recording

If you want to ditch your personal recording device, you can use your smartphone to replace it. iRig Recorder is an app specifically designed to capture the full power of your smartphone's microphone to record audio. Its layout is smooth, but the features and recording quality leave a lot to be desired.

The app doesn't put any limit on your recording and even lets you know how much data you have left. That makes it easy to know when you should cap your recording for space concerns. The app's menu also tells you how much battery life … Read more

Users who want to apply audio files to their project may need to edit them first. Ondesoft Audio Recorder for Mac, despite its basic interface, applies desired, albeit limited, modifications to songs or other audio files.

Ondesoft Audio Recorder for Mac offers a free trial version, which limits playback to two minutes of audio. Unlocking the full version requires a $29.95 payment. The program's small size allowed for a fast installation. Other than a pop-up menu describing the trial version and requesting a key to unlock the program, setup did not require any user actions. It is unclear … Read more

If you use your computer daily, you might have thought about how much time you spend doing the same things over and over again. Mouse Recorder is a tool designed to automate tasks you perform with your mouse by letting you record the steps and replay them easily. While it worked for some tasks, others weren't so easily reproduced.

The small interface holds only a few options, including the two main buttons, Record and Repeat. We liked that each button includes a keyboard shortcut to start the processes, as well. The rest of the interface lets you fine-tune how … Read more

A court ruling has put the kibosh on reselling digital media.

In a lawsuit between Universal Music Group's Capitol Records and MP3 reseller ReDigi, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan has sided with the record label and said that reselling songs bought on iTunes, Amazon, or other digital music venues is akin to copyright infringement.

"The court grants Capitol's motion for summary judgment on its claims for ReDigi's direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement of its distribution and reproduction rights," Judge Sullivan wrote in a summary judgment filed Saturday. "The court also denies ReDigi's … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Listen to the music of Bayside and check them out at one of their upcoming shows.

- Nick's clothing label is called Born and Bred, and 404 listeners can save 20 percent off all merchandise with code BB404.

- Follow Nick Ghanbarian and Born and Bred on Twitter

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GarageBand already had a long history on the Mac, letting people use intuitive controls and a huge library of instruments and prerecorded loops to create songs. But with the iOS version, Apple needed to come up with creative ways to record music using only a touch-screen interface, and we think the company did an amazing job. In the latest version, GarageBand now supports Audiobus, letting you use sounds and effects from other music apps and then recording them to GarageBand tracks.

As a general overview, the GarageBand app offers several Touch Instruments, guitar amps and effects, eight-track recording and mixing, … Read more

Editors' note: This review was updated March 25, 2013, with information on how to subscribe to third-party podcasts.

Apple's Podcasts (for both iPhone and iPad) gives you a standalone app that lets you subscribe to, play, and discover podcasts from any category. The app got off to a very shaky start with several missing features, but a new update might give podcast fans some relief.

The Podcasts interface is easy to navigate. You have a Store button in the upper left where you can search the iTunes App Store for podcasts by category, most popular, and other criteria (the … Read more

Here's the scenario: a mom has a baby recovering from an ear infection. He's doing fine, but the doctor wants to do a follow-up visit to make sure he took the antibiotics well and is on the mend. The problem is that it's a hassle for the mother to load the baby and her toddler into the car to drive an hour each way for a quick 15-minute visit. Here's a solution: telemedicine, or a video chat on a computer or tablet with a physician from the comfort of the family's home.

Such chats are … Read more

The need for a secret video recorder may be fairly limited, but it is still an interesting concept. Generally, if a user is recording video with their mobile device there are visual or audio indicators of it. Secret Video Recorder shuts all these indicators off and makes the video record completely in the background. There is no shutter sound, no viewfinder, no flash, and no LED indicator. The user is also able to utilize the device as if nothing were different. They are able to make calls, send a text, or even watch a video.

The incredibly simple installation allows … Read more