There is no doubt that the iPhone is an amazing device that can multitask and make managing your digital life a lot easier. When it comes to Pictures and Video, the iPhone comes equipped with an amazing camera which pretty much negates carrying your old point and shoot camera around any more. Smartphones like the iPhone are really handy to record a quick conversation in a pinch BUT can you rely on them for quality Voice/Audio recordings that you want to refer back to in the future?
Here are 10 reasons why you should stop using your smartphone for Voice/Audio recordings
- Smartphones like the iPhone use a very basic low-quality Mono mic which is designed for the clearest telephone conversation and hence sound dull and tinny and just like what a person sounds like on a cell phone. A Voice/Audio Recorder is specifically meant for recording Voice/Audio so you will achieve way better quality recordings due to its superior Microphones. A Smart phone’s audio quality cannot even come close to that offered by Voice/Audio Recorders these days. It is like comparing a picture taken on your Cellphone to one taken on a DSLR camera. In fact, Microphone quality on most Voice Recorders is so good, you can in fact even record a Music Concert in High-Quality Stereo on most Voice Recorders.
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Voice Recorders allow you to choose the quality and recording format (.wma, mp3, .aac or .wav) to suit your application. You can set the recording quality to be highly compressed .mp3 for small files that you can easily email right away or set it to High quality uncompressed. Wav files for Broadcast Quality recordings. Cell phones on the other hand only offer one fixed low-quality recording setting.
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Most Voice Recorders these days feature Voice Operated/Activated Recording. The Voice Recorder automatically starts the recording when the Lecturer/person speaking begins talking and it pauses/stops the recording when the person stops speaking. This allows for hands-free operation and it keeps your recordings clean and free of unnecessary pauses.
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Voice Recorders allow you to insert Index markers while recording to make a note of important parts of the recording. You can then instantly go back and listen to those important parts of the lecture at any time at a press of a button instead of having to listen to the whole long lecture/presentation recording again, The Olympus – LS 11offers up to 16 index markers in a single recording.
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Battery Life on a Voice Recorder is super long compared to typical battery life on your Cell phone. The Olympus DM–520 Can record for 51 hours on a single charge of AA batteries.
- Voice Recorders can store massive amounts of recordings as opposed to Cell phones. The Sony ICD – SX-712Dcan record a massive 8589 hours of recording time at the lowest quality (MP3 8kbps), that is almost 1 year of recording time without having to delete anything off the recorder!
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Voice Recorders often come with a Pre Delay Record buffer feature basically ensures that you don’t miss the first few words of a sentence in the event that you pressed record late. This can be a lifesaver when you are recording something important and the speaker begins talking while you are still fumbling around looking for the record button.
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Easily Drag and drop your recorded files on to your PC/Mac over USB. All Files are named and stored in an easily accessible manner and in some cases, you can set how you would like the files to be named as well.
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Speech Recordings done on a Voice Recorder can be auto transcribed by software to save you tons of time.
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Lastly, what would you do if your phone rang when you were recording…. would you take that call?
If you are thinking of using your iPhone as a recording device for recording anything more than your own personal memos or a short conversation, you definitely need a device that is geared specifically for this.
One of the best Voice Recorders to record voice material like presentations/lectures/meetings etc is the Sony ICD-SX712D
When it comes to recording any kind of Musical material, don’t even bother trying to use your iPhone for this. You will not believe how much Musical information you are missing out on by recording with the iPhone’s mic. Get yourself the Sony PCM-M10 and you will see how it blows the iPhone away in terms of quality results.