macOS Looking for a compiled mp3 encoder for Audacity

[Marky_Mark]

Hi,

I've just downloaded Audacity for my MBP, and found I needed to get a separate MP3 export encoder, as it isn't integrated any more. I followed the links from the Audacity page and ended up here:

http://spaghetticode.org/lame/

Unfortunately the download for Intel Macs is uncompiled source code files and I don't have a clue where to start! I have installed the XCode files from my installation CD, but that's as far as I've got so far. The readme file from Lame assumes a much better knowledge of the whole process than I'll ever have - it only contains about three lines of instructions, all of which mean nothing!

Does anyone have a link to a compiled file, or some noob instructions on how to compile this code? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[slooksterPSV]

The file libmp3lame.so is a universal file, so you should just have to have Audacity point to that file to do the MP3 encoding, right now I downloaded the source and I'm compiling it as well, if its any different I'll post it here on the forums in a ZIP file.

EDIT:
Here's just a little background info to give you a perspective on what they are asking you to do. When they say to untar it, they mean the source as if you went and downloaded the source itself and are compiling it. StuffIt normall does this for you automatically. For me it gunzip'ed it, then I had to untar it which made the folders: Lame-3.97 Folder which cointains lame-3.97
You have to move the lame-3.97 folder onto your desktop to get it to compile correctly.

To compile it you must have XCode installed, the latest version would be best.

Once you have the tools, open Terminal (Terminal is an extremely powerful tool to control various aspects of OS X). When you open terminal you'll be at the directory computer-name:~ short-username$
Type: cd Desktop
Type: cd lame-3.97
Type: ./configure
Wait
Type: make
Type: sudo make install
It will ask for your password, so type it in, NOTE: IT WILL NOT SHOW UP, to compile it.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Thanks, this is fantastic help. I'll give it all a try and let you know how I got on.

Cheers - much appreciated!

Mark

 

[Marky_Mark]

I didn't think I could point Audacity at the libmp3lame.so file, because it said it was looking for libmp3lame.dylib. However, this appears to have done the trick - I asked it to look at 'all files', selected the .so file and what came back looks like what I was expecting. Thanks again! I'll try some encoding tomorrow.

 

[cole1989]

I unpacked the lame-3.97 file using the instructions in this posting, but I can't find the file I need for Audacity. There is no libmp3lame.so as far as I can tell. I am trying to use Lame with Audacity 1.2.6.

I also see the package maker for Lame on Audacity on their website does not work.

 

[yeroen]

If you're uncomfortable, generally, with the configure-make-install sequence from the comand line, I suggest using FinkCommander as a matter of convenience:

http://finkcommander.sourceforge.net/

A nice GUI interface to Fink, which you'll need to install first:

http://www.finkproject.org/download/

You can install the lame mp3 binaries and shared libraries (along with hundreds of other packages) through FinkCommander.

By default, fink installs everything on the /sw directory tree (which it creates), so you need to put the /sw tree in your $PATH environment variable.

An alternative to fink is MacPorts, although it doesn't have the nice GUI frontend that FinkCommander provides.

 

[dcr]

The link you provided contains a compressed file containing the precompiled binary, plus instructions on where to put it. To quote it:

"Once you have unzipped the archive, you will have a file called LameLib or libmp3lame.dylib. To use it with Audacity, you can put it anywhere you want, but the first time you want to export an MP3 file, Audacity will ask you for the location of this file, so you'll want to remember where you put it"

Specifically, I downloaded the file:
http://spaghetticode.org/lame/libmp3lame-osx-universal-3.97.zip

Uncompressed, I see:
libmp3lame-osx-universal-3.97/package/usr/local/lib/libmp3lame.dylib

which is what you're looking for, right?

 

[cole1989]

Yes, I saw the file, libmp3lame.dylib. Had Audacity point to it, but when I try to export, I get an error message saying that it can't do the encoding because it can read the MP3 codex, or something like that.

I did use Terminal to do the install for the Lame-3.97 items in that folder, but can't find a file that Audacity can use (at least nothing by the name I was told to look for).

I decided to down load Audacity 1.3.3 and it was able to save a sound file as an MP3 file, and I didn't have the problem of it asking where to find Lame.

Howard