Not a hack, but when encoding MP3s I've found it's useful to dispense with some GUI and use LAME direcly. Download the LAME mp3 encoder someplace, and it will come with an executable. Then, you can write a batch file (.bat) like:
rem Adapted from a script by Robert Hegemann
@echo off
:processArgs
if %1=="" goto endmark
"C:\path\to\lame.exe" -h --abr 160 --mp3input %1
if errorlevel 1 goto errormark
shift
goto processArgs
:errormark
echo ERROR processing %1
pause
:endmark
pause
Put the batch file someplace accessible. To encode some songs, all you need to do is drag and drop them onto the batch file.