Audacity(R) is a free, open source (cross-platform) digital audio editor, recorder and mixer. It is a mature software application, that comes with a long list of features such as:

- recording (from a microphone or mixer)
- import/export of WAV, AIFF, AU, FLAC, MP3 (via LAME encoder) Ogg Vorbis files
- advanced editing (cut, copy, paste, delete commands with unlimited "Undo" and "Redo", multitrack mixing)
- digital effects (change the pitch, remove background noises, alter frequencies, remove vocals, create voice-overs for podcasts etc.) and plug-ins (support for LADSPA, Nyquist, VST Audio Unit, including VAMP analysis plug-ins).

The full list of Audacity(R) features can be found on its official homepage here. This software is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), offers support for over 20 languages and it runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.