How to record phone calls with Skype and Total Recorder

by Coilín Tue Jul 25, 2006 02:10

I'd like clarification of the legalities, please?

Best,
Coilín.

by l Tue Jul 25, 2006 09:21

It is not illegal to tape a phone call - recorded conversations are broadcast on radio stations daily.

However, if you record a conversation secretly and then want to use this as evidence later on against someone, in a court case for example, this is illegal.

People recording conversations/interviews for media reports should always let the other person at the end of the line know they are being recorded for media purposes.

by Aidan McKeown Tue Jul 25, 2006 22:32 aidanmck at yahoo dot com

Very interesting: but how does the sound quality compare? I've done phone interviews in a radio station before and even then sometimes the quality wasn't everything you'd want it to be. If you were feeling particularly public spirited, you could upload a short sample, just to get a sense of how good it is (or otherwise)

by Revolt Video Wed Jul 26, 2006 14:15

A video tutorial on how to encode your video to Xvid with Auto GK. (http://www.autogk.net)

http://video.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/249.shtml

A step by step guide on how to upload a video to video.indymedia.org using Filezilla as the ftp client. You can download filezilla from http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/

http://video.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/248.shtml

by iosaf Thu Jul 27, 2006 09:48

of course that would never happen in Erseland.

{"In numerous advertisements, you are encouraged to buy an internet phone so you can make free calls to friends. Meanwhile, a gaggle of online programs such as Skype boast of the boon of online calls: they're free. But the UK's top law enforcement agencies don't see it the same way.Lifting the veil on internet voices. Police and intelligence agencies are lobbying hard for means of snooping on internet-based telephony, arguing that they need them to catch criminals, "reports P. Warren"."}

indeed -
read it! all you snoopers & lurkers.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,183046....html

by k Thu Jul 27, 2006 13:49

The sound quality of the audio will depend on your microphone, the connection to the other phone you are dialling, your internet connection speed, and what bitrate you record the conversation at. All things working well, you will come out with near CD-quality sound, definitely ready for FM broadcast at any rate.

Compressing to MP3 then will then reduce sound quality, obviously.

by iosaf Thu Jul 27, 2006 20:17

no matter how good your microphone, software, telephony - it is still vitally important to speak clearly .

* breath from the diaphragm.
* don't be afraid.
* speak into the microphone not at the interviewer.
* don't put a sock or pantyhose over the receiver of the telephone.
* don't try and do funny accents.
* don't pant, belch, hiccup or rasp.
* don't go out into the middle of a busy street whilst doing an interview.
* practise speaking quickly - each day stretch your mouth and wriggle your tongue.
* repeat little phrases like this :- "are druze jews or are jews druze?" and "she sells seashells on the seashore" and the "peter plucker" one too. These are best repeated quickly as a warm up exercise before even approaching the whole business, activity and art of voice recording.

by Joe Tue Sep 26, 2006 08:25

Hi,

I have been able to record a friend's voice on the telephone using Skype Out, but my own USB microphone has not recorded my side of the conversation. Any ideas, what I need to do? I have the latest version of Skype and Total Recorder on my machine.

Best wishes

Joe

by kevin - imc eire Tue Sep 26, 2006 15:41

What kind of microphone is it (brand, model?)?

I think that total recorder will only record input and output via the sound card, rather than data via a USB port, i.e. you need a (stereo) microphone with a standard 3.5mm minijack connection for the line in on your sound card. I'm not sure about the way that the audio from the USB mic is processed.

If you dont have a line in on your sound card (would be very surprised if you didnt) then you could always buy something like this: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product.../2771 (I'm just presuming you own a laptop, Creative make sound cards for desktops) although if you shop around on ebay you'll get something much cheaper.

by Joe Tue Sep 26, 2006 19:35

Hi,

Thanks for your advice. I have a logitech USB microphone http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-USB-Desktop-Microphone...onics

The reason, I bought it is because try as I might I couldn't get my normal microphone to work. I don't know if there is a problem with the connection because it works fine on my laptop. Anyway, it seems I'll have to keep looking.

Thanks again for your advice.

Best wishes

Joe

by Griff Wigley - Wigley and Associates Thu Feb 08, 2007 01:01 griff at wigleyandassociates dot com 1016 Linden St. So. Suite 200 507-645-8319

Hi,

This set of instructions worked perfectly for me until I upgraded to Skype 3.0 and Total Recorder 6.1.

Now I can't get anything to record.

Any chance you'd be willing to update the document? I would very much appreciate it!

by i k - ex imc-eire Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:47

I'm still running the older versions of the software, I havent been using them much of late... your post has made me wary of upgrading to newer versions as having this utility to record calls is quite useful.

Probably your best bet is to go to the Total Recorder website and see if there is any documentation there on recording with Skype. I'd imagine that there must be some feature within the TR options that allows you to record both the input and output. Failing that drop them an email and ask them how to do it... it might be a while before I get the chance to upgrade this guide.

by R. Isible Thu Feb 08, 2007 15:15

Gizmo ( http://gizmoproject.com/ ) has a very nice "record your call" feature. The client is free (as in price but is not GPL'ed Free Software). PC-to-PC calls are free and you can make PC-to-Phone calls for a pretty cheap price.

The client software is available for Win, Mac and Linux.

The recorded file is in .WAV format

Skype has it's own incompatible way of transmitting information that means that you can only talk to someone using Skype. By contrast Gizmo (and Free Software listed below) can talk to any other VOIP network. So it's possible to use any one of the clients below to talk on any one of hte VOIP networks e,g. you can use Gizmo on the FWD network. Much nicer than being tied into only being able to use Skype. Add to which that Skype have been discovered to collect information from your computer without your knowledge or assent and that while Skype is running on your machine it may harness its horsepower to process other people's calls. As a final blackmark against Skype, because they use a closed, proprietary secret protocol it's not possible to make calls that are encrypted end-to-end. They /do/ have their own encryption protocol but no one has any idea if it's any good because it's "secret".

List of Free Software using the SIP and/or H323 protocols:
http://www.openwengo.org/ MacOSX, GNU/Linux, Win. (also has a nice Firefox extension)
Ekiga/GnomeMeeting http://www.gnomemeeting.org/ GNU/Linux (beta Win32)

List of non-Free but no-cost software using SIP and or H323
http://www.freeworlddialup.com/products/?p=communicator
http://gizmoproject.com/

Gizmo interface showing record buttons in top-right

by R. Isible Thu Feb 08, 2007 15:18

so, in order to use Gizmo to record calls you'd have to get the other party to use a VOIP softphone from the list. You cannot connect to people using Skype. (And afterwards you'd need to convert the .wav file to an ogg vorbis ( http://www.vorbis.com/faq/#transcode ) or mp3 )

by i k Thu Feb 08, 2007 16:28

Does Gizmo have a 'SkypeOut' function, i.e. you can buy credit to ring normal landlines or mobiles?

That is the only feature I ever used Skype for, and works very well for ringing people for interviews.

by R. Isible Thu Feb 08, 2007 16:38

See link below for "Call Out". It's 2 (US) c/minute. They also start you off with 25c so that you can experiment with it before you buy credit. I really don't like the fact that it's not Free Software, but at least it uses some open, standard protocols. It's possible to do recording in ekiga/wengo but it requires some real messing around. Gizmo is good in that you just hit the button. You don't have to install separate recording software.

by R. Isible Thu Feb 08, 2007 16:47

You can use livejournal's Instant Messaging with it really easily http://www.livejournal.com/chat/download/ (due again to the use of open protocols, in this case Jabber) to talk to people on other IM servers, and can make "voicecasts" to your LJ blog using VOIP (used to have to dial a telephone number): http://fudge.org/2006/01/14/voice-posting-to-livejourna...runk/

by Griff Wigley Sat Feb 10, 2007 03:47 griff at wigleyandassociates dot com 1016 Linden St. So. Suite 200 507-645-8319

See this forum thread for the problems that people are having (including me) with Skype 3.0.x:

http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=72577

Total Recorder has not updated their site, though I have been getting support via email.

by Lenare Wed Dec 17, 2008 09:05 fleokan at yahoo dot com 8(8855) 558888

There are a number of free good quality programs to record skypecasting today. I'd like SkypeCallRecorder for it's unique ability to record conference in to different files for each participant.

by volh Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:53 bloh143 at yahoo dot com

as for me I use SkypeCap