The other day I was playing some audio from a web site that would not allow me to save it in any reasonable format. Sure, I could purchase/download either WireTap Pro or Audio Hijack to do the job, but why go through all the hassle when I had a copy of QuickTime Pro?
Thanks to one of the new features in Quicktime Pro 7, you can easily record audio or video going into your Mac. But what about the audio coming out of it? All you need is a 1/8" to 1/8" audio cable (look at your local electronics store if you don't already have one). For me, I just plugged one end into the headphone/audio out jack, and the other end into the audio input/mic jack.
In QuickTime, make sure that the monitor/input volume is muted, hit the Record button, and then hit Stop when the audio is finished. I admit that this is a somewhat clunky solution compared to other software-based options, but I just wanted to use what I had without spending money on other apps.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20051219161639252