Use an audio program like Sound Forge. Start Sound Forge in record mode and anything that goes through the sound system will be recorded in the .WAV audio file it makes. When the recording is finished use the edit features to crop the ends off and adjust the volume if needed.
For example, if you want to copy the sound off a video file, just play the video while Sound Forge is in record mode. The output file will be a .WAV file. It then can be converted to MP-3 with an audio converter program if that's what you want.
Answered Aug 10, 2010
Edited Aug 10, 2010