Record-Anything
 

What’s it do?

Record-Anything resides in the System Tray and records anything g playing through the sound card with a single click. A second click stops the recording and allows saving the file under any desired name as well as integrating a tag written in the process if desired. It supports encoding on-the-fly into MP3 files, mono, and VBR. It optimizes recording volume and minimizes sound loss.



Does It Do What It Promises?

Reviewer 1. Yes. Its main promise is fast and simple audio recording and it delivers this.

Reviewer 2. Yes. Without exception.

Reviewer 3. Yes. It is quite good at what it claims. It records well, anything you can play on your PC and allows you to save it in MP3 format.

Reviewer 4. Yes. Record-Anything is designed to capture anything that passes through the sound card on your computer, and allows you to save it to disk as a MP3 file. The authors have decided to focus on a particular niche, and do a thorough job with it. When Record-Anything is started, it places an icon in the system tray. When you want to record something, you click on the icon, and the recording begins. The recording carries on in the background, taking up very little of your system resources, so you can carry on with anything else that you may want to do. The only indication of Record-Anything activity is that the icon in the tray has changed into a green flashing LED recording monitor. If there is no activity in the monitor, you need to check your configuration, to make sure that you have the correct input channel or sufficient input volume. When you have finished, you click once on the icon, and the Save As dialog box pops up. Record-Anything will run under all versions of Windows from Win 95 to XP.

Reviewer 5: Yes. While I didn't test every input channel, I easily recorded several MP3 files from several sources. Have an MP3 player with some great songs on it, but you lost the interface cable? Not a problem, just patch the headphone jack into your sound card and save the output. If you have some vinyl or tape you'd like digitized, connect your stereo to your computer and save those memories as MP3 files. If you're listening to a Webcast you'd like to archive for future reference, set Record-Anything for Mono (or Stereo) Mix and save the audio to an MP3 file. It also provides a convenient (if not spectacularly fast) way to convert any audio format you're able to play into MP3 format. Indeed if there's anything audio that you can find a way to listen to on your computer, you can turn it into an MP3 file with Record-Anything.

Reviewer 6: Yes.


Was It Easy To Install?

Reviewer 1: Installation was fast and simple

Reviewer 2: Yes. A very straightforward, simply, and relatively small 1.04MB download.

Reviewer 3: Yes, it installed quickly and without a hitch.

Reviewer 4: Yes. Installation was straightforward. I was able to specify the location of the software, and where I wanted the various icons to be placed. I was also given the choice of whether or not I wanted it to start-up with Windows.

Reviewer 5: Very simple installation, providing some control over the process. No problems, no surprises.

Reviewer 6: Yes - It installed very easily and quickly.


Good Points.

Reviewer 1: Record-Anything can be configured so an icon resides in your system tray. Clicking on this icon starts and stops recording. You can choose whether the source is the sound card for recording the sound is coming from your computer, or from the microphone for recording your voice or ambient sounds. Once the Sound Optimizer Wizard was run, the quality of the sound recorded was good. Entering the details of the name and storage location of the sound file is deferred until recording is stopped. This allows you to start recording as fast as possible without the delay of entering this information upfront.

Reviewer 2: Record-Anything (formerly known as Mini Recorder) is a hassle-free audio recording solution for Windows that brings pure enjoyment. Record-Anything records online radio, CD music, music played by Media Player, RealPlayer, Winamp, video sound, game sound, meetings, discussions or chats over microphone, and any sound playing through your sound card In fact, if you can hear the sound from your PC you can record it. It also offers very attractive features like: One-click-recording from an icon in your system tray that enables you to record whenever, wherever you want; a smart optimization wizard to ensure highest sound quality. The software integrates seamlessly with Windows XP, uses very little computer resources and thus leaves a very small footprint on your system, and offers excellent audio quality. This is really a must have program!

Reviewer 3: Record Anything is very easy to use and allows you to record anything that comes through your sound card and save it as an MP3 file. The one-touch recording feature proved to be very handy and easy to use. You can choose from a variety of input sources; microphone, line-in (which allows you to convert cassettes and LPs to MP3), phone line, or straight from your sound card. Basically, if you can hear it on your computer, you can record it.

Reviewer 4: This program has done an excellent job of keeping itself focused on doing something and doing it well. Unlike much other "bloated" software available today, it is an excellent example of the Keep It Simple principle. The Record First - Save Later idea is a good programming decision. While you are recording, you can hover the mouse over the icon to get information about the recording process: Time, File size (as the recording continues, this grows in size), Source, Quality and Volume. As soon as you stop recording (by clicking on the icon) the Save As Dialog box pops up. The only thing special about this box is an extra set of information that you can include, called the MP3 Tag Writer. This is "the little tiny piece of information that's embedded within an MP3 file that contains information about the song. To be more exact: Title, Artist, Album, Year, Genre and a comment." (Description of Meracl ID3 Tag Writer) This is a helpful little plus for MP3 recording. You also have the choice of Sound Quality between Stereo and VBR. (VBR: from Webopedia.com: "Short for variable bit rate, or Class B quality of service, an ATM bandwidth-allocation service that allows users to specify a throughput capacity (i.e., a peak rate) and a sustained rate but data is not sent evenly. VBR is often used when transmitting compressed packetized voice and video data, such as videoconferencing.") Although you can define the input volume, you can also let Record-Anything help you to optimize the input volume. By clicking on the Optimize button in the Config screen, a simple 2-step wizard starts up. This self-explanatory wizard helps you to set the ideal recording level for the type of input channel you are using. The Help system has been as well-designed as the rest of the program. It is available from the Config screen, or by right-clicking on the System Tray Icon. However you get there, you will be brought straight to the Tutorial Item in the Help File's Table of Contents. As you probably want to start recording something, the steps that you need to take are right at your fingertips. Three simple pages take you through that process. Later, you can go through the other parts of the Help that may interest you. This is a great improvement over the Help of many other programs that bring you to pages of praise for their products, and leave you looking around for the information that you are most likely to need.

Reviewer 5: They indicate it runs on Window 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, being happy with a 300Mhz or better CPU, and only consuming 2MB of disk space. The interface is lean but functional - bigger is not necessarily better. With so much software taking advantage of cheap memory and storage and increasingly powerful video cards, it's refreshing to see a developer focus on a single task, perform it well, and fit it into a package that will run on just about any Windows computer. The Optimizer (which monitors the input source and adjusts the level until the peaks are not excessive) provides a very effective tool for setting the recording level. The option to set the level manually exists, but in my experience the Optimizer set the level correctly, and probably more accurately than I could have.

Reviewer 6: It is very easy to use and has a simple understandable user interface. Just click the icon in the task tray and the software starts recording. To stop recoding, simply click on the icon again - very intuitive. After it has stopped recording the user is presented with a save dialog that includes the ability to add MP3 tag information to the recording. This information can show up in music players or in Windows Explorer. I especially liked its ability to optimize the input volume. Volume is usually a problem with these types of utilities,. They either record too loudly, causing distortion; or, too softly, requiring that the system volume be turned way up. The optimizer allows Record-Anything to record at the correct volume. I did find that raising my system volume allowed the optimizer to find a good volume easier than when I had the volume turned down. I also liked that the help opens to a tutorial, a nice touch.


Weak Points

Reviewer 1: The Sound Optimizer Wizard needs to be run to set the proper sound recording levels based on the output of your sound card output. I did my first recording "out of the box" without running this wizard and the recording volume was too low. It would be nice to have a visual display of the audio levels being recorded so you would not have to wait until playback to know whether you had been recording properly. We reviewed version 2.5. Upon visiting the Web site towards the conclusion of the review period I found that version 2.7 has been released. There was neither a way to automatically check for updates, nor a published method for performing the upgrade. An inquiry to support yielded the following response: We use separate files for protection. We are migrating to the key based Armadillo licensing solution. Another of our product Convert MP3 has already been switched to use Armadillo. But for now Record-Anything users have to download the latest full edition file from a password protected link. There was limited documentation to help a user new to sound recording. For example, there is the option to record in Stereo or VBR mode. I assume from context that VBR is used in recording from the microphone but I did not find an explanation of this anywhere.

Reviewer 2: While there are no serious flaws in the program itself and its function, there are several small problems that need immediate attention. First and most importantly is technical support. In the competitive software field today simply stating that "we try to respond to your email request within 48 hours" is unsatisfactory. Forty-eight hours, in and of itself, is too long when most respected developers offer twenty-four hour turn-around time for email support requests; and then to make this worse you will note that they only promise to "try" to respond in forty-eight hours. Secondly, and this might have been very important to this review, there is no method for updating the software either on their web site or within the program itself! As a result, I could only review version 2.5 when, in fact, there is a version 2.7 now available! This is, in my opinion, unconscionable for a program that sells for $24.95 and is apparently in the process of regular updates. Third, if one is indeed proud of their product, this is reflected in keeping its look fresh and current. The icon placed in your system tray still reads "Mini Recorder" which is the original name of this program. Updating the icon takes only minutes (if that) to accomplish, and this lack of an attention to detail reflects poorly on the program and the developer's pride in his or her work. Fourth, the GUI-while relatively easy to navigate-is really very unattractive with rather washed-out colors which makes it not only difficult to read, but also rather difficult to know what is an active (clickable) link and what is not. Again, this is such a simple thing to correct that it causes me concern as to the developer's pride in his or her product. In many ways, this software seems almost a "work-in-process" as in addition to the above, many of the links on the Media-Force Website takes you to a relatively blank page with the words "coming soon." This is especially troubling when it is the page for the refund policy! All in all, while I will still offer my limited recommendation for this program, a bit more attention to details and professionalism will enhance and, I think, go a long way to insuring the success to this otherwise excellent program

Reviewer 3: My only real complaint is that the user cannot edit the files before saving. For example, it would be nice to be able to cut dead space from a song or remove profanity.

Reviewer 4: The visual design of the Config screen needs some work. To start, the color scheme (gray-blue on white background) is uninteresting. Added to that, it is not clear where you click in order to open any particular module. After some experimenting, I finally noticed that words or phrases would change from the blue-gray color to black as the mouse passed over them and the mouse hand would appear. Click and that function or module would open. Most of my interest is recording radio programs that I am listening to with Media Player or Real Player. Again, it took some experimentation to find out that I needed to select "Wave Out Mix" as the Input Channel. Finally, though the actual layout is unique, it is not really clear. But once you are past these relatively minor points, it works well.

Reviewer 5: Not available for Mac or Linux - there are people who don't use Windows. I won't complain that the configuration screen isn't graphically appealing, since one of the things I like is the program's leanness, but I'd suggest using a darker color for the labels: the foreground/background combination they use reminds me of the 'grayed-out' look of disabled options.

Reviewer 6: The software could use an equalizer. My recordings came out a little bassy. I also would have liked some way to delay the start of the recording by a few seconds. For example, I'd like to click on the Record-Anything icon and have it not start recording until I have a chance to start the software that plays what I want to record. It would also be nice to save the recording in a format other than MP3. This also points out a curious design issue: the Save As dialog has a dropdown to allow the user to select the type of file to save the recording as, but only one option is available. I also found that if I did not specify .MP3 when I saved the file it would not add it to the file name and the resulting MP3 could not be found by my media player software.


Other Comments.

Reviewer 1: This program's simplicity is both its strength and its weakness. It provides fast and simple recording but it doesn't go much further from there.

Reviewer 2: I suspect that this is a young and relatively small company-a fact that in and of itself leads me to allow for a lot of leeway and benefit of the doubt. I am highly in favor of small companies over the large, ever-growing, and consolidating software entities. Furthermore, the program itself is actually without flaws and it does exactly what I wanted it to do. It is truly a shame that the developer could not make certain that at least the reviewers had the most current version or a way of updating to the most current version! Now, if the developer can give a bit more attention to customer service and convenience as well as aesthetics, this will be a truly superb program.

Reviewer 3: Record-Anything is a very good program, and I enjoy using it, but it lacked at least one feature that I consider important. I would really like to have the ability to edit MP3 files before saving, as it forces me to use other programs to do the editing, such as when converting cassettes to MP3. Otherwise, it is very useful and full-featured, and I recommend it for those who want a simple way to convert files to MP3

Reviewer 4: Program and Customer Support is often as important as the software itself. Access to support is available directly from the Config screen, or from several hyperlinks in the Help file. You are brought directly to the Online Support Form, where you fill in the details of your question. Although there is a place for registered users to put in their order number when submitting their request, they indicate that they will try to respond to requests from people who have not yet paid for the program. The claim on the Web site is that they will attempt to reply to requests within 48 hours. However, I received answers within 30 minutes to questions that I sent in. The only improvement I would suggest is for the times when the support cannot answer so quickly. That would be for an automatic "ticket" to be returned to the user's email address immediately, so the user would know that the request had arrived, and would be answered presently. Finally, the price is reasonable for the quality of this program. When you log onto the Web site to make your order, the price from your country is automatically converted from the US dollar price to your own currency, a nice touch.

Reviewer 5: When I first installed the program, for some reason I was only able to select 'Microphone' for the input channel. I sent a support request describing the problem, which was responded to fairly promptly (within a day or two). The response (please re-install your sound device or driver) wasn't especially helpful, but in hindsight may have been the solution. Later, for other reasons, I did install the latest version of my audio drivers, and the next time I tried Record-Anything, all the input devices were available to me. I never replied to the initial response, and was somewhat disappointed that they never wrote back to see whether I'd resolved the issue. As a registered user, my support request should have opened a ticket, and the ticket should have remained open until I told them "it's OK now, thanks!"

Reviewer 6: The colors used in the display are too faded to easily see on my laptop. It also could use some way to check for an upgrade to the software.


Will You Continue To Use It?

Reviewer 1: Yes.

Reviewer 2: Most definitely. It will be one of my "can't live without" programs.

Reviewer 3: Yes

Reviewer 4: Yes. This simple and well-designed piece of software has already been placed in the "Always" folder in my Start Menu.

Reviewer 5: Yes. It's not something I'm likely to use on a regular basis, but on those occasions when I do want to capture audio from an external device or a stream, it will do the job nicely. Just to have it as an available tool is probably well worth the $25 cost.

Reviewer 6: Yes. It's a nice unobtrusive program that's easy to use and doesn't take up much in the way of system resources.

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