I might be able to get on our level Midnight, let me give it a try. Once you record your song, then edit it, on Audacity you send the song (export) the file to a destination (my music, my documents, etc.), then (and I don't know that you have to do this), I sent it to an "audio host". In my case, I used "Soundclick". At that point, you have it stored and it's saved, and you can share it. In fact, once you send it to a destination, or folder, it is saved.
Does that make sense?
From the beginning (and I've learned all of this since you started this thread), your microphone or instrument can't just record to the computer (that I'm aware of), so you need what's called an "interface" in order to do it. The interface (in my case Focusrite) turns your analog microphone signal into a digital signal so it can be heard (recorded) by the computer. When you buy your interface, you download a driver and software in order to run the interface and allow it and the computer to communicate.
At that point, you need a "DAW" or Digital Audio Workstation. That's what Audacity (and a whole host of other DAWs) is. The DAW allows you to take your music, and edit out the distortion, the highs, the lows, and save your music.
It wasn't that hard to get started.......even for me. and I AM the most tech challenged person I know.
Any of you, PLEASE feel free to correct or clarify anything I've said. It's a huge learning curve for me as well. Midnight, if you know all of this and I'm insulting your intelligence, please forgive me.
West