Epiphany Recorder for iPhone Captures Past Conversations
Last night, I gave Epiphany Recorder a spin on my iPhone. The application, which is free (for now) in the iTunes App Store, is at its core level a voice recorder. When you dig a little deeper, however, you’ll see a fairly unique feature in the way it records the past. Sorta.
When you fire up Epiphany, it begins recording right away. That’s a similar function to the DVR in my home: While I’m watching the television, the DVR is recording up to an hour of content automatically. This enables the features to “go back in time” by rewinding what was live programming. Epiphany does the same, but for audio.
You can configure the recording time to 15, 30, 60 and 120 seconds. The default is two minutes. Essentially then, as soon as you run the application, it’s constantly recording and you have access to up to the last 120 seconds of audio.
Did you hear something good during those last two minutes? Hit the massive “Remember that!” button and that audio is saved as a clip, although the app is still recording. Pressing the “Finish clip.” button adds all audio since the first button press and completes the recording process. This allows you to capture up to two minutes of the past in addition to any audio after that.
Audio clips are stored as .caf or Core Audio Files and you can rename them right on your phone. I was able to easily convert these files to MP3 files using Audacity.
There’s also a function to sync audio files over a wireless network: I gave it a try and it worked perfectly. It entails entering the IP address of your iPhone, along with a port, into the browser on your computer. You’ll see links to the .caf files right in your browser: You can listen to them or save them as you see fit.
Epiphany Clips in a Web Browser
Epiphany also allows you to configure the sound quality between Good, Better and Best. I used the Good setting for this clip and the audio quality is fine, plus it uses less storage space than the higher-quality settings. The source file of this sample clip I’ve converted to MP3 is around 27 seconds long and uses around 580 KB of storage.
I could definitely see this as a useful tool during meetings. All too often, I’ve sat there and heard something worth capturing, but of course, you typically can’t start recording in the past. With Epiphany, you can.
Hi Kevin,
Using a phone as a recorder is extremely handy. I’ve sometimes recorded video on my phone, not so much to view the video but, rather, to hear the information.
One big problem with phones is the generally poor audio quality, especially at conferences. This also is a problem when shooting camera phone videos.
I really wish cellular phone manufacturers would offer easy ways to attach “mobile-friendly” microphones, directional and omnidirectional.
Alan, the new HTC Pro 2 announced this week has advanced speakerphone capability due to dual array mics on the back of the phone.
Hi James,
Thanks for the info. I might have read that, but didn’t remember. As video recording becomes increasingly important to consumers, I hope we’ll see other vendors offering better-quality audio solutions.
For me it would be useless in meetings since I’d likely be using a different program (email, safari, RSS reader, …).
Oh, and just keeping it running would probably nicely run down the battery (I barely get through a day, and I don’t make many calls).
Alan, I found that when I lowered the display brightness to VERY low that I’m able to increase the amount of time before recharging substantially.
Hi Lanz,
Thanks. Good point. When it’s not necessarily to see the screen, the lower the brightness, the better for battery life.
Hi Kevin- glad you’re enjoying Epiphany!
I’m one of the two guys who made Epiphany and wanted to chime in on a couple of the comments here:
1) The mic is surprisingly good and Daniel, my partner and developer, added a great volume boost feature to make playback of recordings made in a big room very audible. Give it a try.
2) Epiphany uses surprisingly little battery power (about as much as playing music) and can even be left on when the screen is off (if you hit the Off button on top of the phone).
Cheers,
Josh
I am extremely excited about the epiphany recorder for the iPhone. There are many instances in my life where this application will be useful and beneficial. I look forward to using it! The creator of this application is brilliant!
I am able to play the caf files while “syncing” ovr my wireless network to my PC, but how did you save these files? I intend to send the recording via email. Thanks!
Rob