Friday Tech Profile: Audacity

by Cylinsier

So I've decided to start some traditions as part of my blog posting. The first one is that every Friday, or maybe every other Friday, I will pick a random computer application, browser plugin, website, or something else tech related and give my review on it. Unless I get stupid and forget, I will always make the title of the blog post a live link to the tech subject in question as well so you can go get it if you want; I did so this time so clicking on the title above, "Friday Tech Profile: Audacity," should take you to the website for Audacity where you can download it. As an aside, other regular blogs I'm considering are beer reviews on the weekend and movie or book reviews once on a weekday. I'd love to hear feedback on these ideas or suggestions for others.

So, Audacity. Its an audio recording and editing program and its free. Pretty cool. Since it costs nothing, I shouldn't have to convince anyone who thinks they might need audio recording software to give it a try, but I'll do so anyway. The program isn't especially feature rich compared to other audio editors, but come on, its free. What you can do is record audio from a microphone or what is currently coming out of your computer speakers, or also import existing audio files from wav, mp3, wma and a couple other formats. You then get basic cut and past features so you can resplice audio and some other filters and effects. Again, nothing to spectacular but more than what you paid for it. You're not going to be recording your band with this program, but it gets simply jobs done easily and quickly. Export back out to mp3 or wav. Supports stereo recording and exporting. Very much worth a look and a donation if you feel so generous. Supported by Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X, and most Linux distros and Unix.

Grades:

Performance: B
Features: C-
Price: A+
Compatibility: A Sphere: Related Content