iTalk can use the iPhone's built-in microphone. To use iTalk with the 2G iPod touch, you need a headset with a microphone; for example, an iPhone headset, Apple's In- Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic, or one of Griffin's own compatible adapters.
iTalk Recorder's recording screen is simple and straightforward. You choose a recording quality--Good, Better, or Best--and then you tap the large red Press To Record button. Recording length is limited only by the available space on your iPhone or iPod touch. (You can give the recording a name beforehand or afterwards.) The button changes to a large green Recording button that displays the current recording time; below that is a visual level meter, along with text displaying the date and time the recording was started, the recording quality, and a live-updated indicator of the recording's file size.
Griffin has included some thoughtful recording features. The first is that the screen can auto-rotate 180 degrees; this lets you view the screen properly even if you turn the iPhone or iPod Touch upside-down. Second, you can press the Sleep/Wake button to turn off the screen and prolong battery life during recording; iTalk Recorder will continue to record.
One way in which iTalk Recorder differs from most other iPhone recording apps I've seen is that it doesn't allow you to e-mail recordings. (Retronyms' Recorder, for example, allows you to e-mail recordings, albeit with some limitations.) Part of the reason for this omission is the size of recordings: a one-minute iTalk voice memo will be over 1.2MB in size at the lowest quality level. Instead, the company provides a free desktop program, iTalk Sync, that connects to your iPhone over a wireless network to let you copy your recordings directly.
Having used both Griffin's approach and the e-mail approach, I find transferring audio files to my computer using iTalk Sync to be much faster--and more convenient--than sending via e-mail: you can transfer multiple files at once, and iTalk Sync's interface is easier to work with than sending each file via a separate email message. That said, if you frequently record on the go and you need to get your recordings to someone else immediately via e-mail, iTalk isn't the right voice recorder for you. It would be useful if Griffin added the capability to e-mail small recording files.
There are a few minor glitches with iTalk that Griffin says will be fixed in the next version--for example, your iPhone's Region Format must be set to United States in order to save recordings. But overall I've found it to be an excellent voice recorder that stands out among the many me-too recording apps.
The standard version of iTalk is free, but shows small ads at the bottom of the screen during use. I found these ads relatively unobtrusive, but if you object, an ad-free version, iTalk Recorder Premium, is available for US$5.
Note: This link takes you to the vendor's site. From there, you can follow the link to the iTunes App Store, where you can download the latest version of the software.
--Dan Frakes
Reviewed by: imeshuk
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