Drop Dead Simple Ways to Record Stuff
July 3rd, 2008
Here are some very easy ways to make audio recordings. 
If you have other suggestions, please comment!
Local computer-based:
- Windows Sound Recorder: I am sure there are equivalents in Mac & Linux, but in Windows, find your Programs > Accessories > Entertainment menu, and you should find “Sound Recorder”. This little program records and saves WAV files.
- Audacity: This might be overkill, but if you want to edit your audio, this is the tool. Free and Open Source. Get it from Sourceforge.
Web-Based:
- Seesmic: The new social website allows you to record both audio and video and then send it to someone as a link (they’ll need to watch it online). FWIW, I use Seesmic bundled with the Disqus comment system to allow people to reply to blog posts with audio/video. If you leave a comment on this very blog-post, it will allow you to “Record Video Comment”. Check it out at Seesmic.com
- Utterz: This is very similar to Seesmic. Seems to have some more controls and privacy, but in my experience with it, I had a tough time getting it done. Benefits to Utterz:
- Call from your PHONE
- Send pics, video, text by EMAIL too
- Better privacy options than Seesmic (I think)
Phone-Based:
- Utterz: Just repeating the last entry here. Utterz lets you call from your phone.
- GrandCentral: Lucky enough to have a grandcentral account? Set your account on “Send everything to voicemail” and call yourself… the message will come back to you as an MP3.
- Other Voicemail-to-email services: Come to think of it, Vonage or anybody else who emails you a voicemail recording is just as good…
- Cinch: Matt Reinbold told me about this one. Cinch is drop-dead easy:
- Simply CALL 646-200-0000 (six four six, two million) from a phone and follow the prompts.
- It beeps at you and your voicemail-trained mouth will start talking.
- Hangup when you’re done, and Cinch will save the recording as an MP3 file and save it as a downloadable file from a custom URL: http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/1112223333 where the numbers are the phone number you called from.
- Paranoid about your number being shown? Just go to Cinch’s website and register your number with a vanity name (like, um, your name) and then the URL will match.
All-in-all, just use what works. The cool thing about Cinch is, you could literally broadcast a podcast from that service just by dialing the number and talking… it does the rest!