Right.

But Sound Recorder is included on all Windows XP machines. Pretty much universal now. Audacity would need to be loaded onto the computers. Some of the family aren't on the internet, but they do have XP. So, with Sound Recorder, I can standardize the instructions for the entire family and get decent sound quality.

As far as compression, I couldn't locate a free version of Audacity. Some free TRIALS, but that was it. So I found CDex and went with that. Totally free, easy to use, lots of range. I'm sure Audacity is better, and if someone wants to post a link to the free version I'll look at it.

As far as sound quality and size of files, I'm happy with what I'm capturing and converting. These are just snapshots of people's voices...recordings that will allow people in the future to match up faces with voices. And the recordings at the settings I described are quite lifelike and not "lossy" after conversion.

Sure, I'll save the .wav files to CD-R, but the compressed files will be circulated (on disc) among family with scanned photos, obituaries, etc.

I know this is an endless debate, but in the final analysis we all have to go with what meets our criteria. What I've described will do the trick.

Thanks again.