I saw a thing that said I need to get the MP3 encoder to make my recordings into mp3 format but on the product buying page it says you don't need it for MC7...if I don't then how do I turn it into an MP3 file??

If you wish to use the integrated mp3 encoder in MC7 you will need to purchase the mp3 activation program. The other way to create mp3 files is export wavs from MC7 and use another tool to encode them into mp3 files.
 
FWIW, paying for an mp3 license is a one-time thing. Should you ever upgrade to SONAR, the encoder will work there too.

This is from a licensing issue for the mp3 encoder.  The simple solution is to do what scook recommended and just buy the MP3 activation from Sonar.  If that is a problem for you, you can integrate the LAME encoder that is available (free to you but not to Cakewalk) on the internet.  The end result is the same.  There are detailed instructions on this somewhere in the main Sonar forum. 

Recently, the popular approach seems to be to export projects as .wav files and convert them externally.  While many seem to think that this is a better approach I personally prefer the convenience of just writing the mp3 directly from my DAW.

gcolbert
you can integrate the LAME encoder that is available (free to you but not to Cakewalk) on the internet. 

This is not supported in MC7. The Cakewalk External Encoder Config utility is not bundled with MC7. I have not tried to hand edit the registry so I cannot say for certain the feature was completely removed/

Or.... you can use a free 3rd party MP3/Wave editor such as Wavepad.
 
http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html     Wavepad is free and will run in demo mode to do everything you need and more.
 
I export my waves from Sonar and use Wavepad to do the following:  trim the count in and dead air at the end, normalize the wave, and then convert to MP3 in one of a multitude of sample rates. Everything from 320kbs down.

just download 3 things, and you should be fine..
 
1)wavsaur , very quick and none bloated wav editor
 
2)lamedrop , just drag / drop ya wav.. and it'll get converted.. right click for the menu /  various options 
 
3)vlc player, to test ya end files