why does this happen?

Did you download the correct version of Lame? (LameLib-Carbon)

http://spaghetticode.org/lame/LameLib-Carbon-3.91.sit

It works on my Intel Mac by the way. What I told him to do works here on 6 machines. Works perfectally and exports to MP3 using the Lame Library.

i cant understand what is going wrong. i'm doing everything i was told to do. here is exactly what i am doing.

-i downloaded audacity.
-i downloaded stuffit expander. i went to version tracker, typed in stuffit and downloaded the first version that came up. a beta version. stuffit expander 10.1 beta. i tried to download another version that came up on the same search, but it tried to make me enter a registration number and pay for it. whatevs.
-i download lame. the correct version for os x.
-lame appears on the desktop as a brown box icon that says ".sit" on it and it is called lamelib carbon 3.91.sit."
-i click the icon mentioned above. the first time i click it, the puzzle piece with the yellow symbol on it appears on the desktop. every time afterwards, a blank page titled "lamelib" appears.
-i make a folder in the applications folder. i put audacity in it. i then put lame in it. by that i mean i put the puzzle piece and the blank page in the same folder that audacity is in.
-i open audacity. i edit the song to the deisred lenght. i click export as mp3. it tells me to locate lame.
-i locate lame. however, the only thing i can find that it will let me "open" is the puzzle piece. it then tells me that it cannot open the mp3 encoder.

that's what i'm doing. what am i doing wrong?

When it asks you to locate LameLib do you point it to the Puzzle piece? You do not need the other lame file there.

Here is a pic of my work ing audacity. See where I have the lame lib. That is a folder in my applications folder.

then when it asks me to locate LameLib I point it to that audacity folder and click on that lamelib and hit open. I know you have an Intel mac so I tried this on my Intel Mini.

ok. here is a screen cap of my the audacity folder within the applications folder. notice the puzzle piece. that's all i can click on when i try and export.

my screen cap

I think I found your problem. Trying things out now and will get back to you. It's to do with Lame and the Intel Macs. Funny it works on mine in Rosseta but not on a lot of other peoples. Hang in there.

Maybe it has something to do with his MS Office? That puzzle piece is linked to MS Office.

Nope, that is the LameLibrary for Audacity. Used it for years here. I did some probing around and his problem is they now have a version of Audacity for the Intel Macs but the LamLib that Audacity uses is still not universal. For some reason I can use the older Audacity on my Core Duo Mini with the LameLib he is using but it works, but SLOW as can be under Rosseta. If you install the Universal Audacity, the old LameLib will not work with it and no one has ported it as yet. I am still looking for a LameLib that will work with the Intel CPU, but so far nothing.

I would say for now, use Audacity to do your work and save it as an AAIF or Wave then use iTunes to convert to MP3 till this gets sorted out.

ok. that worked. i managed to convert it to an mp3 using itunes.

now i'm trying to add the song to bitpim so i can send it to my phone. but it won't let me. why is this? what should i do?

I have never worked with bitpim or MP3's on cell phones. Can someone other user that has done this help him???

anyone? i've been searching but i can't find anything.

thanks for everyone's help so far.