I’m trying to save my voicemails to my PC and I’m close… except that the recordings that come thru sounds like the volume is loud and distorted even tho it’s not really “loud”. I’ve tried lower the volume on my phone but then it seems that the recording is still a lil distorted - with the volume just lower. 
plz help. thank u!
Did you by any chance connect the headphone of your cellphone to the Mic-In of your laptop? Mic-In is not a general audio input. It is intended only for one of these:
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/computerAnalogMicrophone.jpg
Some computers can change one connection to accommodate many different services – consult your instructions – but most can’t.
If your cellphone has no provision to export the messages as sound files, then I think you’re stuck with getting a USB audio interface. I use a Behringer UCA202 and I think it works pretty well.
http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/peaveyUCA202Lenovo.jpg
You’ll need an adapter from your cellphone to RCA.
Note that you can’t use a USB adapter such as a Startech ICUSBAUDIO. That just duplicates the Mic-In you already have.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/olympus_TP7Blowup.jpg
Koz