Firstly what you'll need is a cable with 3.5mm connections on each end so that you can connect the earphone connection from your dictaphone to the line in socket on your PC sound card.

The next thing you'll need is some software running on your PC which when you press play on the dictaphone can take the audio transmitted over the cable and store it in a recognisable format on your PC. There is a sound recorder built into Windows, but it's pretty poor (I think it only records in relatively short chunks).

A quick google for "Free Sound Recorder" came up with this which may well do the job, or if you have a hunt around there may well be other similar applications.

Cheers for that, mate

One more stupid question, though. Where would I find the 'line in socket on my PC sound card'. Is that going to involve me taking anything apart, etc? Remember, I'm blonde here so I need things in dumb-speak

See told you was something like that on my computer its near the speakers slot but I guess each computer is different.

Normally, on the back of most computers there will be three 3.5mm jack sockets. One is a line out, one is a line in and one is a microphone in. The line out is what you'd connect to some speakers or your Hi-Fi to listen to the output of your computer, so if you have that hooked up it'll be next to that.

If it's a relatively new (less than a couple of years old) machine, all of the sockets should be colour coded. Looking at the back of mine, and checking the manual, it would appear that the line in socket is Blue.

If the sound card is of the non-colour-coded variety, you should find that you have 3 sockets - speaker/line out, line in and microphone.

Working on the basis that you've got your speakers plugged in that leaves you with a 50-50 chance of finding the line in socket. Look carefully at the back of the machine and you may well find (in the absence of colour) that each socket has a picture next to it. Generally, looking that the machines I've got access to at the moment, if it doesn't say "mic" next to the socket in question, the picture looks a little like an ice cream cone. Therefore the remaining socket must be your line in.

(Edited by gobstopper 18/01/2005 10:01)

Cheers for all your help, guys. It worked a treat and my interview with Ellen Muth should be posted on the net very soon