest I can't remember how the windows extract works, I've never really used it, :S, I just vaguely remember it being odd compared to winzip or winrar but that could just be my memory lying to me >_<
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DixieMom
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Joined: December 29th, 2006, 7:36 am

Post by DixieMom »

Rowen wrote: You can put this file anywhere, as long as you remember where it is so that you can tell Audacity where it is.

So if you have a folder for LibriVox recordings you could put it there, of if you want to save it with your Audacity files, which makes sense too, do the following (hopefully you'll have a similar file system)

Start --> My Computer --> Local Disc --> Program files --> Audacity

Does that help? :)
Well, I don't have a folder for LibriVox recordings yet! I was able to move the lame_dll (or whatever) to my Desk Top. Will it work there?

When I do Start --> My Computer --> I get lost at this point. I don't see anything that says Local Disc or Program files or Audacity.

Thanks for your help! Dixie

Dixie
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