Audacity :a practical free tool for recording and editing sounds

Audacity is a free audio web2.0 tool . It is an open software for recording and editing sounds . Audacity is available for most of the operating systems such as Windows ,Mac OSX, GNU, and Lunux . This is great application that is completely free and very helpful as far as education is concerned .

Some features of Audacity

Here is a list of the most important features that Audacity offers to its users . Most of these features are listed in Audacity wiki .

• It is completely free
• It requires a quick download
• It allows you to record sound and edit it as you like
• It lets you record up to 16 channels at once
• It allows you import and export most of the supported audio files
• It lets you mix an unlimited number of sound tracks
• It also allows you to save your sound or audio clip to share it with others

check the full list of features that audacity offers

How can i get started using Audacity ?

Head over to Audacity main page and
For MAC users :
1. Inside your Applications folder, create a folder called "Audacity"
2. Double-click the downloaded .dmg to mount it
3. Option-drag the whole of the .dmg contents (not the .dmg itself) into the "Audacity" folder you created
4. Double-click Audacity.app inside the Applications folder to launch it
For Windows users :
1. Simply click on the Link
2. Select the directory for your download
3. Once the download is complete, click on the downloaded .exe file
4. The setup will run, and Audacity will be installed on your computer.
Now to leaqrn how to use this tool watch these tutorial videos :

How to record using Audacity Tutorial :

How to Edit using Audacity

How to Create an MP3 with Audacity

Applications of Audacity in education

Audacity has created a wikispace where they have explained all the educational uses of their tool in the classroom . you can visit http://audacityined.wikispaces.com/education , and in what follows are some of the ideas they suggested .

• Record student assessments or presentations.
• Record student performances, celebrations, and other events (including guest speakers).
• Record student interviews (such as oral histories, documentaries, reinactments, and "mockumentaries").
• Record course content (for just-in-time, on-demand learning).
• Record spoken language for English Language Development, Language Arts, or Foreign Language.
• Record exerpts from text books, novels, or poetry for language arts.
• Record weekly announcements, assignments, or "week in review" segments (including sub plans).
• Record multi-track soundtracks for Movie Maker projects.
• Record narrations for presentations (even PowerPoint).
• Record content for student radio stations or podcasts.
• Record instructions (or How-To's) for certain lessons.
• Record a field trip and bring it into the classroom... or more classrooms.

Visit Audacity wikispace to learn more .
That’s it about Audacity : a practical audio tool for recording and editing sounds

Here is another free audio tool that you might want to check out :

Audioboo : Your audio alternative in education

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools

1. Presentation/Mapping Tools

2. Organizing / Collaborative Tools

3. Google / ResearchTools

4. Audio/Image/Music Tools

5. Converting/Writing/Storytelling Tools

6. Video Tools

7. Teacher Resources

8. Best of The Rest