My replies going to be similar to Superboyac.
Generally all audio editing software use exactly the same methods to edit, the layouts, the tool funtions etc, all based on the late 70`s DAW`s.
Now, looking at your specifics, it looks like your looking for some "auto takes" system. The best auto take system ive come across is sony`s sound forge. It can be set up to automatically create regions for multiple takes , also auto rewind for re-takes and automatic punch in settings (punch means it records to a specific time). Unfortunatly Soundforge is not meant for multiple layering of recordings, its a pure editing tool, its not a multitrack application. But it will work with mp3 nativly (well, in a way you wont notice.) Just a note, its generally a bad idea to edit from mp3 as everytime your editing and saving your loosing bits of audio data as its re-compressing.
I personally dont really bother that much with automatic auto takes, i prefer to do everything in post, once everything has been recorded. You`ll find it probably a lot easier to edit a single long audio file with all the takes already recorded, rather than trying to get the takes right during the recording . If you say after every take go "BEEP" very loudly (or generate a test tone) after every take, you`ll find it very easy to visually see your takes on the waveform. But that of course is all down to personal preference of working.
The august DC podcast was mastered with the following
Adobe Audition
Sony Soundforge (only to edit out some bizarre audio headers in audacity`s file format that audition didnt like)
(admitidly , total overkill for a simple podcast, but i have them anyway)
JavaJones uses a free app called Audacity to record his segments, and does a fine job, its also muti tracking (in a basic sense)
Another of couple of apps to check out (that are not free, in fact a bit pricy) would be:
Sony`s Acid (has a built in sample editor), Acid is really designed to be a loop based multitrack editor, and the tools that go with it reflect that, but can be used just as well as a basic multitracker.
Cubase SX (as mentioned by superboyac)
Also not forgetting this post here
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=4551.0 , which actually may be an ideal solution. (its basically a free Adobe Audition), and even better it supports VST so you can download filters and compressors to tidy up the audio (especially if your working with a cheap mic)