Peggy Pelrine wants to record classes and get clear playback

I'm looking for a decent recorder for my classes – one that records voices and is clear when played back. There are so many to choose from that I am totally confused. I want to spend $50 to $125.
Peggy Pelrine

If you decide on the features you want, you will find that many of the choices disappear. The key things to consider include the recording format, the amount of storage, whether you need an external microphone, and how the recorder is powered.

For voice recording, rather than simply dictation, the main options are MP3 and Microsoft's WMA (Windows Media Audio) format at bit rates up to about 192kbps, which is "super high quality" (SHQ) in this market. Recording at that level uses about 84MB of storage an hour, so a 1GB machine will capture about 12 hours of classes. If you need more, you can record at a lower bit rate (128kbps is good enough for voice) or buy a recorder that takes SD expansion cards.

If you need to use an external microphone, make sure it has the correct socket. Also check the recording time. Small digital recorders typically use AAA batteries, so you can easily carry spares.

Voice recorders that should meet your needs include the Sony ICD-UX71 ($99.95, or $82.01 at Amazon.com) and the Olympus WS-400S ($79.99, or $55.48 at Amazon.com). Both have a built-in USB port for transferring files to a PC without using a cable. However, the WS-400S records to WMA while the Sony has MP3. Also, the ICD-UX71 is available in red, pink, black or silver (in some countries).

The next step up is to more expensive music recorders such as the Edirol R-09H, Olympus LS-10 and Zoom H4. The Zoom H2 is just beyond your price range.

Choosing a voice recorder

I'm looking for a decent recorder for my classes – one that records voices and is clear when played back. There are so many to choose from that I am totally confused. I want to spend $50 to $125.

Peggy Pelrine

JS: If you decide on the features you want, you will find that many of the choices disappear. The key things to consider include the recording format, the amount of storage, whether you need an external microphone, and how the recorder is powered.

For voice recording, rather than simply dictation, the main options are MP3 and Microsoft's WMA (Windows Media Audio) format at bit rates up to about 192kbps, which is "super high quality" (SHQ) in this market. Recording at that level uses about 84MB of storage an hour, so a 1GB machine will capture about 12 hours of classes. If you need more, you can record at a lower bit rate (128kbps is good enough for voice) or buy a recorder that takes SD expansion cards.

If you need to use an external microphone, make sure it has the correct socket. Also check the recording time. Small digital recorders typically use AAA batteries, so you can easily carry spares.

Voice recorders that should meet your needs include the Sony ICD-UX71 ($99.95, or $82.01 at Amazon.com) and the Olympus WS-400S ($79.99, or $55.48 at Amazon.com). Both have a built-in USB port for transferring files to a PC without using a cable. However, the WS-400S records to WMA while the Sony has MP3. Also, the ICD-UX71 is available in red, pink, black or silver (in some countries).

The next step up is to more expensive music recorders such as the Edirol R-09H, Olympus LS-10 and Zoom H4. The Zoom H2 is just beyond your price range.

Too many Explorers

Whenever I use Internet Explorer, the Windows Task Manager tells me that I'm running two iexplore.exe files. Whenever I try to stop the other one, it returns almost immediately. It looks like someone's hijacking my browser. I've just wasted nearly two hours of my life (most of it waiting in a queue) to no good result trying to get some sense out of an analyst at Norton, which doesn't find anything in my system.

Iain Noble

JS: It's quite common for Trojans and adware (possibly Lop) to pretend to be Internet Explorer, so you may well have a problem. Since Norton hasn't found it, turn it off and try running Kaspersky's free Virus Removal Tool, Malwarebytes and Super-AntiSpyware.

If these don't find anything in "normal" mode, reboot into safe mode and run them again. You may also be able to find whatever is hooking into your system by using Sysinternals' Autoruns, from Microsoft. This tells you what your PC is loading, but in great detail, so it needs to be used with extreme care.

If all else fails, post a Hi-Jack This log in an online forum such as Bleeping Computer or Tech Support Guy.

I'm assuming that you are not running Internet Explorer 8. This uses different processes to open different tabs, so if you have a dozen windows open in IE8, this will usually result in five or six instances of iexplore.exe, depending on how much memory you have. (The more tabs you open, the more often IE8 will re-use the same processes, so as to avoid consuming all your PC's resources.)

Funny!

My wife's computer roars with laughter for a second or so every so often when she is not using it. Any ideas?

Joe Mundy

JS: Since you have written from an AOL email address, I suspect the laughter comes from an instant messaging program. Go to the Buddy List and click Setup, then IM Settings. Go to the Expressions tab and pick the option that says "Do Not Play Sounds".

Backchat

• Louis Auty wanted some free software for drawing tables, graphs and flowcharts for use in Microsoft Office. Tony Meacock suggests Serif DrawPlus, where older versions are cheap or free, while Neil Hollow suggests trying OpenOffice Draw.

Bobbie Johnson's your guide this week as we hobnob with Britain's digital inclusion champion, Martha Lane Fox. After co-founding Lastminute.com in 1998 she went on to become one of the most high-profile figures of the dotcom boom. After stepping down from her day-to-day role with the company in 2003, these days she juggles work with her chain of karoake bars and a charitable foundation, as well as a role as an adviser to the British government. In that advisory role she has responsibility for Digital Inclusion strategy – which is examining how technology can help people who are currently in the poorest parts of society. The taskforce she leads issued its first report this week looking into the benefits of inclusion, and Charles Arthur met Martha to find out more.

Kevin Anderson also catches up with the hackers and modders of Tinker.it! to find out why everyone loves Arduino – the electronics boards that allow you to create your own electronic devices.

Not only that, but in the wake of BBC drama Micro Men, we'll also hear Vic Keegan's thoughts on what went wrong with Britain's computer industry after its 1980s boom. There's also a look at this week's news headlines and we hear what you've got to say about last week's show.

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This week Amazon announced the UK launch of its latest generation of e-reader. But don't all rush at once, warns one American writer – despite the hype, the Kindle 2 is still no match for the book

I ordered a Kindle 2 from Amazon. How could I not? There were banner ads for it all over the web. Whenever I went to the Amazon.com website, I was urged to buy one. "Say Hello to Kindle 2," it said, in tall letters on the main page. If I looked up a particular writer on Amazon – Mary Higgins Clark, say – and then reached the page for her knuckle-gnawer of a novel Moonlight Becomes You, the top line on the page said: "Moonlight Becomes You and over 270,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon's new wireless reading device. Learn more." Below the picture of Clark's physical paperback ($7.99) was another teaser: "Start reading Moonlight Becomes You on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get yours here." If I went to the Kindle page for the digital download of