Audio CDs to the Rio 500 mp3 player using Linux

OK, it is easier on a Mac. iTunes is free and does it all for you (and does it well). To replace iTunes I need at least three applications on Linux :-(

  1. Ripping with cdparanoia:
    cdparanoia -B "1-"
  2. Encoding with Audacity. Audacity doesn't have an own mp3 encoder, therefore you need lame and Audacity will ask you for the file libmp3lame.so (it should be in /usr/lib). Funnily Audacity has problems writing temporary files to /tmp, when it is not started as root. Have to fix that somehow.
  3. Getting the Rio500 connected. There are Linux drivers and GUIs, but they have not compliled (and probably also not developed) since the 2.3.34 kernel. Didn't work for me. So for the moment I am stuck with the Rioport Audio Manager 3.5 and VMware. But at least that works. I am going to work on the Linux drivers anyway.