iTalk Recorder review

Reviews Damien McFerran 13:33, 23 Nov 2009

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We review iTalk Recorder, an app that means you can consign your Dictaphone to the dustbin

If you want an illustration of how modern technology is capable of improving our everyday lives then you need look no further than the evolution of the humble Dictaphone.

Anyone over the age of 20 may well have fond memories of messing about with a tape-based recorder in their youth, making their own silly news programmes or staging amusing drama productions.

These days the bulky nature of tape-based Dictaphones is a thing of the past. Cheap digital storage has resulted in slimmer and more portable recorders (sadly it’s also resulted in the disappearance of the ability to speed up and slow down the recording, which was the root cause of much of the aforementioned juvenile merriment).

iTalk Recorder represents the next step in the evolution of the Dictaphone, and ironically it’s a step that actually leaves the concept of a separate recorder behind. iTalk is an app for your iPhone that essentially makes your trusty stand-alone Dictaphone obsolete.

Boasting a simple interface and a wide range of options, iTalk is a dream come true for those of you that have been waiting for the much-hyped era of convergence with giddy anticipation.

You can select between several different quality levels (the lower the setting, the smaller the resulting file will be) and even give the recording a name. Once you’re ready to go you simply push the large red button that appears on-screen and you’re off.

You can even stop and resume recording at any point, it’s just a matter of a quick tap on the screen.

Once you’re done you can save the file (everything is stored in your iPhone’s internal memory so if you’re the owner of a 16 or 32GB version then you have practically limitless space to play with), email it (providing it’s under 2MB) or transfer it to a PC using Griffin’s iTalkSync software, which is offered free of charge and is capable of handling larger files.

Everything works so well you half expect there to be some caveat but there really isn’t one. Recording quality is fantastic, with pretty much every sound being picked up clearly.

iTalk Recorder comes in two flavours. The free version features adverts and the premium edition doesn’t. While the ads are fairly unobtrusive we’d recommend you shell out for the paid-for iteration because Griffin really does deserve a little reward for creating such a fantastic piece of software.

iTalk Recorder is an essential download and will finally give you the impetus to ditch that dusty old Dictaphone.