Recording Fine - Playback Garbled

[thanntos]

Hey there. I had briefly skimmed over the 'click here first'' link and either I didn't see anything related to my problem, or perhaps just missed it.

I am trying to record songs from iTunes, via stereo, and saving them as .wav files so I may add them to videos I edit with Windows Movie Maker.
Anyway, what I do is open iTunes with Audacity, hit record, then hit play in iTunes. After its done, I cut the beginning silence. When its recording, it sounds perfect coming from either my speakers or headset.
But when I go to play it back, it is a very muddy sounding garble of music. Kind of almost sounds like someone holding a pillow over my speakers.

I tired going into preference and see if I could change my input/output, but nothing seems to be working.
Is it either something with my sound card, or my setting for it, or my setting for the playback/record master volume setting for Windows?

Any help appreciated, and fyi, I'm a noob at all of this type of stuff so small words and explanations would be a big help

[steve]

So you are recording on a laptop computer and recording the sounds that come out of the laptop speakers with the laptop's in-built microphone?

[thanntos]

No, recording from PC iTunes, as it would play coming out of my speakers.
Sounds fine from my speakers. Playback very muddy.

[steve]

You are not giving enough information.

What inputs /outputs are selected in the Windows Mixer?
What soundcard are you using?
What audio format are you using?
Is it a laptop or a desktop?
WinXP or Vista?
Does it work if you use Windows Sound Recorder?
Is playback "muddy" straight away, or only after you have exported the audio?
Is there an "echo" that is causing the problem?
......
......

You need to paint a picture for us to "see" what you are doing, otherwise we can only guess in the dark.

[thanntos]

What inputs /outputs are selected in the Windows Mixer?
Realtek HD input/output

What soundcard are you using?
onboard not sure

What audio format are you using?

Is it a laptop or a desktop? Desktop

WinXP or Vista?
XP

Does it work if you use Windows Sound Recorder?
No, sound recorder is the exact same way

Is playback "muddy" straight away, or only after you have exported the audio?
Sounds muddy straight away on playback, and after I export

Is there an "echo" that is causing the problem?
I doubt it.

[steve]

You need to enable recording of "Stereo Mix", and disable recording from the microphone.
Record with a minimum sample format of 44.1 kHz 16 bit, and Export your recording as a WAV file.