Has anyone got this to work on windows 8, the manual is written for XP ithink, any help out there?
Yes Audacity supports Windows 8.
The Manual is not written only for XP. Make sure you are using the latest Audacity 2.1.0 from http://audacityteam.org/download/windows. If you use the 2.1.0 installer (EXE) you will have the latest Manual at Help > About Audacity… . Or you can always view the current Manual at http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/.
We can’t help you unless you say exactly what you are trying to do. If you to want record a song playing on the computer, see Tutorial - Recording Computer Playback on Windows - Audacity Manual.
Gale