Note: If you set your import settings, then imported from a CD - your encoding was already done for you! Skip to the next section.
Finally! All that setup and tweaking is about to pay off.
Right click over the file in iTunes and select Convert Selection to MP3.
In a few seconds, the song will be encoded and saved as an MP3 file. MP3 is a file that almost any music player can recognize and play. Since you started with a file that was not an MP3 and now you have an MP3 file, there will be two identically named songs in itunes now. We recommend you rename the original file so you don't get mixed up when you go to upload it.