Goldwave is a nifty little Sound Editor for Windows available as shareware from www.goldwave.com. It may not be as feature rich as the latest Cool Edit Pro 2.0, but for $40 its a pretty good bargain, if you don't plan to create the greatest track ever made.
It offers among other things
Besides the whole software just takes up 1.5 MB on your HDD and rarely (if ever crashes) - unlike some software I know. It does not offer multitrack mixing by itself (as Cool Edit does), but with Multiquence available from the same site, you can mix not only audio, but video, images and captions as well.
The software does have a few deficiencies though. It does not have a plugin interface, and this limits the expandability of the software by the user. It is slow when compared to Cool Edit and the lack of the integrated multitrack mixer makes its use difficult for the professional. It does not offer the sophistication higher end editors like Cool Edit or Sound Forge offer.
All the same its worth checking out. And for the record, I am not part of Goldwave Inc. and am not endorsing the product. :-)