MP3 is by far the most widely used audio format for most PC users. Whether it’s CDs that you’ve ripped to your hard drive or podcasts that you’ve downloaded, chances are that the files are in MP3 format. The problem is, sometimes you may stream audio from the radio or listen to audio via YouTube that’s not in MP3 format.
Since it’s useful to have all of your audio in the same format for cataloging (not to mention space saving) purposes, it’s a good idea to have a tool that can convert and format files to MP3. One of the fastest and easiest I’ve used is Easy MP3 Recorder. Now, it’s not a particularly flexible tool in terms of formats because it can only grab and record MP3 and WAV files. However, for 99% of the purposes you’ll need it for, your audio files will be in this format anyway so it’s no big deal. It’s an excellent option for those that want to record online radio, CD’s and music played on major audio players such as Windows Media Player, Winamp and iTunes. The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s a very stripped down interface which requires no real instructions. Simply browse to the feed for the file that you want to capture and Easy MP3 Recorder captures and converts the audio on the fly. This means that there’s no annoying conversion pauses or external application needed to convert audio in WAV format to MP3.
There’s not much more on offer however except an ID3 tag editor (so you can label your tracks) and a basic audio editor to edit recorded files. The only other options you can change are the bitrate that the file is recorded from and a timer which puts a limit on the amount of time you want a particular recording to be recorded for. However, for anyone that wants to record any sound or audio coming through their speakers, it doesn’t get much easier than this.
