Live Sound Recorder

Though it suffers from a few quirks and restrictive trial limitations, Live Sound Recorder does a good job of recording from a wide variety of audio sources, including your PC's line-in jack, a microphone, and streaming-audio applications. The interface doesn't look very professional, but it's functional. Clicking the settings icon lets you specify the recording source, sound quality, and input level. We especially appreciated the latter ability, as many apps force you to adjust the incoming signal via Windows' Control panel. Though the program claims to record to both the WAV and MP3 formats, we couldn't figure out how to directly create an MP3 from the audio source, forcing us to use the app's built-in converter to switch file formats. Capturing a RealPlayer stream worked well in our tests, as did making a voice recording with a microphone. The demo disables scheduling and restricts you to 60 seconds per file, but it might give you enough of an idea how the program works. Fans of Internet radio shows or other streaming-audio broadcasts may find Live Sound Recorder useful.