I ordered a better mic than my web cam has. And I will download Audacity; then try it with the new mic (when I get it). As far as comparing with a recording of another speaker, it would be (IMHO) as comparing apples and oranges. The other speaker recording may have been done on the professional equipment (better mic); and maybe simply a better voice. I would rather compare the new mic recording of my voice with my voice recorded with Windows Sound Recorder and the web cam mic.

>I am with Dragan that often your own cell phone is a good enough recording device.
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>The trick in deciding is NOT to listen to your own voice, but compare the recording of another speaker with the record played over a speaker with more uumph and quality than the cell phone has.
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>I doubt very much that ANY recording SW will botch the record (unless you set a unneccessary/ridiculous compression) level if the mic is not totally lousy and speakers are at least the quality you use when listening to music (head phones most of the time are good enough.
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>>Hi,
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>>I consider buying a microphone (not expensive but from the reviews and sample on Amazon it sounds pretty good).
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>>And I am wondering what software I need to have to work with this microphone. If I understand correctly, if I don't buy any software, the PC OS (Windows 7 in my case) will use the Control Panel -> Sound application (default). I am concerned that this - default - application will be the bottle-neck and will reduce the quality of recording, even if I use a good mic.
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>>What do you think? If you record your voice (for whatever reasons), do you use software other than the PC Sound?
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>>TIA