Alice you can record and mix down a 2 1/2 minute song into 350 KB - That will upload in a couple of minutes. You need a RealProducer as well as the RealPlayer. Also handy to have a Mic and some kind of home recording to make the master. I use a Nickamichi Analogue and a Sony Digital to make sound on sound tracks. I use a fostex Scrach Pad to fiddle with that and that also is a handy Mixer.

Another way is to make a wav file and use a MP3 utility to convert that into MP3 format. Varies from 50% to 90% reduction in a file. 10 megs can be 'zipped' into any where from 100kb to 5 megs.

You could use any two tape recorders or if you prefer to use the computer there are excellent software packs out there that do the same thing. I am already used to the old way and cannot change, so I've not bothered with the software way. Any Pentium machine with a soundcard and a big hard drive will do the job well. 1 Minute of 48 khz stereo is 5 megs. Typical mix down is 30 minutes so - 150 meg - a higher speed drive is also recommended and lots of memory like 64 meg or better.

Actually it is cheaper to use old technology as you could get 2 used stereo video recorders and a mixer to do the same job. Audio quality on stereo video recorders is xcellent.