Comments on: Recording phone calls: For reporters

By: cathryn

cathryn — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:28:03 +0000

I’d like a little more clarity here re the the iPhone and recording. I do not have a landline in my office — thus, all my calls are made and taken on the iPhone. However, I have yet to find a recorder that works with the iPhone. I need to record interviews of an hour or more, and upload them to my Mac.

I’d be happy to use Skype in the office, but I am not sure what kind of audio file Skype generates, whether it can be stored on the Mac, and how it might be shared — ie, sent to an editor as a fact-checking device.

I appreciate any help I can get here — before I break down and put a landline into my office. Ugh.

Cathryn

By: Teaching Online Journalism » MVPs for October 2008

Teaching Online Journalism » MVPs for October 2008 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:20:17 +0000

[...] Recording phone calls: For reporters [...]

By: Dave Bullard

Dave Bullard — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:00:31 +0000

I would add that I think the quality issue would be more apparent on video calls than on audio calls because of the high amount of bandwidth needed for video.

By: Dave Bullard

Dave Bullard — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:59:25 +0000

You can listen for yourself to the quality we got from Skype/Pamela.

http://oswegocountytoday.com/uncategorized/2008/10/01/clinton-plans-to-hold-my-nose-and-vote-for-bailout/

This is a Hillary Clinton conference call with a huge number of New York State reporters.

I put the audio into Soundslides with a graphic just to give it a little visual interest.

I’ve had the odd audio issue with VOIP. Once, the audio was badly garbled. It was a local call. I simply told the source I would call back. When I did, the line was nice and clean.

By: Mike C

Mike C — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:49:17 +0000

Really wish iPhone had this app, would make life much easier. At any rate, I too, probably use the same device you do. Got it at RadioShack. Works great. Strangely enough it sounds much better when I connect it to an old analog rotary phone. One of those ancient “Ma Bell” issued models. I use that when I need higher quality audio.

By: Tuesday squibs : Notes from a Teacher

Tuesday squibs : Notes from a Teacher — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:56:11 +0000

[...] Recording phone calls: For reporters. Mindy McAdams rounds up some info on tools for recording telephone interviews. [...]

By: Mindy

Mindy — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:10:41 +0000

How are you guys finding the audio quality with Skype? I have used it only for calls and videoconferences with Europe, and there tends to be a bit of cutting out and such, not so nice for playback.

Do you find that not happening often?

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:06:10 +0000

For the Mac, there’s a $15 app from Ecamm called Call Recorder that works great. Records both audio and video. Have also used GrandCentral — works great.

By: Mindy

Mindy — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:03:27 +0000

Thanks, Dave and Dan. Pamela for Skype:

http://www.pamela-systems.com/

By: Dan Kubiske

Dan Kubiske — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:31:52 +0000

Gotta add to Dave Bullard’s comments on Skype Pamela. It really works well. There is also a version for the video calls on Skype.

I originally looked into this for an online class I am preparing.

Both add-ons are really great.