Features
- Record live audio
- Record computer playback on any Windows Vista or later machine
- Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs
- Edit WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP2, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis sound files
- AC3, M4A/M4R (AAC), WMA and other formats supported using optional libraries
- Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together
- Numerous effects including change the speed or pitch of a recording
- And more! See the complete list of features: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/features
Howto
Howto Export to Mono
The mp3 options channel mode is misleading. Even though it says "stereo", it will (can) eventually export a mono file. If the "use custom mix" options is turned on in the menu:
File -> Preferences -> Import/export
After the change then you will note an advanced mixing dialog will appear before the file is saved, and you can verify the file will be saved with 1 channel (i.e. mono).
In the next 2.1.3 version of Audacity when released there will be a "Force export to mono" checkbox for when you have a stereo track, but a mono file will still be exported from a mono track even if that checkbox is not enabled.
From the developers: The "joint stereo/ stereo" options refer to the "channel mode" command that Audacity sends to LAME (which encodes the MP3). Lame only uses that command if the audio is being exported with two channels. If Audacity is sending single channel mono for encoding, then LAME ignores the channel mode instruction. The settings in the MP3 options control all subsequent MP3 exports until the user changes the settings. The "channel mode" instruction can't be "greyed out" when exporting a mono track because if the channel mode option is not set then LAME will not know what to do if the next file to be exported is a stereo track. The MP3 options do not only apply to the current exported file, they apply to all exported MP3 files.