Free speech recording on PCs?

[allen]

Do most modern PCs have a built-in microphone? And are there any simple recording programs for free downloading?

(I use an Apple, so know little of PCs - if this was an Apple to Apple set-up, there wouldn't be a problem).

Problem: a pal, who finds typing difficult, wants to record his voice onto his PC, then send me a CD of the recording so I can type it out for him. Is this straightforward? (Don't know offhand what machine he's got, only that it is a 'gaming' computer which cost him over £2K a couple of years back).

Allen.

[RATTER15]

If it doesn't already have a built in Michael he can buy one for about £7.00 he can then download a free programme called Audacity and he is away! No problemss.

[RATTER15]

Microphone not Michael, bloody spellchecker grrrrr

[RATTER15]

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ there you go!

[allen]

Just out of interest, ratter, DO PCs have built-in mikes as a rule?

(Or Michaels, if you prefer).


A.

[bazwillrun]

Vista and Win 7 have speech to text, not sure about XP.

why not use that

[AB Editor]

"DO PCs have built-in mikes as a rule?"

Most laptops and all-in-ones do, but most tower-and-screen set-ups require a separate microphone.

I use something like this for skype calls, the quality is really rather good.

[B00]

I do like the name Michael for them though- can we adopt that name for them?

[RATTER15]

No Boo, you cant!! Behave!

[ChuckFickens]

I think the Ed forgot a link :)

I'd guess he was going to link to something like this, which I'd also suggest.

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

Also if he uses audacity to record his voice and then exports it as an MP3 the file will probably be small enough to email rather than faff about with CDs

[snags]

Just as an alternative:

As you're a Mac user you probably know that Quicktime will do what your pal wants. It's also available free for Windows from XP onwards:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL837

Really simple interface and easy to use: press the big red button to start recording, press it again to stop and a .mov file will be saved on to the desktop which he can email to you.

(assuming he has a 'Michael' on his computer of course).

[allen]

Thanks for the MP3/email idea, I'd forgotten the size difference.

Not sure whether or not he's got a Michael, and as he is currently quite ill, I don't want to bother him with questions, but it'll be good to ready once he's better enough to try this out.

Allen.

[HowardKennitby]

What happened to all the old voice to text stuff. I seem to remember things like ViaVoice. There was also one called Dragon something. Are these progs still around?

[MarkRae]

http://www.amazon.co....agon+software&x=0&y=0

[HowardKennitby]

For Mark R

Thanks for that

I seem to remember in the dark and murky past that some of these were not compatible with MS Word. How has that developed?

[MarkRae]

I don't use it.