Mac|Life - February 2009

>>>Reviews Tough testing, trusted ratings

iPhonE APPs RounduP

AUDIO RECORDERS (cont.)
VOICE FX

Voice FX doesn’t qualify for much more than cheap thrills. It records audio clips and then alters them with one of eight sound effects. You can save and name the audio files, but you can’t save them to the phone with an effect applied. You can email yourself a clip with the last effect you applied—you get a CAF file, which works in Quick Time Player, Logic, and GarageBand. By

today’s standards, Voice FX’s audio effects sound cheap. The eight effects include

Echo and Reverse, which are the most satisfying; Helium and

Deep Bass, which affect the speed and pitch; and Creature,

Nasal, Static, and Robot, which use different combinations of pitching and distortion to basically make a mess of the sound.

The bottom line. Voice FX, like a carnival game, provides a fleeting moment of fun before you come to your senses.

Better day Wireless www.betterdaywireless.com Price: $0.99

VOICE FX 1. 3

Requirements: iPhone or 2G iPod touch Eight sound effects to apply to recordings, two of them with adjustable levels. Most effects are of poor quality.

No file transfer for recordings. Can’t save recordings with the effect applied to them.

WEAK55

VOICE MEMO RECORDER

Voice Memo Recorder lets you create your own categories for audio notes. You can even rank recordings from 1 to 10, and they’re labeled in shades from green to red according to priority. You can also sort by category, priority, date, and title, a scheme that other App Store hopefuls would do well to mimic. Voice Memo only has one audio quality setting, a lowly 8kHz AIFF (CD quality is 44.1kHz). This keeps files small,

but renders Voice Memo a poor choice for podcasting or field recording. Also, Concrete

Software provides no in-app or online documentation, which is annoying. When you factor in crashes, Voice Memo disappoints.

The bottom line. While it works some promising and unique organizational feats, a lack of features and performance makes Voice Memo a letdown.

VOICE MEMO Concrete software www.concretesoftware.com Price: $1.99 ^RECORDER ¹^.0Requirements: iPhone Customizable categories and priority ranking for audio recordings. Sorts files by four criteria. No high-quality recording settings. No documentation. Unstable. Doesn’t work with the iPod touch. W E A K 55

PLUM RECORD AUDIO, PHOTO, AND TEXT RECORDING

Plum Record excels in organization. You can create and name any number of color-coded folders in which to place audio. You can tag each recording with text and photos later, and Plum Record even lets you operate the iPhone’s camera within the app. To transfer your recordings to a computer over a Wi-Fi network, download the free Plum Record

Server software (Mac only), which can convert

Plum Record’s AIFF audio files to several file types, including MP3 and AAC.

The bottom line. While sometimes hampered by lagging operation and crashes, great organizational features and file transfers make a tasty audio recorder.

PLUM RECORD AUDIO, PHOTO, AND TEXT RECORDING 1.0.2

PlumAmazing www.plumamazing.com Price: $0.99 Requirements: iPhone Above-average sound quality. Customizable categories for recordings. Photo and text tagging. Wi-Fi transfer program includes audio file conversion.