.NET Voice Recorder

Recording of video, and audio became common activities with the evolution of technology, especially since you can capture, and edit just about anything with a computer fitted with the right hardware, and software components. For instance, .NET Voice Recorder allows you to grab audio from different sources, even on the go.

One neat thing about it is you can run it right after download is done, since it requires no installation in order to function. This keeps registries on the target PC intact, so you don’t have to worry about its health status. What you do need to look for is .NET Framework, because it’s a required component for functionality, just as the name might suggest.

The application takes you through three easy steps. First of all, you need to select the input device from which to capture audio, which can either be speaker sound, connected microphone, or even a virtual driver. Next up comes the recording session, mostly requiring you to be patient until sound is grabbed, and pressing start/stop when necessary.

Recording is plain, without any built-in options to schedule, or stop your computer when done. Files aren’t automatically saved, but there’s also a different catch. You’re limited to a minute of recording, after which the process automatically stops, which considerably affects overall practicality.

Last but not least, the save dialog presents captured sound in a waveform view, letting you select areas of interest, but with no time indicators for more accuracy. Whether you want to save the entire recording, or a portion, export options let you generate either a WAV, or MP3 file.

There’s another catch to saving, as well. In other words, the application asks for LAME MP3 Encoder when choosing to save as MP3, and doesn’t come with it by default. Even under the MP3, capture quality is incredibly poor, with no related options to fix, or adjust it from the start.

All things considered, we come to the conclusion that LAME MP3 Encoder aims to be a suitable replacement for the Windows default audio recorder, but even this is a difficult task for its set of features. Export options are partially available since you need extra components to benefit from both of them, while the poor quality of captured sound quickly makes you look for alternatives.