So, you make a lot of recordings. You’re an aspiring songwriter, and are constantly recording little pieces here and there. You are a poet, and you absolutely fill your iPhone with gigs of random thoughts. You are a journalist, and have hours of interviews to keep track of. Now, despite the fact that you already have a recording app on your device, not all of these little recordings need to be the full clarity (and large file size) offered by Apple’s Voice Memos. With iTalk Recorder by Griffin (free in the App store), you can choose the quality of the recording, thus saving space on your already full device.
Despite the fact that you have a very similar app on your device, iTalk Recorder has made some slight interface modifications that make this an attractive alternative to the Voice Memos app. Tap the app, and you will be looking at the recording interface. Here, unlike its iPhone native counterpart, the largest graphic in the presentation layer is the Start/Stop Record button. It’s big, red and in charge. Just below the big red button, you have a field for the name of the recording. Below that is your choice of recording quality, then, finally, your iTalk logo in the bottom left and the Done button in the bottom right.
Similar to Voice Memos, this app comes equipped with screen rotation functionality for easy access while recording. Once finished, tap Done, and you’ll be see the list of your recordings. Your recordings will be chronologically ordered, with the most recent on top. If you tap Edit in the upper left-hand corner, you can delete recordings or reorder them by dragging as you see fit. Tap one of the recordings to highlight, and you’ll bring up the small Play arrow to the left of the recording’s name. Tap the arrow to the right to see the info on the recording.
The recording information interface comes complete with the name, date, length, quality, file size and file format. There is also a field for notes, which I found extremely intuitive on Griffin’s part.
They did a nice job putting this app together. The only part that I really don’t agree with is the ad. If you don’t spring for the premium, $1.99 version of the app, you’ll plagued with a banner ad at the bottom of the list of recordings. It’s just below the little Info icon, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself being whisked off to the App store or Safari against your wishes.
Other than that, you have a slightly better, but not totally better, sound recorder for your iPhone. Worth it? You’ll have to be the judge. Try iTalk Recorder and see what you think.
