Recording app for college class lectures

[Simgar988]

Does such an app exist that works well enough to record college lectures, both small room lectures and auditorium lectures? We all know voice memos sucks and I recently bought iprorecorder but I'm not quite sure it'll get the job done either.
Thanks


Btw, what does recording in stereo mean and what is the difference between that and I guess default (i say default because idk what it normally records in.)

 

[crewrules101]

I have found that in Microsoft word, in Notebook view, the voice memo works well while taking notes during a lecture. You could use soundstudio as well, but the files are larger. you could also get a microphone and connect it to an old school (non touchscreen) iPod and record that way.

 

[Simgar988]

Thank you those are all good ideas for a backup if there are no good apps although ideally I could get something that would record straight to my phone.

 

[motulist]

Do you mean you want to use the laptop's built in mic to record what the professor says? That would result in completely unusable recordings. If you have any hope of recording the professor's lecture in usable quality then you need to get a good quality voice recorder, set to high quality mode, with the recorder placed on the professor's desk, and with the mic sensitivity set appropriately. Using your laptop's mic will almost definitely not work.

EDIT: I didn't notice that you were talk about the iphone's mic. Still, the advice is the same. It's hard enough to capture useable lecture audio when you're using a dedicated recorder sitting on the professor's desk. The iphone will record lower quality audio than that, plus you'd have to run the giant risk of leaving your iphone alone on the professor's desk.

 

[Droid13]

For revision purposes recording isn't too good...

Most lectures can be summarised on a single side of A4 12pt, which takes a few minutes to read - a recording needs the hour it took to deliver the lecture to hear again.

Typing/writing notes is way better. Unless you're recording for other purposes, in which case a more dedicated voice recorder is probably your best bet. Be prepared for someone next to your mic to sneeze just as something profound is said (happened a few times lol).

 

[spillproof]

iRecorder works well only if your professor uses a microphone in the auditorium. In a small room the voice will be really low but still listenable. In an auditorium with no microphone you need to be in the front row.

A dedicated recorder is best for small rooms and auditoriums with no microphone.
Whatever you get, they pick up EVERYTHING. You can't move around a lot or tap on the desk.

Keep in mind, many professors do not allow recorders. If yours doesn't you have to be sneaky and keep it hidden [and don't tell ANYONE! unless you are true friends with them]. Get those stretchy fabric book covers, put it on your book, open it to the lesson and put your phone or recorder inside between the fabric and cover of the book [or back of the book if you're a lefty] with the mic facing out the top.

I have found that in Microsoft word, in Notebook view, the voice memo works well while taking notes during a lecture. You could use soundstudio as well, but the files are larger. you could also get a microphone and connect it to an old school (non touchscreen) iPod and record that way.

Really? The professor was 2 feet from me and all I could hear was my typing. I haven't tried it with an external microphone as I can't legally record any of my classes.

 

[The General]

I got this:
http://www.bluemic.com/mikey/

Any application that records audio now records stereo audio. It has three gain settings. 1 is for quiet stuff like classrooms with no PA system. 2 Is for regular sounds. 3 is for concerts and loud stuff.

I would get this if you want to make any sort of usable audio recording of any kind. The built-in microphone sucks.

The Mikey even works with the 3G S's built-in camera application when recording video. It's great.

 

[Simgar988]

I'm dyslexic so I'm allowed and it is also imperative that I use one. It is also MUCH better than taking soley notes, because you can tale notes in class and let your mind drift on a though that he/she's said because you're comfortable knowingyou can go back and listen to what you miss. You also have exactly what the professor said about this or that rather than just what you scribbled down about the topic. Ive used audio recoders before (I have a pretty nice one) but less gadgets is better, plus most don't record in mp3.

P.s. I find that if I relisten to ever class just once, that's plenty of studying. You catch way more from the lecture the second time around than you get the first, when the ideas are new and slightly unknown to you

 

[spillproof]

I'm dyslexic so I'm allowed and it is also imperative that I use one. It is also MUCH better than taking soley notes, because you can tale notes in class and let your mind drift on a though that he/she's said because you're comfortable knowingyou can go back and listen to what you miss. You also have exactly what the professor said about this or that rather than just what you scribbled down about the topic. Ive used audio recoders before (I have a pretty nice one) but less gadgets is better, plus most don't record in mp3.

P.s. I find that if I relisten to ever class just once, that's plenty of studying. You catch way more from the lecture the second time around than you get the first, when the ideas are new and slightly unknown to you

Oh, well that brings your issue in a whole new light. I checked out the product The General posted and it seems really promising.
An external microphone would be your best bet for any large recording anyway.

And, so true about the last part and catching more the second time around.

 

[Droid13]

Fair enough

I suspect that for a good quality recording you are going to need a dedicated device of some kind - a friend used a mini-disc player with mic, I'm sure there are other more practical equivalents around, I do not have enough experience to recommend a particular setup. As I alluded to earlier the only problems they had with it were when someone sneezed, coughed, spoke, laughed or rustled pages close to the mic it drowned out the lecturer.

If you're allowed to do it and allowed good mic placement, then a dedicated voice recorder should serve well. Hope you find what you need - good luck!!!

EDIT: Just had a look at that Mikey thing and it does look promising actually... might be an idea to see if it has any competitors and maybe test a couple, but yeah... my friend's mic was unidirectional, which was another problem - as the lecturer moved, recorded words became harder to hear.

 

[iTech Dev Sys.]

You can try our application iRec Voice Recorder Pro, and you can also try this external mic that is supposed to get you 10 times better audio reception. We order a few of these mic to test them with our application, to see if they really work as advertised. But they will begin shipping them at the end of this month.
I hope this information is helpful.
This is the link to the external mic:
http://shop.brando.com.hk/brando-wo...crophone-for-iphone-3g-s_p03552c0202d033.html

 

[ksmith80209]

I'd recommend you look into the LiveScribe system. The pen does an awesome job of recording the audio which is then sync'd to any notes you took on paper. You then transfer the text & audio to your mac using the desktop app and you have a fully searchable text & audio archive.

 

[global99]

Does anyone have any experience with recording college lectures on the IPhone with "HT Professional Recorder"? It's a very highly rated app.

I'm wondering if using this app with the IPhone internal microphone will give results almost as good as the Mikey at less cost, less bulk, and with fewer problems with flimsy plug, etc. that the reviews of the Mikey indicate.

 

[mhuntoon]

I'd recommend you look into the LiveScribe system. The pen does an awesome job of recording the audio which is then sync'd to any notes you took on paper. You then transfer the text & audio to your mac using the desktop app and you have a fully searchable text & audio archive.

I'd like to get something similar to this for my 13-year-old daughter. We're trying to stress to her the importance of paying attention in class and taking good notes. Having something like this would allow her to record her classes so we could listen to them and review her notes later that night (or on weekends) and go over her note-taking skills.

She has an iPod Nano (4GB) and we're thinking of getting her an iTouch, but are waiting until the new one comes out (with video, etc). I looked at both the Mikey and the microphone by Brando (both suggested upthread) and both seem to work with her current iPod, but something that would also transcribe (Windows, not Mac) would also be nice. The LiveScribe (at $200) is a bit more than I'd like to spend considering the other two options mentioned are $80 and $15. Looks like I've got more research to do.

 

[Pika]

Does such an app exist that works well enough to record college lectures, both small room lectures and auditorium lectures? We all know voice memos sucks and I recently bought iprorecorder but I'm not quite sure it'll get the job done either.
Thanks

What's wrong with "Voice Memos" ?

I use [app]FourTrack[/app] as my main high quality audio recorder.