I'm trying to convert some flac files to mp3. Normally I rip a cd to wav, convert to flac, and if its something I want on my ipod, use lame to transcode a copy. This last bit is failing after upgrading from hardy to intrepid. I checked synaptic, and made sure the libmp3lame0 package was installed. I also tried transcoding some flacs I'd done already, without success.

Any ideas what might be wrong?

Well surely you have to convert the FLAC back into a wav file before lame can transcode it, using flac -d?

Hmm. Definitely don't remember having to do that. Most of my flac conversions have been done with a gui like Foobar2000. I guess all have, since you appear to be right. Anyhow, I found a nifty cli one-liner that converts flac to mp3. Much cleaner than what I was trying with xargs.http://www.linuxtutorialblog.com/pos...ng-flac-to-mp3

this script takes a list of file arguments, checks if each file is a FLAC file, and if so, it converts it to MP3 with a bitrate of 320 kbps using flac and lame. For non-FLAC files, it directly converts them to MP3 with the same bitrate using lame.
remeber to install:
explaination of each part of the Bash script:

1. `#!/bin/bash`: This is called a shebang line, and it's the very first line in your script. It tells the operating system which interpreter should be used to execute the script. In this case, `#!/bin/bash` indicates that the script should be run using the Bash shell.

2. `for file in "$@"; do`: This line starts a `for` loop that iterates over the arguments passed to the script (`"$@"`). The `"$@"` is a special variable that represents all the command-line arguments passed to the script.

3. `if [[ "$file" == *.flac ]]; then`: This is an `if` statement that checks if the current value of the `file` variable (which represents each argument) matches the pattern `*.flac`. The double square brackets `[[ ... ]]` are used for conditional tests in Bash.

4. `/usr/local/bin/flac -cd "$file" | /usr/local/bin/lame -b 320 - "${file%.flac}.mp3"`: If the condition in the `if` statement is true (i.e., the file is a FLAC file), this line is executed. It does the following:
- `/usr/local/bin/flac -cd "$file"`: This command uses the `flac` utility to decode the input FLAC file specified by `"$file"` and sends the output to the standard output (stdout) with the `-c` option.
- `|`: This is a pipe operator that takes the output of the `flac` command and passes it as input to the `lame` command.
- `/usr/local/bin/lame -b 320 - "${file%.flac}.mp3"`: This part uses the `lame` utility to encode the audio data received from `flac` and save it as an MP3 file. Here's what each part does:
- `-b 320`: This specifies a bitrate of 320 kbps for the MP3 encoding.
- `"${file%.flac}.mp3"`: This part specifies the name of the output MP3 file. It uses parameter expansion to remove the `.flac` extension from the input file (`"${file%.flac}"`) and appends `.mp3` to it to create the output file name.

5. `else`: If the condition in the `if` statement is not true (i.e., the file is not a FLAC file), this line is executed.

6. `/usr/local/bin/lame -b 320 "$file"`: This command uses the `lame` utility to encode the input audio file specified by `"$file"` to MP3 format with a bitrate of 320 kbps.

7. `fi`: This marks the end of the `if` statement.

8. `done`: This marks the end of the `for` loop.

In summary, your script takes a list of file arguments, checks if each file is a FLAC file, and if so, it converts it to MP3 with a bitrate of 320 kbps using `flac` and `lame`. For non-FLAC files, it directly converts them to MP3 with the same bitrate using `lame`.

Old thread. But if anyone is converting one format to another. ffmpeg.