can't create MP3 file "Cannot open encoder"

[rclocher3]

Howdy all,

I bought Winamp Pro in hopes of being able to make .mp3 files from .wav files. I load the .wav file in Winamp, right-click it and send it to the Format Converter, and pick MP3 format. I leave all the options as the defaults except I tick the "use old file name and path (just change the extension)" box. Then I get a "Cannot open encoder" error.

I've tried varying some of the MP3 conversion options. I did a Clean Install (using the "Quick Uninstall -> Reinstall" instructions).

Here is what Windows says about the .wav file I'm trying to convert:

Bit rate: 176 kbps
Audio sampling size: 8 bit
Channels: 2
Audio sample rate: 11 kHz
Audio format: PCM

Any help would be greatly (and publicly) appreciated!

- Rob

--------------------------------

Here's the One for Nunz output:


Installed Winamp plugin list
Generated by 'One for Nunz v3.1.1' on 3/24/2008 at 10:27:18 AM

<< Winamp Information >>

Winamp.ini path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Rob\Application Data\Winamp\Winamp.ini
Plugin directory is: C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins
Visualisation directory is: C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins
DSP directory is: C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins
Skin directory is: C:\Program Files\Winamp\skins
Language Pack directory is: C:\Program Files\Winamp\Lang

Using Winamp version: 5.52 (Build 1800)
Current skin: Bento (Modern skin)
Sonic Burning Engine is installed
Pro registered version

<< OS Information >>

Running on: Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
Memory available: 522224 KB


<< Input plugins >>

Nullsoft CD Plug-in (MusicID 2.5) v3.5 [in_cdda.dll]
Nullsoft DirectShow Decoder v1.05 [in_dshow.dll]
Nullsoft FLAC Decoder 2.04 [in_flac.dll]
Nullsoft Flash Video Decoder v1.0 [in_flv.dll]
Nullsoft LineIn Plug-in v3.12 [in_linein.dll]
Nullsoft MIDI Player 3.16 [in_midi.dll]
Nullsoft Module Decoder v2.3 [in_mod.dll]
Nullsoft MPEG Audio Decoder 4.3 [in_mp3.dll]
Nullsoft MPEG-4 Audio Decoder v1.5 [in_mp4.dll]
Nullsoft NSV Decoder v1.09 [in_nsv.dll]
Nullsoft Vorbis Decoder v1.53 [in_vorbis.dll]
Nullsoft Waveform Decoder v3.15 [in_wave.dll]
Nullsoft Windows Media Decoder 3.28 [in_wm.dll]

<< Output plugins >>

Nullsoft Disk Writer v2.14 [out_disk.dll]
Nullsoft DirectSound Output v2.47 (d) [out_ds.dll] [active]
Nullsoft WaveOut Output v2.11 (d) [out_wave.dll]

<< Visualisation plugins >>

Advanced Visualization Studio v2.81d [vis_avs.dll]
MilkDrop 2.0d [vis_milk2.dll] [active]
Nullsoft Tiny Fullscreen v2.09 [vis_nsfs.dll]

<< DSP plugins >>

Nullsoft Signal Processing Studio DSP v0.39a [dsp_sps.dll]

<< General Purpose plugins >>

Nullsoft Modern Skins Support v1.32 [gen_ff.dll]
Nullsoft Global Hotkeys v1.6 [gen_hotkeys.dll]
Jump To File Extra v0.99.2 (Build 430) [gen_jumpex.dll]
Nullsoft Media Library v3.21 [gen_ml.dll]
One for Nunz v3.1.1 [gen_nunzio.dll]

<< Media Library plugins >>

Nullsoft Dashboard v1.02 [ml_dash.dll]
Nullsoft Now Playing v3.1 [ml_nowplaying.dll]
Nullsoft Local Media v2.1 [ml_local.dll]
Orb Remote Media v1.0 [ml_orb.dll]
Nullsoft Playlists v1.11 [ml_playlists.dll]
Nullsoft Online Services v1.6 [ml_online.dll]
Nullsoft Podcasts Plug-in v1.22 [ml_wire.dll]
Nullsoft Rip & Burn v1.3 [ml_disc.dll]
Nullsoft Portable Music Player Support v1.23 [ml_pmp.dll]
Nullsoft Bookmarks v1.05 [ml_bookmarks.dll]
Nullsoft History v1.2 [ml_history.dll]
Nullsoft Auto-Tagger v2.01 [ml_autotag.dll]
Nullsoft Playlist Generator v1.1 [ml_plg.dll]
Nullsoft Replay Gain Analyzer v1.06 [ml_rg.dll]
Nullsoft Format Converter v2.3 [ml_transcode.dll]

<< Portable Media Player plugins >>

Nullsoft iPod Plug-in v0.71 [pmp_ipod.dll]
Nullsoft Creative NJB Plug-in v0.54 [pmp_njb.dll]
Nullsoft PlaysForSure Plug-in v0.7 [pmp_p4s.dll]
Nullsoft USB Device Plug-in v0.6 [pmp_usb.dll]

<< Encoder plugins >>

[enc_aacplus.dll]
aacPlus (HE-AAC) Encoder v1.28
aacPlus (HE-AAC) High Bitrate Encoder v1.28
LC-AAC Encoder v1.28
MP4/aacPlus (HE-AAC) Encoder v1.28
MP4/aacPlus (HE-AAC) High Bitrate Encoder v1.28
MP4/LC-AAC Encoder v1.28
[enc_flac.dll]
FLAC Encoder (Flake0.11)
[enc_lame.dll]
[enc_wav.dll]
WAV Encoder v1.02
[enc_wma.dll]
WMA Encoder v1.22

<< Summary of system components (*.w5s) >>
(These are not included in the plugin counts below)
aacPlusDecoder.w5s (356kb)
bmp.w5s (7kb)
dlmgr.w5s (24kb)
filereader.w5s (11kb)
gif.w5s (17kb)
gracenote.w5s (12kb)
jnetlib.w5s (26kb)
jpeg.w5s (98kb)
playlist.w5s (35kb)
png.w5s (92kb)
tagz.w5s (18kb)
xml.w5s (85kb)

<< Summary of all dlls in the root winamp folder (*.dll) >>
(These are not included in the plugin counts below)
burnlib.dll (82kb) [not loaded]
libFLAC.dll (133kb) [not loaded]
libmp4v2.dll (175kb) [not loaded]
libsndfile.dll (197kb) [loaded]
nde.dll (86kb) [loaded]
nscrt.dll (340kb) [loaded]
primosdk.DLL (182kb) [not loaded]
tataki.dll (62kb) [loaded]

<< Summary of all dlls in the plugins\gracenote folder (*.dll) >>
(These are not included in the plugin counts below)
CddbAFX3.dll (269kb) [not loaded]
CddbCMSig_1_3.dll (105kb) [not loaded]
CDDBControlWinamp.dll (781kb) [not loaded]
CddbFEX.dll (637kb) [not loaded]
CddbFPX1.dll (493kb) [not loaded]
CddbMusicIDWinamp.dll (617kb) [not loaded]
CddbPlaylist2Winamp.dll (569kb) [not loaded]
CDDBUIWinamp.dll (789kb) [not loaded]
CddbWOManagerWinamp.dll (197kb) [not loaded]

<< Summary of installed plugins >>

13 Input plugins installed
3 Output plugins installed
3 Visualisation plugins installed
1 DSP plugin installed
5 General Purpose plugins installed
15 Media Library plugins installed
4 Portable Media Player plugins installed
5 Encoder plugins installed

Total: 49 plugins installed


************************************************************
************************************************************


Associated Winamp file extensions list

<< Reported extensions from Winamp >>

CDA
MPG
MPEG
M2V
AVI
FLAC
FLV
MID
MIDI
RMI
KAR
MIZ
MOD
MDZ
NST
STM
STZ
S3M
S3Z
IT
ITZ
XM
XMZ
MTM
ULT
669
FAR
AMF
OKT
PTM
MP3
MP2
MP1
AAC
VLB
M4A
MP4
NSV
NSA
OGG
AIFF
AU
AVR
CAF
HTK
IFF
MAT
PAF
PVF
RAW
SD2
SDS
SF
VOC
W64
WAV
XI
WMA
WMV
ASF
< Playlist Formats >
M3U
PLS
M3U8
B4S
ASX
WPL

<< Reported extensions from each input plugin >>
(This should match with Winamp's listing excluding playlist formats)

in_cdda.dll CDA

in_dshow.dll MPG MPEG M2V AVI

in_flac.dll FLAC

in_flv.dll FLV

in_linein.dll No extensions reported

in_midi.dll MID MIDI RMI KAR MIZ

in_mod.dll MOD MDZ NST STM STZ S3M S3Z IT ITZ XM XMZ MTM ULT 669 FAR AMF OKT PTM

in_mp3.dll MP3 MP2 MP1 AAC VLB

in_mp4.dll M4A MP4

in_nsv.dll NSV NSA

in_vorbis.dll OGG

in_wave.dll AIFF AU AVR CAF HTK IFF MAT PAF PVF RAW SD2 SDS SF VOC W64 WAV XI

in_wm.dll WMA WMV ASF

[DJ Egg]

You need to make sure that the max bitrate in the MP3 Encoder settings is less than 160 kbps

If it's higher, then the LAME MP3 Encoder 3.97 (winamp\plugins\lame_enc.dll) can't make an mp3 (mpeg 1.0 layer 3) from an 8bit 11KHz WAV source file.

When the max bitrate is set to 160 or less, then you will see that the resulting mp3 will be an mpeg 2 / 2.5 layer 3 file (instead of mpeg 1.0).

This issue has been addressed in lame_enc v3.98 and newer, but it is still in beta stage, and therefore we can't include it in the Winamp distribution yet.
http://lame.sourceforge.net/
http://rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php

So basically, either change the Quality drop-down (Winamp -> Prefs -> CD Ripping -> Encoder tab -> MP3 Encoder) to: Normal, and the Mode to 'CBR', with a bitrate of 160 or less... or keep with the VBR setting, but make sure the max bitrate is 160 or less.

Alternatively, you can extract lame_enc.dll from the LAME 3.98 Beta package on rarewares, and copy it to the winamp\plugins folder (overwriting our 3.97 version), and then you'll find that the resulting mp3 will automatically be adjusted to the correct output format (mpeg 2.5 at less than 160kbps), regardless of your mp3 encoder settings....

[rclocher3]

I downloaded the LAME 3.98 beta 6 version of lame_enc.dll, and it solved the problem.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
All Hail DJ Egg!

- Rob