How to enable mp3 output in SoundConverter

SoundConverter is a program I've used before to convert sound files to a format that will play on my MP3 player (basically just that as it plays only MP3 and WMA files). I converted some MP4 files to MP3 format,
probably in Ubuntu at the time
[EDIT: Actually it was in Lenny: I've been here before and forgotten]. Now MP3 encoding requires LAME, which due to some patent issues, is not installed in most Linux distros by default. In Ubuntu, it's in the multiverse repository. A post on the Debian forum today reminded me of the issue- I checked and found I hadn't even installed SoundConverter on my Debian Squeeze. When I did install it, of course MP3 encoding wasn't enabled.
A quick Google search brought up instructions for enabling MP3 output in the major Linux distros. I added the debian-multimedia.org repository as instructed and installed the gstreamer0.10-lame package, after which MP3 output was enabled.
But that's not the end of the story. I noticed that after I had added the debian-multimedia.org repository, Synaptic was telling me there were updates available for several packages. At first I couldn't find any information about why this might be, and was wary about letting a third-party repository update packages, but then.... well, I think this will have to be another post.

Rip CD's to MP3 in Debian

[Update 27/10/2012: this  information was written for Squeeze over a year ago, but the situation in Wheezy is very different. Wheezy will of course become the stable release in a few months, so bear this in mind when reading.]

My portable music player only plays MP3 and WMA format files, so I rip CD's into MP3. I hadn't ripped a CD since installing Debian, so coming across this post on the Debian forum, I checked and found that MP3 in Audio CD Extractor was not enabled. Following the instructions in the post, I was able to enable ripping into MP3.
For various legal reasons (Zzzz*) Debian doesn't come with the ability to rip CD's to MP3. The issue is discussed on the Debian forum (before drifting off into a more interesting discussion of football). Ripping CD's requires an encoder. LAME is the MP3 encoder used by Debian, and gstreamer0.10-lame is the package required. It can be installed by adding the Debian Multimedia repository.

*Here's the legal stuff, as far as I can work it out.

An MP3 encoder can be downloaded for personal use.

...no license is needed for private, non-commercial activities (e.g., home-entertainment, receiving broadcasts and creating a personal music library), not generating revenue or other consideration of any kind or for entities with associated annual gross revenue less than US$ 100 000.00. mp3licensing.com

The legal stipulation here is that it can only be distributed in countries not covered by software patents.

Distributing compiled binaries of LAME, its libraries, or programs which are derivative works of LAME in countries which recognize those patents, may be considered infringing on the relevant patents. Wikipedia.org

But this does not affect the end-user, because it is the responsibility of the distributor to comply with local laws.

The legality of ripping CD's varies from country to country.

In the United Kingdom, making a private copy of copyrighted media without the copyright owner's consent is illegal: this includes ripping music from a CD to a computer or digital music player. The UK government has made proposals to allow people to make copies of music for personal use. According to one survey, 55% of British consumers believed ripping a CD to be legal, and 59% admitted to doing it. Wikipedia

(Cough.)