The Audacity of Nope

I just spent 45 very frustrating minutes trying to get the Audacity audio software to work like it did before my computer virus smack-down earlier this month. Once I figured out how to use it, Audacity looked like it would satisfy all my needs: easy to edit audio files, particularly trimming off extraneous bits; capable of recording from external sources such as LP turntables, etc. I was so pleased with its power that I gleefully deleted my copy of Pyro/Cakewalk recording software, which had been bugging me big-time for years. Well, here in the post-virus era, it's like the Audacity I knew has been taken over by the Pod people (if I using an Apple computer, would have dared say "taken over by the IPod people?") It won't let me save an edited file in MP3 format unless I download some MP3 decoding utility called Lame. Without this capability, this software is useless to me. But that's what we have now, both in the 1.4 beta version that the fixers at the computer shop put back on after they flushed out the virus, and the 2.0 version I downloaded just an hour ago. Could the version I had before the virus have been an earlier version than 1.4, before the programmers added the coding restriction? No way to find that out now. 

I'm giving up the fight for tonight. But I have a decision to make tomorrow: continue the combat with Audacity, or look for another free, open source sound recording application. I've already found a Wikipedia page that lists all such software. As of this writing, I'm leaning towards the latter action.

Another night, another lopsided loss for the Giants, the team the continues its creative ways of coming up with new ways to look bad. This time, Reds win 8-3. This time, it was Gaudin who followed a great performance with pure crap, just as it was for Lincecum Monday. This time, the Giants got the hits but never at the right time to put up crooked numbers. I'm at the point that I do hope they continue their feeble ways for the next week, and there would be no reason not to sell of their top commodities and re-stock the farm system. Check that -- I can think of two reasons at least. First, the likely players to go, like Lincecum and Pence, have little value, Second, GM Brian Sabean has never been a seller before -- I doubt he'd be any good at it. If I were him, I'd swallow my pride and read Moneyball, at long last. Hey Brian, you might learn something.