Thanks, vapors, so much for the suggestions. I did create a new place to put the sound file (in fact, I tried it in two different locations)and nothing worked. I'm guessing that your second point is where the problem is. I have tried a number of combinations. Your comment gave me an idea: It may be worth trying to use a mic through the sound card instead of the USB.
BUT, the program did NOT tell me that there was no data. SoundTap will not create a file when it has nothing to record (like if the input is not enabled), and it gives you a message that it did not create a file. In these cases, I was definitely getting sound (because the sound bars moved) and I got no message that the file was not created. Everything looked exactly the same as when I was successfully getting sound from a web site.
Thanks again!