Macbook - how to avoid recording ambient sound?

[hatrabbit]

I've been using Audacity for quite a while on a PC notebook that has no built-in mic. On that machine I can record whatever audio is playing on the computer, regardless of whether the speakers are playing or muted. Now I've started using Audacity on my MacBook and can't find a way to record audio which is playing on the computer without recording every sound in the room with it. Particularly annoying is the fact that it records the cooling fan in the MacBook.
Is there a way to, say, play a song in iTunes and record it in Audacity without hearing anything external to the computer?

[kozikowski]

<<<can't find a way to record audio which is playing on the computer>>>

That's because there isn't one. Macs don't support that. Some Windows machines don't support that any more, either. Macs do support the silly thing with the crossed audio cables -- Line-In to Headphone/Line-Out. That does work. You can also add SoundFlower or other software products.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... mputer#Mac

You can control where the Mac gets its sound from in a Preference Panel.

Apple > System Preferences > Hardware > Sound > Input

In an unmodified MacBook, your choices are Line-In and Built-In-Microphone.

Koz

[hatrabbit]

I tried Soundflower and it fit what I wanted to do perfectly. Great application, thanks.