Recording a meeting directly to MP3

[RichPasco]

I need to record several hours of audio directly from my microphone to an MP3 file on my hard disk, without first accumulating a huge buffer full of uncompressed audio and then later doing an "export" to MP3 to write the whole thing at once. I just don't have enough virtual memory to record the entire two-hour meeting as uncompressed audio.

It doesn't seem this is something Audacity can do, although hundreds of other products seem to feature it. Here are just a few:

• Enjoysoft MP3 Recorder XP http://www.ejoysoft.com/
• AbyssMedia i-Sound recorder professional http://www.abyssmedia.com/
• Cirdirsoft Windows MP3 Recorder http://download.cnet.com/Windows-MP3-Re ... 15497.html

I have no experience with any of these products.

Am I correct that I need a different product than Audacity, and if so, can anyone recommend which one?

- Rich'

[kozikowski]

<<<Am I correct that I need a different product than Audacity>>>

Yup.

Audacity is an Audio Editorial Production Environment Manager. It doesn't do anything in real time but capture (to buffers) and play back (from buffers) and it works internally at very high quality uncompressed format.

You need an MP3 manager. Write back when you find one you like. Many people post looking for good ones.

There is also the possibility you don't really want MP3 at all. Windows Media and iTunes for two popular examples can handle MP3 if they're forced to, but like to use much higher quality and efficient modern compression formats.

Koz

[RichPasco]

Thanks for your comments confirming my understanding, Koz. I look forward to any recommendations for specific products anyone wishes to share.
I am currently evaluating/testing Free Sound Recorder 8.1.1 from http://www.freesoundrecorder.net/ as it looks promising. If you install it, be careful what you accept; the first box offers to install Zwunzi, a web browser extension unrelated to Free Sound Recorder.

[kozikowski]

Does it record direct to MP3 file? Like when you press stop, there's the file? I have an older software package on a machine that can do that with WAV files, but I've never seen one do it with MP3. It must be pretty stressful on the machine because it has to not only capture the data in real time, but compress it, too.

Koz