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How to Download and Use a Free MP3 Recorder


Audacity is a free MP3 recorder that works well and is available for both Mac OS and Windows. There are other good free recorders avaiable on the internet, including Sound Studio, which is free for the first 20 uses.

Follow these steps to download and use it:

  1. Go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows if you are running Windows, or http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/mac if you are using a Mac.
  2. Download the Audacity installer as well as the LAME MP3 encoder. (This is what the screen looks like for Windows; the Mac screen looks similar.)
  3. Use the Audacity installer to install Audacity.
  4. Once you have installed Audacity, you will need to tell it where to find the LAME MP3 encoder file. Go to the "Audacity" menu if you have a Mac, or the "Edit" menu if you are running Windows. Then go to Preferences --> File Formats --> MP3 Export Setup, and click on "Find Library." Here's what the menu looks like on a Mac:
  5. Use the file browser to locate the LAME file. The Windows file, lame_enc.dll, is located at the top level of the libmp3lame folder. As of the last update of this page, the Mac file, libmp3lame.dylib, was buried in the libmp3lame-osx-universal folder. Ignore the rest of the contents of the folder and go to package/usr/local/lib to find it.
  6. You are now ready to record and export MP3s. Press the red button at the top of the window to record. To save, go to File --> Export as MP3. The Export as MP3 option and the record button are circled:
  7. Exporting Smaller File Sizes: The default size for Audacity MP3 files is rather big. If you find you are having difficulty uploading files, consider compressing your files more. Go to the Audacity Preferences pane (under the "Audacity" menu on a Mac and the "Edit" menu on Windows). Then go to File Formats --> MP3 Export setup (the same place you went to in step 4). Pull down the "Bit Rate" menu to select a smaller bit rate. 24 bits should be about the right size. You can go down to 16 bits if you need to.
  8. You can contact Mendy (see the form on the main page) if you have more questions about using Audacity or recording MP3s.