[zerolimitschamp]

I realize this is probably the most trivial request you folks have ever seen, but I am a total neophyte about this.

All I want to do is plug my mic into my PC and record between 15 minutes and an hour of audio.

I would like to download that audio to my ipod and upload it to a web site.

Can some one recommend a good, safe, (preferably) cheap, software system for that?

Thanks

ZLChamp

[Stream Recorder]

You can use freeware direct sound recording software that can record anything from your sound card. See the following thread for more:
Direct sound recording software - record anything from your sound card

99% of direct sound recording programs can record to MP3 format so unless you need M4B bookmarkable files or something else, you won't have any problem.