diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3e05aea..76e8884 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -135,23 +135,23 @@ then call `ownscribe` directly. The examples in [Usage](#usage) use the bare
 ### Record, transcribe, and summarize a meeting
 
 ```bash
-ownscribe                    # records system audio, Ctrl+C to stop
+ownscribe                    # records system audio + mic, Ctrl+C to stop
 ```
 
 This will:
-1. Capture system audio until you press Ctrl+C (or auto-stop after 5 minutes of silence)
+1. Capture system audio and your microphone until you press Ctrl+C (or auto-stop after 5 minutes of silence)
 2. Transcribe with WhisperX
 3. Summarize with your local LLM
 4. Save everything to `~/ownscribe/YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS/`
 
-> **Note:** By default, macOS shows a source picker on each launch so you can choose what to capture. To skip it and always record all system audio, set `capture_mode = "all"` in the `[audio]` config section.
+> **Note:** By default, ownscribe records all system audio directly with no prompt. To show a macOS source picker on each launch instead, set `capture_mode = "picker"` in the `[audio]` config section.
 
 On first run, WhisperX / pyannote and the summarization model may download model files. ownscribe shows a `Preparing models` step and best-effort download progress in the TUI while this happens. Use `ownscribe warmup` to pre-download all models.
 
 ### Options
 
 ```bash
-ownscribe --mic                               # capture system audio + default mic (press 'm' to mute/unmute)
+ownscribe --no-mic                            # capture system audio only (mic is on by default; press 'm' to mute/unmute)
 ownscribe --mic-device "MacBook Pro Microphone" # capture system audio + specific mic
 ownscribe --device "MacBook Pro Microphone"   # use mic instead of system audio
 ownscribe --no-summarize                      # skip LLM summarization
@@ -213,9 +213,9 @@ Config is stored at `~/.config/ownscribe/config.toml`. Run `ownscribe config` to
 [audio]
 backend = "coreaudio"     # "coreaudio" or "sounddevice"
 device = ""               # empty = system audio
-mic = false               # also capture microphone input
+mic = true                # also capture microphone input
 mic_device = ""           # specific mic device name (empty = default)
-capture_mode = "picker"   # "picker" = show source picker; "all" = capture all system audio directly
+capture_mode = "all"      # "all" = capture all system audio directly; "picker" = show source picker
 silence_timeout = 300     # seconds of silence before auto-stop; 0 = disabled
 
 [transcription]
diff --git a/src/ownscribe/cli.py b/src/ownscribe/cli.py
index ad0dbf2..9ac623a 100644
--- a/src/ownscribe/cli.py
+++ b/src/ownscribe/cli.py
@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@ def _dir_size(path: str) -> str:
 @click.option("--language", default=None, help="Language code for transcription (e.g. en, de, fr).")
 @click.option("--initial-prompt", default=None, help="Context text to prime Whisper (vocab, speaker names, etc.)")
 @click.option("--hotwords", default=None, help="Comma-separated words to boost Whisper recognition.")
-@click.option("--mic", is_flag=True, help="Also capture microphone input (mixed with system audio).")
+@click.option(
+    "--mic/--no-mic",
+    default=None,
+    help="Also capture microphone input (mixed with system audio); on by default.",
+)
 @click.option("--mic-device", default=None, help="Specific mic device name (implies --mic).")
 @click.option(
     "--keep-recording/--no-keep-recording",
@@ -62,7 +66,7 @@ def cli(
     language: str | None,
     initial_prompt: str | None,
     hotwords: str | None,
-    mic: bool,
+    mic: bool | None,
     mic_device: str | None,
     keep_recording: bool | None,
     template: str | None,
@@ -94,9 +98,12 @@ def cli(
         config.transcription.initial_prompt = initial_prompt
     if hotwords:
         config.transcription.hotwords = hotwords
-    if mic or mic_device:
-        config.audio.mic = True
+    if mic is False and mic_device:
+        raise click.UsageError("--no-mic and --mic-device cannot be used together.")
+    if mic is not None:
+        config.audio.mic = mic
     if mic_device:
+        config.audio.mic = True
         config.audio.mic_device = mic_device
     if keep_recording is not None:
         config.output.keep_recording = keep_recording
diff --git a/src/ownscribe/config.py b/src/ownscribe/config.py
index f5b0885..9d69144 100644
--- a/src/ownscribe/config.py
+++ b/src/ownscribe/config.py
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@
 [audio]
 backend = "coreaudio"     # "coreaudio" (default) or "sounddevice"
 device = ""               # empty = system audio; or device name/index for sounddevice
-mic = false               # also capture microphone input
+mic = true                # also capture microphone input
 mic_device = ""           # specific mic device name (empty = default)
-capture_mode = "picker"   # "picker" = show source picker; "all" = capture all system audio directly
+capture_mode = "all"      # "all" = capture all system audio directly; "picker" = show source picker
 silence_timeout = 300     # seconds of silence before auto-stop; 0 = disabled
 
 [transcription]
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@
 class AudioConfig:
     backend: str = "coreaudio"
     device: str = ""
-    mic: bool = False
+    mic: bool = True
     mic_device: str = ""
-    capture_mode: str = "picker"  # "picker" = show source picker; "all" = all system audio
+    capture_mode: str = "all"  # "all" = all system audio; "picker" = show source picker
     silence_timeout: int = 300  # seconds of silence before auto-stop; 0 = disabled
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index edecc7f..daafe2b 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -30,13 +30,20 @@ def test_no_summarize_flag(self):
             config = mock_run.call_args[0][0]
             assert config.summarization.enabled is False
 
-    def test_mic_flag(self):
+    def test_no_mic_flag(self):
         runner = CliRunner()
         with _mock_config(), mock.patch("ownscribe.pipeline.run_pipeline") as mock_run:
-            result = runner.invoke(cli, ["--mic"])
+            result = runner.invoke(cli, ["--no-mic"])
             assert result.exit_code == 0
             config = mock_run.call_args[0][0]
-            assert config.audio.mic is True
+            assert config.audio.mic is False
+
+    def test_no_mic_with_mic_device_errors(self):
+        runner = CliRunner()
+        with _mock_config():
+            result = runner.invoke(cli, ["--no-mic", "--mic-device", "USB Mic"])
+            assert result.exit_code != 0
+            assert "--no-mic and --mic-device cannot be used together" in result.output
 
     def test_device_flag(self):
         runner = CliRunner()
diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
index 977c00a..4e296f4 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -29,9 +29,13 @@ def test_default_output_format(self):
 
     def test_default_mic_settings(self):
         cfg = Config()
-        assert cfg.audio.mic is False
+        assert cfg.audio.mic is True
         assert cfg.audio.mic_device == ""
 
+    def test_default_capture_mode(self):
+        cfg = Config()
+        assert cfg.audio.capture_mode == "all"
+
 
     def test_default_diarization_telemetry_off(self):
         cfg = Config()
diff --git a/tests/test_pipeline.py b/tests/test_pipeline.py
index 6222eb4..5e851c7 100644
--- a/tests/test_pipeline.py
+++ b/tests/test_pipeline.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def test_silence_timeout_passed_to_coreaudio(self):
         with mock.patch("ownscribe.audio.coreaudio.CoreAudioRecorder") as mock_cls:
             mock_cls.return_value.is_available.return_value = True
             _create_recorder(config)
-            mock_cls.assert_called_once_with(mic=False, mic_device="", capture_mode="picker", silence_timeout=120)
+            mock_cls.assert_called_once_with(mic=True, mic_device="", capture_mode="all", silence_timeout=120)
 
     def test_capture_mode_passed_to_coreaudio(self):
         from ownscribe.pipeline import _create_recorder
@@ -68,12 +68,12 @@ def test_capture_mode_passed_to_coreaudio(self):
         config = Config()
         config.audio.backend = "coreaudio"
         config.audio.device = ""
-        config.audio.capture_mode = "all"
+        config.audio.capture_mode = "picker"
 
         with mock.patch("ownscribe.audio.coreaudio.CoreAudioRecorder") as mock_cls:
             mock_cls.return_value.is_available.return_value = True
             _create_recorder(config)
-            mock_cls.assert_called_once_with(mic=False, mic_device="", capture_mode="all", silence_timeout=300)
+            mock_cls.assert_called_once_with(mic=True, mic_device="", capture_mode="picker", silence_timeout=300)
 
     def test_silence_timeout_passed_to_sounddevice(self):
         from ownscribe.pipeline import _create_recorder