My laptop has only mic in, can I use the USB port to record with? And also which one I have 3.
To record via a USB socket you will need a USB audio interface. This could be a USB microphone, a USB turntable, a USB line input or a USB mixer (depending on what you are wanting to record).
Please note that many users on this forum have had problems with USB audio devices, particularly USB turntables which seem to be very unreliable. However, simple USB interfaces such as the Behringer UCA-202 seem to work well and provide good quality for a low price, but they require a line-level signal and cannot accept a microphone or turntable directly (great for recording the output of my hi-fi stereo though).
Which USB port should not make a difference, although in practice many users find that some work better than others - it’s just a matter of trying them. On my PC (not a laptop) all the USB connectors work fine - no noticeable difference.
I appreciate your reply I am using my MP3 player to record my mixes and was gonna use the USB from that is that an audio interface I appologize but I am really not that computer savy.
OK, well that should be easy.
This is the case for all MP3 players that I’ve used:
Connect the player to your computer via a USB connector.
Wait a moment for Windows (you are on Windows?) to detect and connect to your MP3 player.
Windows will probably report a “storage device” has been connected.
Open “My Computer” and you should see a “Removable Drive” has been added
Open the “Removable Drive” - you may need to navigate through some folders to find your files.
Copy the files to your hard drive in the normal way.
You can now open the files in Audacity.
(Note that you should run Audacity from files that are on your local hard drive, not directly from the mp3 player)
If you want to save the files back onto your mp3 player, you will probably want to Export them as mp3 files - to do that you need to install LAME on your computer if you haven’t already: http://audacityteam.org/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3
You can (probably) then copy the files back onto your mp3 player in the same way that you got them off.
This works for my mp3 recorder, so hopefully it will work for yours. Some players use a slightly different method, so if in doubt refer to your mp3 player instructions.
I appreciate your time I’ll give it a try. Thanks again.
Indeed, I get the impression that it’s almost exclusively USB turntables (and to a degree USB mikes) that cause hassle for Audacity users, to the point where I’ve thought twice about purchasing one. I would guess that the vast majority of USB audio devices work just fine. I use a (now discontinued) Edirol UA-3FX which gives me no trouble at all in Audacity or any other audio app. However if I had the cash I would move to a Firewire device, if only to free up a USB port on my laptop.