Linux Guide/Audacity to MP3

Setting Up Audacity

Before we can use Audacity, we need to install it.

MP3s and Audacity

To make MP3s, Audacity needs the LAME library installed. First we need to create LAME, then tell Audacity where it is. You can list all compatible files in /usr with the command

find /usr |grep -E 'lib[^*]*lame[^*]*.so'

or your whole computer with

find / | grep -E 'lib[^*]*lame[^*]*.so'

If you find a libmp3lame.so file (using Debian Sarge 3.1r1), just tell Audacity were it is (below).

Otherwise, you will need to make LAME first:

Install LAME

• Make sure that GNU make and gcc are installed. To do this, you can type make -v and gcc -v and make sure you don't get a "command not found" error. The -v option just prints the version.

• The LAME library is available from [1]. Download the latest version from the file releases.

• The download is a .tar.gz, you can use w:ark to extract the files into a folder.

• Go to the console
  • In the Linspire menu this is L > Programs > Utilities > Console
  • In Konquer press F4

• In the Console, type

cd "<directory>"

replacing <directory> with the directoy LAME was extracted to; and press enter. e.g.: cd "/home/user/lame"

• Now type

cd "lame*"

to go into a directory called something like "lame-3.96.1". You can use cd "lame-3.96.1" instead. You may need to go deeper into the DIR,...so once again;

cd lame*

such that you may end up here (or similar); /LAME/lame-3.96.1/lame-3.96.1

Once you are able to type in;

./configure --help

and get back an output of useful info, instead of a bash/shell error you know then you are in the correct DIR.

• LAME configures itself automatically - type dot slash configure and press enter:

./configure

• However; Please read either the INSTALL file, the README file, or review the ./configure --help output (if more advanced) to determine your build options. I chose to include these --enable-mp3x and --enable-debug=norm. Notice many options are defaulted to yes.

• When it returns to the command prompt you would type

make

and press enter.

• LAME is now made in that directory, we'd like it installed into the system. This installation requires you to be root (super-user). If you are root (the prompt will be root@something# ) then type:

make install

and press enter. If you aren't root, type:

su -c "make install"

and press enter. Type the root password when asked (it will be invisible) and press enter.

Install to Audacity

When LAME is installed, we need to tell Audacity about it. The first time you go to export to an MP3 Audacity will ask you where libmp3lame.so is located. You can simply point it to the libmp3lame.so file, normally in the /usr/local/lib folder, and click OK and you should be all set.