Record a speech

[Mervyn & Giuliana Bond]

I wish to record a speech by talking to the microphone in my computer 
(iMac G4 lampstand).
I've tried using the audio from iMovie but the format is not 
recognised by iTunes from which I hoped to burn to an audio CD.
This might seem like horse and cart stuff to those who rip and cut 
and perform all sorts of magic on dvd let alone audio.
I don't wish to record on a tape and then hook up to my amplifier 
that is connected to my tape player.
Is there some software I should obtain that will do the trick?
Thank you for suggestions.
Merv
--
"Science teaches that we must see in order to believe, but we must 
also believe in order to see."