I know, this is stupid... I'm just wondering if there's any way for me to record sounds without a microphone. On my old computer, I could play a sound file and just use Sound Recorder without a microphone, and the sounds would record right there for me. I can't do that on my laptop. Is there any way to find out if I have a microphone installed inside my computer and how to activate it so I can use it to record like I did on my old system? I'm sorry if I was not specific enough - if you guys are in need of further details to try and begin to offer me help, let me know. Become one with your computer.

LinZ is back, so is Chuckie :) Is the Mic un-muted in Windows Volume Control. If Microphone is not displayed in V.C., then click Options, then Properties, check mark the Mic box to get it displayed. Now try Sound Recorder to see if it has a built in Mic. May be an input jack somewhere to plug in a Mic.

I don't understand what it is you are trying to do. If you can play a soundfile then why do you need to "record" it? If it is streaming media that you want to capture off the internet then that is a completely different question and is nothing to do with a microphone. A microphone is used for capturing external sound such as your voice, and doesn't the inbuilt Msoft recorder have a 1 minute limit to it's recordings? Of course if you want to use voicechat functions in such p2p messaging programs as MSN Messenger or Skype then you need a microphone. If your PC does not have one then you will need to connect one to the appropriate jack of the soundcard. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

I think what we have here is a requirement to record sounds played from a web site - streamed - which could be done on a previous machine (desktop?), but not on the laptop in question. To do this needs a DUPLEX sound card - one which can play and record at the same time. As far as I can see, this is common on add-in cards, but not for the sound facilities built in to motherboards - as is usually the case on laptops. Consequently I suspect that this cannot be done on this machine, but I suggest you go to Dell website and checkout the specs of your machine - it will need the model and serial no. so get them to hand first as it is a real pain turning the machine upside down to find them whilst using it! The 1 min limit on Sound recorder can be circumnavigated. Open a large sound file with SR, and then click on NEW - it will let you record a file as long as the one you opened.