Comments on: CallRec v3.0 Released

CallRec is a novel program for Palm OS Treos that can record your phone calls. It is able to record both sides of the conversation at the touch of a button. It can also be used as a quick voice memo recorder. Calls are saved as standard wav files on your memory card. This new version adds compatibility with the Treo 700p, automated recording of all calls, the ability to beam, Bluetooth or email recordings and a new windows PC conduit.

CallRec v3.0 is compatible with the Treo 650 and 700p. It sells for $19.99 USD and comes with a free trial.

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Great Idea

LiveFaith @ 7/3/2006 8:34:45 PM #

Just thinking about this the other day, and it would be perfect simply for tracking info on important business calls. I think I saw it for sale somewhere, but never checked into it.

Glad to see the new version is .wav compatible and transferrable etc. Since Cingular is giving me my 3rd Treo 650 tommorrow (in 3 weeks) because of pathetic BT range, I may spring for this one. If the new one worx of course.

Pat Horne

RE: Great Idea

freakout @ 7/4/2006 12:18:45 AM #

^^ BT on my 650 seems to go about 3-4 metres before the static become noticeable. Hotsync and BT internet seem to work from 5-7 metres. What kind of range were you getting, Rev?

And in Australia, you can be prosecuted for using this without telling somebody. Hooray for illegal Treo apps! :D

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650

RE: Great Idea

LiveFaith @ 7/4/2006 12:04:09 PM #

Tim,

I have had two 650s now and both have had BT range of less than 2 meters with clear line of sight. Anything such as a belt holster, clothing, etc that passes in front at any distant causes significant static. Had the store try it on 2 other BT headsets the same results.

Cingular tech support is sending me to another store to get a 650 from a different lot, so I'm happy. If I get another one, I'm giving up and going back to my trusty T3 + T637. Not as handy, but a lot more powerful. Will wait to see what the Nitro brings.

<> BTW, gun ownership is now basically illegal over there too, right? Looks like you're breaking all kinds of laws there frekout! :-D

Pat Horne

RE: Great Idea

freakout @ 7/5/2006 3:55:58 AM #

^^ I walk on the wild side. ;)

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650

freeware

techno nerd @ 7/4/2006 2:14:56 PM #

it seems as though somewhere there should be a program that does this but is freeware.

Dell Pocket DJ>Kodak easyshare Z730>Palm Zire 72s

I have though bout buying a E/E2/T/T2 or something cheap like that, but the next logical step is getting something like the Tungsten T3, T5, or most probaly the TX, but I am good with my Zire 72 for now.

Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording...

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 7/4/2006 1:41:25 PM #

Apps like this make it even easier to remove all vestiges of privacy from our daily interactions. There are now websites dedicated to voyeuristic photos + videos (usually of women) taken without the victim's permission with (increasingly pervasive*) cameraphones. It's now possible to discreetly film someone and immediately post the photo/video to the Internet for the world to see, all from a 4 ounce featurephone. Eventually we'll have streaming decent quality LIVE VIDEO being easily outputted to the Internet from tiny featurephones. At that point privacy is dead.

CallRec also can function as a regular voice recorder when not being used in recording a telephone call. One feature I'm surprised to see has yet been implemented by this or any other PalmOS app I'm aware of is the ability to record directly in MP3 format rather than WAV files. This may be a limitation of hardware/CPU speed, but a smart company should have offered this feature a long time ago. [All of my old iRiver MP3 players can record direct to MP3 format and the sound quality of this output is surprisingly good. Several old iRiver models came with a very sensitive, decent quality microphone but the current models are not as good. (I'm not too impressed with the new iRiver players, and they now have sold out to Bill Gates and that damned Windows "Play for sure" crap, but the iRiver iFP 799 (1 GB), 795 (512 MB), 790 (256 MB) and 780 (128 MB) were possibly the best MP3 players ever made. You can still find the iFP 780 on Amazon but it sells for a lot ($80) given its tiny recording capacity.)] If inexpensive MP3 players can record directly to MP3 then a $500 smartphone should also ship with this capability. I suspect fears about legal nightmares stemming from the abuse of this feature have prevented its addition thus far...

TVoR

*I still cannot believe how many people are now using their cameraphones as their main cameras. Everywhere I go these phones are being used by people to take crappy photos - even at important events like weddings, graduations, etc - which I assume these dumba$$es are even printing. As with MP3 players, low quality camerphones just go to show how low people's standards actually are. Eventually the quality will improve and once 5 megapixel cameraphones are commonplace I can guarantee that the standalone film and even digital camera markets are dead. Camera and MP3 playing are the two convergence features that the average Joanne seems most likely to adopt in their phones).

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording..

SeldomVisitor @ 7/4/2006 4:23:30 PM #

I would not hesitate to use a "crappy camera phone" to take a snapshot that I'll be looking at maybe once every few years, if at that. Or will look and pass around once, then delete to recover the disk space. Or whatever.

I'm not sure why you cannot believe such use.

Now If I were going to attempt to mimic Ansel Adams I might use something better than that.

But it certainly wouldn't be a snapshot.

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording...

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 7/4/2006 5:33:44 PM #

I'm not sure why you cannot believe such use.

Evidently I have higher standards* than you do. Also, note I said, "Everywhere I go these phones are being used by people to take crappy photos - even at important events like weddings, graduations, etc - which I assume these dumba$$es are even printing. It's one thing to take a blurry photo of Lemmy at a Motörhead concert with a low res cameraphone (just not a Treo since anyone whipping out a geekphone at such a venue would promptly be beaten senseless). But would you take photos of a newborn baby with a cameraphone? A wedding? A graduation? A once in a lifetime vacation? Tiny, high quality standalone digital cameras like the Sony Cybershot T1 make more sense if you're planning to keep or print photos. Of course in 2006 we're already seeing cameraphones that rival the average digital camera from 2003, so pretty soon there really will be no need to carry a real camera unless you want to take a high quality photo. I have some good Canon SLRs that have been gathering dust since I got my T1, so I'll bet that most people will abandon standalone cameras by the time most cameraphones reach 5 megapixels.

TVoR

*Of course I also think that almost all MP3 players sound like utter crap and detest most compressed formats for anything but the most casual of listening. Yet most people seem to not notice when listening to horribly-compressed MP3 on even the nastiest of players and with the crappiest of headphones. Go figure. I also think most plasma TVs and LCD TVs are unwatchable, but again most people seem oblivious to their flaws. Basically, if low quality gear works for you, go for it. Just ignore those of us who cringe at the devices that provide you apparent bliss.

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording..

cervezas @ 7/4/2006 6:55:22 PM #

TVOR wrote:
One feature I'm surprised to see has yet been implemented by this or any other PalmOS app I'm aware of is the ability to record directly in MP3 format rather than WAV files.

One reason for that is that you have to pay a licensing fee to the owners of the MP3 format (Thomson Multimedia) or risk a patent infringement lawsuit. I developed an Palm application for a client a couple of years back that required fairly high quality compressed audio. After the patent attorneys assessed the situation we ended up going with Ogg Vorbis encoding of the audio to avoid the potential legal hassles.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording..

freakout @ 7/4/2006 8:32:44 PM #

"Yet most people seem to not notice when listening to horribly-compressed MP3 on even the nastiest of players and with the crappiest of headphones."

This has long bugged the crap out of me - especially when people go plugging their iPod into a good quality sound system and they play nasty default-quality 128kbps mp3s ripped from the *awful* iTunes ripper. The compression artifacts are so obvious - especially with drums - it makes me want to cry.

Personally, I rip everything into high-quality variable bitrate mp3 using LAME. It's the only way to go to ensure good sound *and* ubiquitous compatibility...

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording...

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 7/4/2006 8:53:57 PM #

I didn't know that about the licensing fees. Have you thought about releasing the Ogg Vorbis app? I know I'd buy it - my iRiver players handle the format and it's a decent format. (Though like freakout, I prefer to use MP3s encoded by LAME with high bitrates.)

Personally, I rip everything into high-quality variable bitrate mp3 using LAME. It's the only way to go to ensure good sound *and* ubiquitous compatibility...

I used to use AudioActive, but then switched to LAME several years ago. I use constant bitrate encoding since some people have MP3 players that choke on VBR encoded files. It's amazing how bad some encoders are, yet most people remain clueless. The Windows Media Player, iTunes, MusicMatch, Xing (in Real Jukebox), and most other commonly-used encoders are truly disgusting pieces of software and are obviously coded by people who don't give a rat's a$$ about trying to minimize compression artifacts. (Most encoders place a higher priority on speed than they do on audio quality.)

TVoR

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording...

hkklife @ 7/4/2006 9:05:21 PM #

Indeed. I won't touch iTunes or anything related to it with a 10-foot __insert device here__

LAME or bust! Heck, in a pinch, I've even used Roxio Easy CD Creator's Encoder and found it halfway decent.

The iTunes/iPod 128kbps herd is ALMOST as amusing to me as the stooges who buy a new 55" Plasma (ED of course, not HD) and hook it into their DVD player with RCA cables and forget to change the DVD player's setup menu to 16:9 instead of 4:3. Then they b***h about how they were taken for a ride by the sales staff and how HD is a bunch of fluff.

For the record, I own four HD sets and they are ALL CRTs-26", 26" and 30". Still the best bang for the buck nowadays! LCDs are finally coming of age (I'd probably consider an LCD now or definitely in a year or two's time) but you'd have to give me a Plasma or DLP...

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording...

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 7/4/2006 9:24:28 PM #

nasty default-quality 128kbps mp3s ripped from the *awful* iTunes ripper. The compression artifacts are so obvious - especially with drums - it makes me want to cry.

Percussion is one of the main problems with the MP3 format - no matter what encoding algorithm is used. LAME and the AudioActive encoders do a better job than most, but MP3 will always be a compromise.

For the record, I own four HD sets and they are ALL CRTs-26", 26" and 30". Still the best bang for the buck nowadays!

hkklife, I owe you one for letting me know about the Sony WEGA XBR960. I was able to order the TV right before the supplies disappeard a few months ago. I bought a backup unit as well since this is the last high end CRT we'll ever see. The set is amazing. My bunker is now complete! I won't be buying any more electronic gear (besides a DVD player) for a LONG time.

TVoR

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording..

cervezas @ 7/4/2006 9:59:09 PM #

TVOR wrote:
Have you thought about releasing the Ogg Vorbis app?

It's not mine to release. I developed it as part of a contract for a client. If you take a Carribean cruise some time and they rent out Garmin iQues to passengers at ports of call, the GPS-enabled audio tour software installed on it is mine.

If you're looking for a high quality Windows desktop conversion application that rips to Ogg Vorbis (and does a lot more) GoldWave is worth the $45 price: http://www.goldwave.com/

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording...

nrosser @ 7/5/2006 12:09:18 AM #

Lighten up Frances.

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording..

freakout @ 7/5/2006 2:54:56 AM #

"The iTunes/iPod 128kbps herd is ALMOST as amusing to me as the stooges who buy a new 55" Plasma (ED of course, not HD) and hook it into their DVD player with RCA cables and forget to change the DVD player's setup menu to 16:9 instead of 4:3. Then they b***h about how they were taken for a ride by the sales staff and how HD is a bunch of fluff."

Haha, funny you should mention that - my brother got a *stunning* 92cm Hitachi LCD recently and was making that exact complaint to me. So when I finally got around to visiting, I find it's set to 4:3 and he's using an RCA cable!

This was after the sales staff at the store he bought it from had fleeced him for an HDMI cable for his set-top box - $80 for something he could have done with component cables that came in the box!

I fear for my family's living rooms, now that they're living without me...

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording..

potter @ 7/5/2006 1:08:49 PM #

This line of discussion does not seam to have any bearing to the original title. To try to have some discussion on the title...

I do not have any knowledge on the legality of specifically recording phone conversations. By the nature of the phone industry I could see that Federal laws come into play. However, outside of phone conversations, I do know that taping of conversations without consent of the other party is legal in many states. The number of so-called single-consent and dual-consent states is split pretty close to 50-50.

Does anyone have any knowledge if there are any laws that would make phone conversations different than non-phone conversations? Since phone conversations can easily be inter-state, I would assume Federal laws could apply. But would Federal laws apply when the phone conversation is purely intra-state?

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording...

hkklife @ 7/5/2006 2:06:23 PM #

Back on topic:

Can someone with experience with both apps recommend MVoice or CallRec?

Does MVoice even support the 700P? A quick glance at PalmGear shows that it hasn't been updated since March.

Also, on a line from what Potter was discussing, what about VOIP or 'Net-routed long distance calls? Any legal grounds on recording vs. not recording those sorts of calls?

On a semi-related note: Has anyone heard any rumors when to expect the first 700P ROM update from Palm? If so, any ideas what issues they tackle first? BT & the general lag are my big complaints!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Illegal to use unless the other party is aware of recording..

freakout @ 7/6/2006 5:27:31 AM #

I tried Callrec in it's first incarnation and was fairly impressed, but eventually wound up getting rid of it because it was extremely staticky when recording to the SD card.

I'm assuming they've fixed that bug with this version. Right?