Griffin's iPhone recorder: Halfway to great
Griffin Technology, makers of the iTalk hardware add-on that allows you to record lenghty audio on non-microphone-equipped iPods, recently released a software-only recorder for the iPhone, iTalk Recorder. It's halfway to being a great app. But the other half is really annoying.
The iPhone side of iTalk Recorder is quite good. It's very easy to set up a recording in one of three quality levels, rename it as you like, and then play it back on your phone.
The problem comes on the PC or laptop side. To get your recording onto your computer, you can't, as you would think, just dock your iPhone and then drag the file over, as you can with pictures. Apple doesn't yet give developers the hooks to allow that. So what Griffin does is give you a little app for your computer that lets you sniff out your Recorder-equipped iPhone over WiFi, and transfer the files that way. The snag? The Windows version of the sync software isn't available yet (update: it's in closed beta; Griffin just sent me a preview).
If you're on a Mac, this is worth a try. PC users might want to wait, or try one of these other iPhone recorders.
Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe.
