mp3 Encoder quality?

Im just getting into recording, and have pretty basic stuff -
My recorded wave files sound great but the mp3's exports sound brutal by comparison - i would expect that you give up a lot through the compression but wondering if it can be better. Even at higher bit rates there is still a huge difference........maybe this is normal? I'm using Audacity and export to wave first, then use Wavelab to export to MP3 format. I believe it uses the LAME encoder however it also gives an option to use Fruanhofer which I haven't tried. If I just use Audacity for both the quality seems even worse.
Is my weak link the shareware im using? I have a 24bit MI Audio card in my PC, a POD and an Alesis Studio 24 mixer.
I pretty much am using the default stereo 24 bit settings in Audacity, but usually compress the final mix before exporting.
Any thoughts as to what i can do to improve the quality of the mp3's, using what i have?
thanks

lame_enc.dll (or LAME Encoder) is the one I use..

You need to make it so you're making at least 128kbps (if not 192kbps or higher) bitrate and 48KHz sample rate, and on hi-res/hi-fidelity settings.. otherwise it's going to blow..

Not sure why you are using Audacity for recording when you can get a full-featured DAW for free. I use it, Superman uses it.. a lot of professionals use it (though they also buy the commercial license since they are making money out of it).. You can get it at:
http://reaper.fm/

It's also only 3.3meg download.. less than your average MP3.. lol

Seriously folks.. this is the DAW to have..

EDIT:

Oh yeh.. with the WAV file.. make it as high a resolution as you can.. 24bit is good.. don't compress the WAV... why would you want to?? That's what the MP3 encoding does..

Get Reaper, put the lame_enc.dll file in the Reaper's installation folder (C:\Program Files\REAPER\ is where mine installed to.. though there is Mac and Linux versions of REAPER on the way if they haven't already been released..) then just render directly to MP3 from Reaper...

I use Audacity as a learning tool, and figured i would grow into Reaper or Cubase. I wouldnt know how to exploit all the extra functionality so figured Audacity would serve the purpose for now.
I'll check out your link and give it a try.
thanks

btw: i wasnt compressing the size of the wave file, i was referring to dynamic range compression before exporting to wave format. If i send the audacity file to the lame encoder the way you do in Reaper it seems to sound worse than saving as a wave first, then importing into Wavelab - then to mp3 (this program also uses Lame so not sure why it would be any different)

There's no reason to not use Reaper man.. seriously.. and even if all you do is record, then export directly to MP3 you're already better off.. :) Reaper is a great learning tool and it has much better support and tutorials and stuff :)

Amen to that man, the only reason you shouldnt be using Reaper is if you have already forked out mega bucks on ProTools or Cubase/Nuendo. It's an excellent program, pretty much an entire production suite providing recording, editing, mixing, mastering etc. Also allows you to mix audio and midi with as many vst plug-ins as your system can handle. Wav to mp3 is easy in this, couple of clicks and you have it. If you ever have any difficulty with it just go straight to the Reaper forum, its an excellent resource frequented daily by the developers.

If you're uploading to websites, you might want to think about converting a bunch of different bitrates ahead of time. For instance, convert everything at 96, 128, 192 and 320. Guaranteed that a site will require one of them at it's best to have them done ahead of time rather than on the spot.
Personally I can't stand anything below 192 but some websites insist on it.

You should also add ID3 tag info so that people know who's song it is and your copyright information is embedded with the file.
Also, use a set format for your file names like: Bandname_songname.mp3