Audacity

Audacity is a free, open source sound recorder and editor. It has easy, intuitive VCR-like controls for Record, Play, Fast forward and Rewind, and can export a sound file as a .wav or an .mp3 (use the File menu to choose what format you want). All you need is a microphone; plug it in to your computer's sound card, click the play button, and start recording. I used it to record my children singing Christmas songs a couple of years back and had it downloaded, installed and running in minutes.


To edit a sound file, all you do is select the section you'd like to cut by clicking and dragging inside the timeline, and hitting Delete. To combine recordings, use the Edit menu to cut and paste tracks together.

Visit the Audacity site for more information on on using Audacity.

Download Audacity here.