I want to record myself reading some family history stuff I’ve written, then transfer the recording on to a CD via my computer, which is a 2011 Apple iMac. What is the best way to do it?

The stuff I want to read is quite long, so I’d need to be able to pause and come back to it, while still ending up with one single recording. So I think a portable voice recorder might be the best option.

I’ve looked at some of these recorders on Amazon and elsewhere, but I’m not sure which ones will easily transfer a recording. And I’m baffled by a lot of the technical terms.

Can anyone recommend a good voice recorder that isn’t super-expensive and is simple to use?

Our doctors use the philips digital ones but they're a few hundred quid a pop. 2 of our doctors actually use their blackberry and then email the dictation to their secretafy via winscribe software.

What phone do you have? As nearly all phones these days have a voice record option and they're usually quite clear and easy to use.

I only have a cheap and cheerful PC but it has a microphone jack so I presume all you need is the right software package.----which you may already have on your PC?

If you have a microphone you can plug into your MAC you could use Quicktime to record? Loads of info on google... not sure about burning to a cd, as not a mac user myself, but would have thought it is possible.

Buy something like this "8GB Digital Voice Recorder, aLLreLi CP0037 Dictaphone w/ MP3 Player SPY [1165Hr] [Rechargeable] Perfect for Recording Interviews, Meetings, Students Learning & Conversation"

Click here for link

Whichever one you buy make sure you can transfer the MP3 files to your Mac with a USB cable.

Price: was £39.99 but on offer with Prime? £19.99 - I am not sure how Prime works so check it out first if you do buy this.
You can transfer the MP3 files to your Mac with the USB cable.
You won't be able to pause for a long period, so you will have to make new files for each time you go back to record more, but you will be able to join them together as below.

Then use the free software "Audacity" for Mac to join the files together, for the continued dialogue and also to burn to CD.
The is some videos on Youtube to show how to do this.
"Merge Mp3 files into one - YouTube" and "How to use Audacity to record CD - YouTube"

Hope this helps!

You can pick up Olympus digital voice recorders cheap enough on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OLYMPUS-WS-450S-DIGITAL-VOICE-RECORDER-/401070702491?hash=item5d61ad3f9b:g:KcEAAOSw~OVWvcko

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Olympus-VN-3500PC-Digital-Voice-Recorder-STUDENT-LECTURES-/381551361263?hash=item58d63bbcef:g:RfcAAOSw~OVWydVo

Thanks, everyone, for the very helpful suggestions - I'm sure I'll get somewhere now with recording a CD.