Capturing whatever audio is coming through my speakers

[ChaunceyK]

It seems to me, on the surface anyway, that there should be a simple & free way to capture whatever audio is coming through my speakers. Whether I'm playing a game, visiting a website, or voice-chatting online, if sound is coming through my speakers, shouldn't there be an easy way to capture it?

I'm hoping there's a simple answer to this, and I'd also appreciate an explanation on how to do it.

Thank you!

[Soopafresh]

Here's the last free version of SilentBob. It's pretty self explanatory

silentbob.zip

[olyteddy]

A lot (not all) soundcards allow 'what you hear' recording. It will usually show up in your Mixer applet as 'Stereo Mix' if yours does. All you need to record with these is a simple editor like Audacity. For those systems that don't have the 'Mix' available, and for some programs that use 'Direct Sound' you can use a virtual sound card like TotalRecorder.

[ChaunceyK]

SilentBob & Audacity didn't work for me, but TotalRecorder did. THANKS!!