[Big Giant Head]

I use a cheap little program called Total Recorder to get my personal recordings into the computer, and I can later manually cut them into songs. Works fine, had normalizing functions and other things, and fits on a floppy. I don't know how much it cost, a friend gave it to me.

[Nita Nupress]

Lots of good advice here.  I'm sorry I didn't make it back last night as promised. To be quite honest, I forgot I posted the message. But this is actually a good thing. For those of you who have battled this, you know what I mean. For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, stick around on interesting threads like this one long enough and you'll figure it out. :-)

Thanks to all of you for answering and sharing your secrets with me!  I'll address each one of you individually.

[Nita Nupress]

First, let me tell you, I just spent 5 minutes trying to post the above message because I was trying to call you "Giant Big Head" and couldn't figure out what was wrong with your name!  I must be a little dyslexic.  Anyway, you said:

I use a cheap little program called Total Recorder to get my personal recordings into the computer, and I can later manually cut them into songs. Works fine, had normalizing functions and other things, and fits on a floppy. I don't know how much it cost, a friend gave it to me.

 

This is great!  For anyone wanting their website, here it is. (They have a lot of other cool products at their website.) They just released a new version 5.0 on 10/26/04. Here's more information for anyone who is curious (All links open in new window):

 

Total Recorder is put out by High Criteria and is available for download at their website or at this Download.com page.(Free to try; $11.95 to buy). 

 

Reviews: 

http://radio.about.com/cs/recordingstreams/gr/TotalRecorder.htm

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5020865-1.html (More of a "how-to" page. Very interesting.)

From the Download.com site linked above:

If you want to record any sound going through your PC, including Web-based audio streams, Total Recorder Standard Edition is worth a try. Default recording is in WAV format, though you can plug in codecs for MP3 and OGG files and save the result in any format. The program also features advanced naming options that let you append artist information, the current time, and other data to the filename. Advanced options include a built-in scheduler that works well despite not being able to automatically connect to your ISP and hop to an Internet radio station. Nonrecording features are minimal, but the reasonable price and clear interface make Total Recorder Standard Edition a suitable recorder for home users.