Best Voice Recorder App for Droid?

[Shivv]

I have a meeting coming up at work next week that I think is in my best interests to record. Going through the Market I saw that some of the audio recorders are buggy, especially with the Droid. Can anyone recommend a stable, decent audio recorder that I can use?

Also, before anyone asks, I am from a state where only one party needs to consent to recording, so there are no legal issues here. To be honest, I plan on asking everyone there if they mind if I record it anyway. Should any of them say no, I still won't have any problems recording it.

 

[eruisto]

I would like to know as well... All the recording apps I've seen record in 3gp (which is a PIA to convert and edit). I need something that records in wav or mp3 (or something more common). Or a program to recode 3gp files.

 

[PittCaleb]

I've been using the generically titled "Voice Recorder" with few problems. Love how you can "save & send" when you stop recording. Unfortunately, it is a 3gp file which won't play natively in any e-mail or browsers that I'm aware of. So sending quick notes to a friend via voice isn't really that easy with this app.

PittCaleb

 

[johninbigd]

I've also tried using Voice Recorder and it seems to work well. You might want to see if you can find a program that will convert 3gp to mp3, though.

 

[PittCaleb]

I can convert it on my desktop easy enough. What I can not do however is use Voice Recorder to record a brief or not so brief message to my wife then "Save & Send" to her at work as her "locked down" laptop has no easy way to play the resultant file.

I do use it for voice notes for myself, even longer things for myself. I just don't use it to e-mail to others voice messages.

We need a Droid based file convertor that can then send the file for us as an MP3 file.

PittCaleb

 

[johnnybirdman]

I use to have note2self for my winmo phone prior to the Droid. It was slick little app that would record and save or email in either .wav or .ogg. I contacted the developer and asked about an android version and they say they are working on it. Not a big help now but something to look out for and/or make a request with the developer, more requests, more likely to get done.
Welcome to WebIS.net - Note2Self
J.

 

[johninbigd]

Yeah, there isn't much point in sending someone a 3gp file. I wish we had a tool to convert to something else. Too bad there isn't an Android version of the Lame MP3 encoder.

 

[galt]

I would suggest you look at Notes EVerywhere. This is a kick-a$$ app in many ways, and voice notes is one of the options. Lets you organize your notes well, add written text to a voice note, lots more. and you can email file as well. Promising a copy to people in the meeting will overcome their concerns about being recorded. Emailing it to them as soon as meeting ends will impress them.

Some features may require the Pro version, which is $4.44 (3 Euros) and well worth it !!

Make sure your phone mic will pick up all the voices too, or you may need a conference phone add-on (I saw a bluetooth one that was way cool).

 

[johninbigd]

Did you mean Note Everything? I just tried it and it looks pretty cool, but it also uses 3gp for audio. Until people have 3gp players, that's not much use.

 

[aaron5610]

When I send from voice recorder it opens and plays in real player, I haven't tried any other players however.

 

[galt]

Boy what a crappy post I did.

Yes, Note Everything. I fought for three days to get Pro version downloaded from AM, just installed it this morning. I had not yet tried the "mail audio" function when I posted, and now that I have tested it I see that we have YAS. Yet Another Standard. 3gp looks to be here forever, and it is up to the PC software people to support this new codec. As noted, the new Realplayer does so. Not sure about Apple or Microsoft yet, but they clearly will have to do so quickly.

Whatever you do, be sure to test it. I noticed playback audio levels on the PC were way below what they were on my phone.

NEPro is still the way to go IMHO. If anyone wants a copy, they MIGHT have to download free Realplayer SP.

 

[PittCaleb]

On my PC, the default player for 3gp files is Quicktime. Interesting, but since that's an Apple product, perhaps these files play natively for Mac users. What I need is something that might play in-line in a mail or web browser without launching an external application.

I researched earlier today without success. It's claimed 3gp is a codec used for "3G Cell Phones" (although 2G and 4G phones also use it). What I don't understand however is how it is better or differs from MP3 or why MP3 just isn't used as it is the web standard, heck, even oog files (or is it ogg) would be better, imho.

PittCaleb

 

[johninbigd]

I think technically, mp3 is a licensed format. It isn't free, legally, so any MP3 encoders technically need to pay for their license. That's my guess as to why these apps don't use mp3 to begin with.

 

[johnnybirdman]

I think technically, mp3 is a licensed format. It isn't free, legally, so any MP3 encoders technically need to pay for their license. That's my guess as to why these apps don't use mp3 to begin with.

True, and .ogg is the FOSS format so I'm surprised that is not being used.

 

[jessefleury]

There is an app called 'Rehearsal Assistant' and its free. It will record to a .wav file and save it to your SD card. Think it also has an option to send via email. You have to change the setting to record uncompressed.

 

[DroidJnkie]

There is an app called 'Rehearsal Assistant' and its free. It will record to a .wav file and save it to your SD card. Think it also has an option to send via email. You have to change the setting to record uncompressed.

This is the same one that I have. I used it, but on playback my voice sounded a lot higher than it really is. Not squirrel-level, but definitely not accurate. I asked my wife to listen to it to see if it actually sounds like me (you sound different to yourself than you do to others), and she told me that it was a lot higher than what I actually sound like.

Is that because it was compressed, or what? (I played it back on the actual phone).

 

[srothkin]

So far, the best recording quality for music that I have found is Rehearsal Assistant with uncompressed (to .wav). To test I played some music from my PC and recorded that on the droid. Then I transferred the .wav file to that same PC and played it. The recording didn't sound exactly the same as the original (mainly due to limitation of Droid mic.) but it was OK.

With the same test, I found that the .3gp (compressed) format that Rehearsal Assistant and all the other recording apps used sounded much worse when played back on the PC. I tested several of the recorders from the market. They all performed similar. The .3gp format/encoder might be ok for recording speech (e.g. a lecture), but not for music and probably not for singing.

With Rehearsal assistant I recorded (uncompressed to .wav) my voice teacher plinking out the melody to a song on the piano. Playing that back on the computer it sounded pretty close to the original. Maybe not perfect, but seems good enough to practice to.

I suppose a decent external full-range mic for the Droid (if there is such a mic out there) would improve the audio quality.

 

[GorillaTheHutt]

the feature of Note Everything that i really like is that you can make a shortcut to a new voice memo on your desktop. you just click the shortcut and it automatically starts recording. this is great for when i'm in the car or something like that and want to make a quick "note to self."

 

[mrdickens]

Hi-my girlfriend and I are trying to narrow down between the DROID and I-PHONE.

It comes down to recording her singing classes . She needs to record her piano accompaniast in class . She needs to record songs of variable length and her class (up to half hour). Is there anyway one can record this class CLEARLY -- we are just speaking AUDIO -- not worried about video .

 

[Mswest]

mrdickens- You ABSOLUTELY should get an iphone. I just bought a droid, deciding to stick with Verizon and not have calls dropped all over the place, than switch to ATT. I take guitar lessons and my teacher always records part of our lesson and emails it to me. Her I-record app on her Iphone is CRYSTAL clear. So I tried to record myself on the droid and it is laughable how terrible it sounds- kind of like I am talking through a tin can from far away. I downloaded at least 5 recording apps as well and they all sound the same. It was so bad that I called verizon and they told me to check with a local verizon store to see if it was just my phone...it wasn't. The people at the store suggested that I use a recording program on my computer. Kind of beside the point, and a big bummer. If anyone knows of a way to make my recording sound better- PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Thanks.

 

[DA717]

Attach to the post is a test recording I did with HiFi MP3 and OGG Audio Recorder (320k compressed mp3). The megaupload has the same type of recording with Rehearsal Assistant (uncompressed).

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service


I'm not a big audiophile, but I prefer the HiFi recorder. The droid is basically sitting 1.5 -2 feet away from the guitar.

 

[BlueIce5249]

Hi-my girlfriend and I are trying to narrow down between the DROID and I-PHONE.

It comes down to recording her singing classes . She needs to record her piano accompaniast in class . She needs to record songs of variable length and her class (up to half hour). Is there anyway one can record this class CLEARLY -- we are just speaking AUDIO -- not worried about video .

Why don't you just pony up a few dollars and get a proper digital recorder? It seems silly to buy a phone to record a singing class.

As for the OP, I use Voice Recorder as well and have had no problems with it.

 

[billtvshow]

I will also endorse Rehearsal Assistant. The uncompressed wav recording is just awesome. It's clear enough that I've used it in a pinch for voice over in my Youtube videos and I wouldn't do that if it wasn't pristine. Also the app is very quick and responsive; virtually no delay in beginning the recording and the playback is simple and fast. It's really made to be an efficient and useful tool. One of my personal recommendations was implemented by the developer (labels applied to file names), who is very responsive.

Recordoid is prettier and also has the wav recording, but I only like it for the looks. It takes too many steps to do things in it that you can do in RA in one step.

 

[richcowell]

I've recently moved from Nokia Smartphones, and have used Ultimate Voice Recorder by Fingertip Access for years,It was awesome and gave you a choice of 3GP / WAV... but I installed it on my Desire and it didn't seem to record any calls...

I looked at Rehearsal Assistant but there was no mention of automatically recording calls...

Has anyone found any new software for our needs?

 

[bbuckley0]

Phone call recording is not yet supported by Android (you can only record sound that comes to the mic, you can not directly record the incoming call channel).
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If you are looking for a more powerful audio recorder, try Livo Recorder Pro on the Android Market. It supports multiple recording formats, (WAV, AMR, etc), pause-and-resume for both recording and playback, a nice desktop widget, email options (including auto-emailing recordings when they complete), and other features. See Mobile

Check it out!

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