MP3 Encoder

Hi all,
Hoping I can get some help with this subject.
I own Sonar Professional and have created a couple of songs that I want to share with my band mates. When I finished the first song, I went to
File>>
Export>>
Audio>>
Switched the file to MP3, then i get this message that says "You need to download the MP3 encoder from Cakewalk". (I have also read that you DONT need the encoder), so I purchased the MP3 encoder from Cakewalk for $9.99. I went to download it. When I get to past the download filer screen, it brings me to a list of Cakewalk products, then the last one says "all other cakewalk products not listed"
I click on that one, then it says " you do not have a shared utilities folder. Reinstall your product....."

I am not that much of a "tekki" and I really don't want to uninstall and reinstall my program if I don't have to. Hopefully it's something really simple that someone else has gone through and can share a solution with me.

Things I have done:
Entered serial number
Re-booted computer
Made sure all programs were closed when installing product
Had Sonar Professional open (just in case) when installing (one time)

Thanks.

Gary

Gary,
 
Another excellent option is to download the latest LAME mp3 encoder. It is free. Current release ver 3.99.
 
http://lame.sourceforge.net/download.php
 
This leaves the gap of having a GUI and windows type interface for the dll file. Several shells are available. One example is WinLAME. Make sure the current LAME dll is installed in the same folder as the WinLAME executable. This will solve all your conversion needs if wav to mp3 is the issue.
 
http://winlame.sourceforge.net/
 
Extending this, the ultimate freebie assault is to get dbPoweramp:
 
https://www.dbpoweramp.com/
 
The free version has 30 days mp3 encoding and then craps out, but leaves all other conversion protocols active. Visit their Codec Central to upgrade to state of the art conversion codecs for a wide variety of formats. Note that db already programs the LAME encoder into the current release, so you cannot override the default with a newer or beta copy of LAME.
 
So, 30 days later you have dbPower doing any conversion you would need to other formats. WinLAME and the LAME dll free taking up the slack for the expired mp3 function. Best of all worlds really.
 
Has been my workflow for years. Reaper or Sonar or whatever, I never render to an mp3 from the DAW. Always render to a wav file and then use an external program to fine tune quality of conversion, especially if converting to a "lossy" format.
 
This should work really well for your needs.
 
John