What's the quickest, easiest way to grab audio snippets?

[Bob]

I'm thinking Audacity or a hand-held recorder. 

I'd like to listen through a piece and record little snippets of it for later review. 

Little audio files as the end results.  Something I could mix up like flash cards. 


Hmm.  A little hand-held recorder might be easier than messing with audio settings in Audacity.  Not all computers can record the stereo mixer or have that option.

[quantum]

If the recordings are already digitized, Audacity would be more efficient.  You would also be able to preserve the quality of the copy (unless your source uses lossy compression).  Audacity will give you a visual representation of the audio to which you can quickly jump to the points you want to capture.  You would also be able to make quick and accurate snip points.  

Hand-held recorder line recording.  It's possible, but likely more time consuming and your snip point accuracy depends how well you can time pushing buttons.  You will also be handing two audio components: both to play and record. 

Hand-held recorder using microphone.  Don't bother.  Especially if you are intending to do critical listening of these audio clips.  

[timothy42b]

I have my Zoom H2 nearby when practicing.

I connect it to the laptop with a USB cable and use Audacity, rather than recording on the zoom.  That saves batteries, in fact it works without a battery. 

The results are very good.  Well, the results are accurate representations of my playing, which is not always good!  But I find this very convenient.  I can listen immediately, and save the occasional snip when I want to.