I wrote a song for my boyfriend's birthday. I'd like to make it in to an mp3 and hide it in a cd I'm putting together that's filled with the songs he likes. However... I don't know how to make an mp3 file, or how to record things, or anything, really. Could somebody recommend a good program for putting this together? One that's free is preferable, but if it's really cheap, that'll work too.

REAPER. It's free (it'll just bug you to buy it after the trial, but you'll still have full access to it). It works really well for recording as well as mixing. Just acquaint yourself with the online manual and help community and you'll catch on quick :)

Or if you want it easier and straightforward you can use Audacity. But understanding Reaper will give you a lot more of benefit. :)

Also, if you want to keep the audio high quality, the WAV format will be better to burn than a mp3 format.

Thank you very much!!! :)