Whether it is to record an interview or to send a quick note to yourself, having a voice recording app on your phone or tablet can prove to be helpful. Here are some of the apps that I have had success using on my iPad and on my Android phone.
SoundCloud
is an online service for recording, hosting, and sharing audio tracks.
You can use SoundCloud to upload and share audio recordings that you
have stored on your computer. SoundCloud can also be used for directly
recording a spoken track. One of the really neat features of SoundCloud
is the option to comment on tracks as they are playing. To make a
comment just play the track, click on it, then type your comment in the
comment box. Your comment(s) will be attached to the spot in the track
that you clicked on while listening. SoundCloud has apps for Android and
iOS devices.
Audio Memos
is an iOS app for creating and sharing audio messages. The app is
available in three versions. The free version is limited to 3MB
recordings, the $0.99 version is limited to 15MB recordings, and the
“pro” $9.99 version has a nice selection of audio editing tools
built-in. Some of the features that are available in all three versions
of the app are automatic pause if a call comes in while you’re
recording, recording volume controls, and recording even when your
iPhone or iPad goes to sleep.
Audioboo is a free tool for
creating audio messages to share on the web. Using Audioboo you can
record messages on your mobile device using Audioboo’s free Android or
iPhone apps. You can also record messages directly on the Audioboo
website. Messages that you create can be shared by embedding your
recording into a blog or website. You can also share messages by posting
them to Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, and Tumblr.
Tape a Talk is a recording app for Android. The feature of Tape a Talk
that is most appealing to me is that recordings can continue even if
your phone has turned off the display (something that some other
apps don’t do). You can also record to an existing audio file on your
phone. Recordings are saved on your phone. The free version of Tape a
Talk is ad-supported while the pro version costs about $6 USD.
iRecord might be the simplest of the apps I’ve tried. It has a very straight-forward
interface. Simply launch the app, press record, press it again to stop
the recording, then save to your phone. The length of your recordings is
only limited by the space you have on your phone’s SD card.
Hi-Q MP3 Recorder,
as the name implies, records your audio as an MP3 that you can export
from your phone’s SD card, email to yourself, or send via Bluetooth to
storage off of your phone. The app will continue to record even if your
phone has changed screens or gone to black for battery preservation. The
free version of this app allows you to record for up to ten minutes.
