Stuck LPs

Q I decided to transfer some of my LPs to my computer. I recorded the music as 24-bit WAV files, but they won’t play in Windows Media Player 11. There’s an error message saying a required codec is missing and I should use the Web Help button. This just sends me to Microsoft’s website. I can play the files with other software, but I’d prefer to play all my audio files with one player. Help!
Les Marsh

A WAV files are the best format for editing music because they retain the highest quality audio. Once the tracks have been edited, it’s a good idea to convert them to a compressed format, such as MP3, to save space. This is even more important if you plan to listen to them on a portable media player.

A good program for recording and editing music is Audacity, as it costs nothing to download and use. The only snag is that it cannot export tracks to a portable music player without a little help.

Click on http://lame.buanzo.com.ar or copy and paste the link into a new browser window address bar and press Enter. Left-click on the libmp3lame-win-3.97.zip link towards the top of the page under ‘For Audacity on Windows’ and save the file to the Desktop. Double-click on the file when it finishes downloading to open it. This will open the file in a Windows Explorer window unless there’s other compression software installed on your PC.

Left-click on ‘Extract all files’ in the left-hand column. Select a location for the files - it should be somewhere you can remember, as you’ll need to find it again soon. Click on Next to extract the files. Leave the option ‘Show extracted files’ selected, as this will be a useful reminder later on, then click on Finish.

Start Audacity (left-click on the Start button, then All Programs and Audacity). Click on the Edit menu and on Preferences. Click on the File Formats tab, then on the Find library button. Click on Yes in the message that appears, then browse to the location of the lame_enc.dll file you just extracted. Left-click on it once, then on Open. Change the Bit rate setting to 128 and click OK to close the preferences window.

To convert a WAV file, click on the File menu, then Open. Select one of the WAV files, then click Open. Click on the File menu, then Export as MP3. Select a location for the new MP3 file (Audacity will suggest the same location as the original file), then click on Save. Fill in as much information as possible in the tags window and click OK. Depending on the size of the file and speed of the PC, the conversion may take a few moments. The finished MP3 file will be much smaller and play on Media Player 11.