Finally! A Full-Featured Sound Recorder

[Brad Adrian]

<a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;catalog=0&amp;amp;sectionId=0&amp;productId=51054">http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;catalog=0&amp;amp;sectionId=0&amp;productId=51054</a><br /><br />If you've been looking for a sound recorder and player that goes beyond the simple recorder application that came with your Pocket PC, VITO Technology has released just the thing for you.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/soundexplorer.jpg" /><br /><br />"VITO SoundExplorer is a multifunctional sound recorder and player that offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date set of tools suitable for both professional and amateur use. It turns your PocketPC into full-scale digital dictaphone providing comfortable use and powerful instruments for interviewing, lecture recording and everyday life needs."<br /><br />Some of the features that intrigued me the most are:<br /><br />• Numerous recording quality options<br />• Ability to copy, cut, rename and delete sound files from within the application<br />• Recording directly to Storage Card<br />• Automatic playback of all files in a single folder<br /><br />You can grab a free demo copy of SoundExplorer from Handango or get the full version for only $19.95. <b>OR...............</b><br /><br />You can cross your fingers and hope to win one of the <b>five</b> free copies that VITO Technologies is giving away to registered Thoughts readers! We'll hold the drawing in a few days, so make sure you're <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/profile.php?mode=register">registered</a>!

[Reza]

FYI Resco recently released a similar product: Resco Audio Recorder (http://www.resco-net.com/audiorec.asp)

http://www.resco-net.com/images/screenshots/ar1.png

Features
MP3 (LP) recording 8O
PCM (SP) recording
CF, SD, MMC memory cards support
recording tags
voice activated recording system (VAS)
digital 2 x gain of device's Microphone
quick FW,BW playback
scheduled recording
export/import records
one-touch Recording
extended device buttons control
adjustable voice activation level
real time signal strength indication
record indicator
input Level indicator
skins

[bblock]

Cool! I've been waiting for something like this ever since Alexander Zavorine's NoteM Voice Notes Recorder left me wanting the ability to choose a quality. Resco's product looks very cool too - voice-activted recording? Thank you!

Wait - on the screenshot of the Resco product, it looks like the PCM (higher-quality) mode only records at 11KHz. That may be okay for voice, but not music. That could be a limitation...

Anyone played with either product yet, and can compare the two?


UPDATE: The screen shots on Resco's site seem to indicate you can choose the quality for either LP or SP mode, so you may not be limited to 11KHz. Mmmm...

UPDATE #2: The audio clip icons shown in the screenshots on Resco's site remind me of NoteM (see above). Is this a generic icon (the one with the green thing behind the floppy disk) or did Resco buy NoteM and greatly expand upon it?

[mpattman]

I tried the Resco Audio Recorder but I could not get it to make a recording properly and I could not get the clip feature to work. It looks like the users on the support forum are also having problems......

http://www.ppczone.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=22

[JoeMoon]

I run a telemarketing company, and many times I would like to be able to plug in an input to my PPC to do some phone recordings... I am amazed that none of the manufacturers have incorporated an external mic input...

I wonder how hard would it be to hardwire one in?

Joe...

[Jason Dunn]

It's pretty disrespectful to take a thread about a new product where they're offering to give away free copies to Thoughts readers, and turn it into a discussion about a competing product. Have some class guys! :?

[whodat]

For either recorder product, regardless of the sampling rates available, sound quality is going to be limited by the quality of the built in microphone, which probably wasn't designed for music. Unless, has anyone come up with something like a high quality CF microphone?

[mpattman]

It's pretty disrespectful to take a thread about a new product where they're offering to give away free copies to Thoughts readers, and turn it into a discussion about a competing product. Have some class guys! :?

Sorry Jason and VITO, I should have also added my experiences with the trial version of VITO SoundExplorer (which was how I ran into the Resco product), so far I have found it's operation flawless, the GUI is simple to use, intuitive and responsive. A lot of the competing products offer a GSM 6.10 codec I know that this can create smaller files however the files that I have created using that codec have been very hard to distinguish what is going on.

[Reza]

It's pretty disrespectful to take a thread about a new product where they're offering to give away free copies to Thoughts readers, and turn it into a discussion about a competing product. Have some class guys! :?
:oops: Sorry Jason, I didn’t mean to ruin anyone’s marketing campaign, but only to indicate that we (the users) had the choice between two comparable new recording products… :wink:

[Martin I Pettinger]

Hi

This is just the kinda app I am looking for, except it only seems to record to wav. I use Note M at the moment and I am happy with the quality of recording - really loud and clear on my iPAQ 3850 and fact I can play sound thru an mp3 player and use equaliser to turn down the hiss.

Maybe I am wrong but I thought wav files were kinda big - looking at the link - 5 hours of telecon quality sound on a 256 mB CF card sounds a bit memory hungry. Using Note M I get 15 minutes of good quality mono audio onto 2mB that is 5 hours onto a 40 mB.

I'd also like the ability to extract snippets out of the file - the fast forward function sounds good, but another thing can you bookmark to points on recording. In the same vain that I'd like to see a mic jack on PDA's how about a mp3 player that offers recording functionality too - that would be an app I'd be prepared to purchase. Wav file recorder at $20 - not convinced. Just my 2 c.

Martin

PS this is my 100th post maybe I'll be lucky and win a free copy - lol

[mattsmith0622]

I prefer the interface on Vito over the Resco. Looks cleaner.

[bblock]

It's pretty disrespectful to take a thread about a new product where they're offering to give away free copies to Thoughts readers, and turn it into a discussion about a competing product. Have some class guys! :?

My apologies as well - I hadn't thought of that. 'Course, from the look of things on Resco's support forum, maybe this is a good thing for Vito!

[kneibert]

I've been using a Panasonic RR-XR320 digital audio recorder for over a year now. It's an awesome device - extremely small form factor, over 4 hours of record time on a 64MB SD card (via compression), great sound quality, USB transfer of files to desktop software for editing and conversion to wav format.

Unfortunately, the digital recorder recently went through the wash (easy to forget it's in your pocket since it's so small), and now it's kind of hosed (no pun intended). :( It would be great to get similar functionality on the PPC, so I tried the VITO software. It has a nice intuitive interface, but without the compression algorithm, extended wav files are really memory hungry. I like to record seminars and public speeches for later review, but I'd have to spring for a couple of larger SD cards to do that with this type of software. It might be cheaper to try to find someone to repair the Panasonic recorder...

[Kathy_Harris]

I'd like to replace my MP3 Jukebox player/recorder with something that records to SD card and crunches to MP3 on the fly (for lectures). The Jukebox has a "whir" sound every minute or so of the harddrive starting up that is annoying to listen to.

Any suggestions for the 1910? I heard the 1910 has a good built in mic.

[rabarr]

Correct if I am wrong but doesn't the new HP 5455 (I almost typed Compaq) have a headphone jack that doubles as a jack for an external microphone?

This is one of the reasons why I am considering this - for recording telephone conference calls that I doze off on.

[tccox]

Love the program , great user interface and good help file. Would buy it in a second except,,,, I use a Axim and the audio system in the Axim is not the best. The only way I've found to get decent recordings with my Axim is to use NoteM which uses the MP3 format. Add MP3 recording to this package and they'd have a real winner....

[Thefo]

[quote]I run a telemarketing company, and many times I would like to be able to plug in an input to my PPC to do some phone recordings... I am amazed that none of the manufacturers have incorporated an external mic input...

I wonder how hard would it be to hardwire one in?

Joe...




I believe the IPAQ 5450's headphone jack somehow doubles as a MIC input.

[topps]

the feature that i am most interested in, which must be a challenge to implement, is Pause while recording - that is, a true pause where I can continue recording on the same file. Not many (any?) of these apps seem to offer this. Voice activation kinda helps but...

I also played with PocketTone, which has some of these more advanced features. I'll be interested to see how Vito stacks up.

It would be great if someone could do a comparative review of these products.

[topps]

The second component or aspect that would make this genre into a dynamite application would be integration with desktop Voice recog apps.

I realise that this is far more dependent on microphone quality and environmental noise than the PPC clients' abilities...but I am curious as to how much success users have had in playing with piping their recordings into ViaVoice or Dragon?

[topps]

I'd also like the ability to extract snippets out of the file - the fast forward function sounds good, but another thing can you bookmark to points on recording.

Yes, bookmarks would be great, especially if they can be given short text annotations.

And yes being able to slice and dice thereafter would be wonderful...even if it were only on the desktop companion app.

[cludwig]

I run a telemarketing company, and many times I would like to be able to plug in an input to my PPC to do some phone recordings... I am amazed that none of the manufacturers have incorporated an external mic input...

I wonder how hard would it be to hardwire one in?

Joe...

What you need is a Phone Edition device. Since they're phones already, you could just record the conversation while you're on the phone's phone... OR... with one of the nifty adapters available (PPCTechs has them) you get a regular 1/8" mic input jack, which works fine with any of these recording apps. I love my upgraded T-Mobile! :D

[iPaqDude]

I just downloaded this to give it a whirl - Nice - I like the UI - much easier to use than "that other guy".

If I don't win one of the copies I will probabaly head on over and buy one.

[jd4science]

Not sure if you have to post any where, but just be registered to win, but here I am!

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Not sure if you have to post any where, but just be registered to win, but here I am!
I think Brad mentioned the details would come in a future thread, not this one.

[Brad Adrian]

Not sure if you have to post any where, but just be registered to win, but here I am!
Actually, all you have to do is register with this site. In a few days, we'll have a random drawing from among all of our registered readers.

[Max Kirichenko]

Well, guys all this sounds great: VITO and RESCO are two competiting developers and we both fight for users trying to make the better software.

I've read your comments and have found some interesting ideas that are likely to be implemented in the future. This also concerns audio compression which is the weak side of our product.

By the way, SoundExplorer 2.1 with mp3 playback is planned tomorrow. I hope this will be a good news for our fans. 8)

Stay tuned!

[mpattman]

Fantastic news, are there plans for MP3 recording or the GSM codec ?

[Max Kirichenko]

Yes, mp3 recording or another codec compression is planned soon.

[captgoodhope]

I've read your comments and have found some interesting ideas that are likely to be implemented in the future.

I'm putting in my vote for bookmarks!