Electronic Recording Device--where to find?

[LuxPerpetua]

My 4.5 yo dd has been talking about wanting to record some songs on a tape/CD for many months now, and to be honest, I have no idea how to go about doing this. I know when I was little I had a tape recorder with a microphone that would record on to a tape, but nowadays, I don't know what the options are. We are a very non-techno family (we don't even own a TV, we have old cell phones, a non-flat-paneled computer, etc.) so please, can anyone help me out? Anyone know where I can find some sort of cheap voice recording devide?

Thanks!

[Marimami]

We're a no TV family, and she doesn't really use the computer at all beyond what I'm listing, but I work in high tech so we have gadgets. DD uses a mix of these things:

- Voice memos app on my iPhone
- Photo Booth application on my Mac
- Our Flip video camera (totally worth the $)
- Her digital camera or my iPhone that both have video recording abilities

DD loves to make instructional videos, which is hilarious to me because I do it for my job. Nothing is cooler than looking through the collection of videos she has made. Lots of insight into her mind! So, if I had to choose just one of those and didn't want to upgrade my computer or cell phone, I'd totally get a Flip.

Holli

[chfriend]

If you go to Walmart or Amazon, look for a "usb voice recorder." Cheap and mighty useful.

[moss]

ds just got an olympus voice recorder. it's top end and has the ability to link to the computer and is compatible with programs like dragon naturally speaking. it's the creme da la.

most mp3/video players can record voice, and with the amount of free audio resources out there (there have been several amazing threads on the topic), that is what i would choose next time as it can be used for both.

[moominmamma]

Your computer probably has a microphone input jack (usually the pink one on the back of the CPU). You can use Windows Media Recorder (a built-in Windows application) to record using that as an input. That's the cheapest way I know. You'd need a little microphone ... which you should be able to get for $10 or so.

If you're looking for more bells and whistles in the software, like the ability to edit tracks, add reverb and so on, you can download Audacity, which is open source (free) software with tons of capability.

If you have a CD-R drive in your computer you can use the built-in Windows software to burn CDs from the MP3 files you create using either Audacity or Media Recorder.

Miranda

[Casha'sMommy]

This probably doesn't help with a cd recording but my dd just received a small karaoke machine as a gift for her birthday. You might consider watching for something like this at Goodwill or on Craigslist or Freecycle.

[LuxPerpetua]

Thanks so much everyone! Off to digest the suggestions . . .