Best low-powered voice recorder

[hehe299792458]

I'm looking for a recording program to record my university lectures. My only two requirements are that:

1. It does use too much CPU power (Audacity seems to eat away at my battery way too quickly)

2. It records in a relatively small file (Quicktime under Lion refuses to record in the MOV format it used under SL. In SL, an hour's worth of lecture was about 50MB. Now it's about 150MB).

Is there anything like it? Paid or free it fine.

 

[miles01110]

You might want to make sure you're allowed to record lectures in the first place. Assuming you are, get a dedicated recording unit from Radio Shack. They run around $15.

 

[hehe299792458]

You might want to make sure you're allowed to record lectures in the first place. Assuming you are, get a dedicated recording unit from Radio Shack. They run around $15.

I am. I checked with the prof, who said it was ok with him.

The thing with external recorders is that it's another thing I need to carry and I would need to upload them to the computer when I get home. The computer route is just more integrated.

 

[jent]

I am. I checked with the prof, who said it was ok with him.

The thing with external recorders is that it's another thing I need to carry and I would need to upload them to the computer when I get home. The computer route is just more integrated.

Doesn't that mean you can hear yourself typing throughout the whole class? With a separate unit, you can point the mic towards the professor and put a little distance between your laptop and the recorder.

 

[robgendreau]

A small directional mic will make a huge difference; the mic in your laptop is pointed at you, not the prof.

For recording, take a look at the note taking applications. I've used Pear Note and Transcrivia in the past at work for annotating interviews; they'd work for you. You definitely want an application that can not only record but sync with your typed or written notes; it's like having a Livescribe pen in your Mac. Plain audio is lame by comparison. There's also NoteTaker and Circus Ponies' Notebook.

For academic stuff I'd take a look at AudioNote; it's not as good but it's cheap.

And speaking of cheap, if you already have Word just use the notebook template:
http://www.esquiremac.com/2009/02/practice-tip-record-audio-while-taking-notes/

rob

 

[robertcloud]

I'm also a university student, and I am using the livescribe echo pen 2GB which is $100 at best buy. It works great. You can write keywords on special paper during your lectures and play back what was said at that time by tapping on the word. Also the software that comes with it is good and fills in the writing as the audio is going along. Plus, you can use it as a tablet for your computer by buying an extra application for it. Highly recommended.

 

[Al Legator]

Prof should do the recording

I'm actually on the forums here looking for a technical answer to a problem I, as an AV technician at a university have, supplying audio for a Prof's Mac. However, in almost all the rooms in which I've set this up, the Prof records into her or his laptop then makes the recording available for the students on the Web or other downloadable form.

The advantage is that the audio feed, taken off the amplifier in the room or the wireless mic receiver, is far better than you will get recording from somewhere in the room. The wireless mic is clipped on the Prof. so there is little background noise. Potential disadvantages are occasionally the Prof doesn't click the right thing and there is no recording, but that is rare. And of course this presupposes that the room has an amplifer and microphone that the Prof uses.