15-Minute Reviews :: MP3 Recorder Studio v5.8

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s software title is MP3 Recorder Studio version 5.8 by Maniac Tools – An application useful for recording the audio from your system into WAV or MP3 format.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“Do you need to record an internet call? A conference or radio show? Want to capture every sound on your computer while skipping silence and saving disk space? MP3 Recorder Studio may be just what you are looking for. It records sound directly into MP3 without creating temporary WAV files, it is able to detect and skip silence, to split output files according to your settings. Due to these functions it can monitor sound activities automatically even for very long periods of time.

MP3 Recorder Studio is a small and user friendly application that allows you to record every sound on your computer. You can choose to record audio from only one source (for example, from microphone), or just to record all sounds that you hear. The program offers simple intuitive interface that requires no special knowledge. It can record sound directly to MP3, which saves disk space and allows you to do two steps in one.

However, if you need your sound as WAV, MP3 Recorder Studio supports this function as well. Both MP3 and WAV quality is fully configurable, it is possible to set frequency, bitrate, mode (stereo or mono).”

Quick Pros

• Interface is simple to use and understand
• File listing handy for reviewing recorded files
• File splitting functionality is handy
• Hotkey functionality useful for leaving open

Quick Cons

• File listing seems temperamental
• Current device displayed could be more precise
• Minimize to System Tray could be added
• No audio editing functions at all

Expansion

The application is very straightforward to use. The most common functions you may use are lined up along the top half of the window; Record, Play, Stop and Pause, as well as a graphic EQ as well as basic information on the record (Status, duration and current format, with a Change… button to change the record format). Beneath this you will spot three tabs. The first tab is Files and it will show the recently-recorded files and their information. The files tab is a bit temperamental at times; It sometimes doesn’t show the duration of a recently-completed recording (and with that will not allow it to play back either) and none of the files when recorded show their format in the format column.

The next tab is Splitting and Recording Options. On this page you will find all the splitting functionality; No splitting, split every number of seconds which you define as well as split by silence and settings for the silence. There is also the recording volume slider and the recording device option. From what I could ascertain from the application, it always records what is being outputted from the speakers, but you can choose from the other input sources as well. This could be improved, including functionality to disable recording the currently-audible sounds from the computer and just record the inputs as well as use its own input selector and not relying on Windows Recording Control.

The final tab is Options, and it is only for setting up the hotkeys. The hotkeys are a good idea, so that you can quickly queue up the recording, stopping the recording or pause the recording. This could be useful on a few different angles, but most important would be the ability to quickly record without fumbling with your windows or trying to pull up the application. As mentioned above, this could be combined with an expanded recording input control functionality, so that you could quickly switch between inputs as well.

With the functionality of the hotkeys, The ability to minimize the application to the System Tray for quick visual cues on its state as well as take up less Taskbar space was almost expected. Unfortunately there is no System Tray functionality here.

Finally, there is no audio editing functionality for finalized files; No manual splitting or trimming, audio level adjustment or anything. There is no editing functionality at all, which would leave you having to go elsewhere to adjust the files and tweak them to how you need.

Final Verdict

While the application is essentially a raw audio-recording application, it does pretty well with what it has. For free, if you need the ability to quickly record audio clips, this title may not be a bad choice. As for paying $24.95 for this title, it would be difficult to recommend this title without System Tray functionality, editing functionality or the file listing glitches. If you are looking for an alternative, check out Audacity.

Posted by BladedThoth on Tuesday, December 11, 2007