We have created two specialized programs based on the same premise. In general, we wanted to provide a solution where one could record the entire meeting (or lecture), add some text notes and get everything in a single file that is easy to transfer and archive.

At this moment, difference between Minutes of Meeting Recorder and Lecture Recorder is in the number and purpose of text fields provided to accompany a recording. So, to keep things simple we will talk just about Minutes of Meeting Recorder here, but everything said applies directly to the other one.

As soon as Minutes of Meeting Recorder is started it is ready for action. You can type in meeting subject, date and place. Other fields provided in the program are for listing present people, meeting's agenda, actions and closure. Note here that it does not matter when (or if at all) any of those text fields are filled out, you can start recording right away. Also, you can save and name a meeting file at any moment (except of course during a recording) and the program will prompt you if you try to exit it without saving.

For successful recording you just have to select the correct sound source on your sound card. Pay attention to the signal animation line on the program's audio panel. It should show activity during a recording. If it stays flat then you should know that nothing but silence is recorded.

If you are recording through a microphone, which is most likely the case when attending a meeting or lecture, you might also need a special type of microphone to do the job properly. If a standard microphone does not work for you, look for some specialized microphones designed for conferences. We certainly recommend try-before-buying approach here as there are many types of microphones with different price tags.

The program offers you the option to make a recording directly into compressed OGG audio format. The compression is performed on-the-fly during a recording so meeting files end up smaller. If you need just an audio component of a meeting file the program allows you to export it to WAV or OGG format directly. Exporting to MP3 format is possible providing that the program finds the necessary codec on your computer. Your text notes are also available for exporting to rich-text-file (RTF) format that you can open in other programs (e.g. MS Word).

The program is equipped with a special transcription playback mode (do not mix this with voice recognition). The idea is to minimize interaction with the program while transcribing. In this mode playback first goes for some time, then it pauses automatically and finally rewinds a little bit to start a new cycle. With all parameters configurable in ideal case you would just start the playback once and type everything in a single pass.

Notes on other programs

• Audio Notes Recorder and Claudio are only sound recorders, you can not type text notes to keep them together with recorded material.
• If you insist on 16-bit stereo sound then try Claudio because other programs work only with 8-bit mono sound.