Alive WMA MP3 recorder-Playback sound quality is too low after recording radio stream

[dcmadam]

Very new ... first post ... usual excuses.

This forum appears to be just what the do-it-yourself ripper needs to get started.

My thanks to the very professional advice I've picked up on thus far.

A mate set up Alive WMA MP3 recorder software on my new 4400 @ 2.00Ghz pc.

Tried using it for the first time today. Play back of speech from radio streaming proved to be good. Encouraged, I went on to try classical, opera... but hit upon a problem. Sound quality was underwhelming. If this is the standard, it isn't worth bothering. Disappointed, I wondered if quality of pc sound card was to blame - the new unit was the very cheapest available on the market - Still I don't understand how the playback quality of speech recording should be good when music isn't?

Editing: I was hoping to be able to edit out various boring bits of speech between classical music tracks, but found it well-nigh impossible to manage the cursors.

Am I using the wrong (or sub-standard) software?

Any kind Sherpa inclined to comment will be much appreciated.

Thank you very much.