Recording PC audio is not something you can do with your computer without downloading external programs. On Windows there is a program called " Sound Recorder " inside the Accessories folder only which has no configuration option and allows you to record only in wav format.
To choose the audio source to be recorded, press the right button on the volume symbol at the bottom right and choose the recording device.
Instead, you can use a recorder program if you want to save on the PC, perhaps in mp3 format, any sound, music or dialogue that is reproduced from the speakers of the computer, whatever the source.
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Unfortunately it is not so easy to find a free and safe program to do this simple operation.
Most of them are paid, others are free, such as one called MP3MyMP3 or MP3 Voice Recorder, tested and eliminated for the presence of adware reported by Avira as a virus.
The best and most popular audio recording software is Audacity, already reported but not too simple to use.
In the end, I found some good and simple audio recording programs that maintain good audio quality, recording directly from the normal audio playback card and from any source.
1) You can use the Windows music recorder to record everything you hear on your computer thanks to a fantastic trick explained in another article.
2) Hanso Recorder is a good program because it is easy to use and can record the sound coming from a video game, from a DVD, from a microphone, from the music of an online radio, from the TV card and from whatever is played and reproduced on the computer .
From the program interface, the following options must be set:
- Choice of the device which can be the microphone or the sound input that comes from the audio screen.
- The output format: you need to configure in which type of audio file to save the recorded sound, you can save it in mp3, wav, ogg, wma, aiff, au, vox format; you can save in mono and stereo with high or low bitrate, you can decide the sample and the channel.
- The folder where to save the file by pressing the Browse button at the bottom right.
Before I got a good recording, I had to experiment.
The problem may be in the outdated sound driver or from an underpowered or old sound card.
On Windows 7, before recording, you need to right click on the audio icon and choose the menu related to the recording devices.
After connecting the microphone or the input line, you have to press the Properties button and then go to the " Listening " tab.
From here, in the drop-down menu I chose the speakers while in the " levels " tab I set the microphone preamp to the maximum.
On Hanso Recorder, for example, starting a YouTube video, just press the " Record " button to start the sound recorder.
After pressing on Stop, you can press the " Archive " key (or go to the folder chosen to save the files) and listen to the music or sound just recorded.
The quality is good but you can't expect faithful reproduction identical to the original if you don't have a decent sound card.
I don't think you can raise the audio quality of the recording very much, via software but on this I await the comments of those who know more than me.
On Hanso recorder there is also a Text To Speech that reads the .txt test files only which is in English and based on Microsoft's robotic voice.
There are no time limits on recording, you can also program to record audio with a timer and you can also start the recorder immediately, automatically, when you start your computer, remaining in the background, without too much memory consumption.
3) Apowersoft Free Online Audio Recorder is an online service to record audio directly from the program's website.
You can record audio streams from multiple sources or microphones, save your recordings in MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, and WAV formats and schedule recordings.
In addition to the application, there is also the Apowersoft Audio Recorder program, to be downloaded on a PC, ideal for recording music and audio of streaming content.
4) GiliSoft Audio Recorder Free allows you to record from a microphone connected to your computer or from other sources and audio sources such as online radio or youtube videos.
The same recommendations made for Hanso recorder regarding volume and sound quality settings apply.
At the end an mp3 file is created which contains the recording made.
This recorder program is very easy to use and has no time limit.
5) Moo0 Voice Recorder starts recording immediately upon pressing the REC button with the default settings.
You can choose the folder where to save the recording from the microphone, whether to save mp3 or wav files, whether to cut the pieces where there is silence and whether to record the sound of the computer, only the one coming from the microphone or both.
MooO records all types of system sounds and can be used to record your own voice, a voice chat in Skype, an Internet streaming stream, a video game and anything that makes a noise.
6) Mp3 Voice recorder transforms the PC into a voice recorder without any configuration and with extreme simplicity.
7) Weeny Audio Recorder allows you to record audio on your PC and on websites opened with Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer.
8) Voice recorder for Chrome is an extension that allows you to record any audio source on your computer, including the sounds and music that you can hear on the internet.
9) FreeCorder, excellent program to record online radio and anything that can be heard streaming from the internet, both audio and video.
10) VB Audio Virtual Cable is a program reported in another article talking about how to mix microphone audio with PC sounds and music that also works as a sound recorder and anything that is heard on the computer.
To close, I remember, in another article, the programs to record voice messages and send them by mail or via the internet .
