EnterSony Audio Recorder, available exclusively on Android.
Sorry Apple fanatics, this one isnt for you.
So, heres the thing, as a journalist, I interview a lot of people.
In this case, the Sony Audio Recorder is the best of the lot.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
For starters, its completely free.
Unlike other competing products, there are no in-app purchases.
The app lets you record audio in a variety of formats, including lossless WAV and various AAC bitrates.
As a rule of thumb, each minute of audio saved in WAV takes up about 10MB of storage.
So, if you record a 30 minute interview, youre looking at using 300MB of space.
The highest bitrate AAC takes about 1MB per minute.
Medium and basic AAC bitrates use about 500kB and 250kB per minute respectively.
If your phone has limited storage, youre probably best using one of these.
Be warned though, lower bitrate audio has a somewhat grainy, distorted feel.
If youre trying to transcript an interview, this might just make things a little bit harder.
Once your interview is finished, the recording is saved on your phones local storage.
From here, it’s possible for you to share it with any services available on your phone.
A few examples include WhatsApp, Gmail, Facebook Messenger, and Google Drive.
To quote Apple,it just works.
So, wait, I hear you ask.
If this is free, how does Sony make money from it?
Well, Im glad you asked.
Sony happens to have its own transcription service, which turns audio into text.
Punters get 30 minutes free, and after that, youve got to pay.
Sonys got an interesting pricing model, which merges both pay-as-you-go and subscription approaches.
These vary depending on how much youre going to be transcribing.
As much as I love Sonys Audio Recorder, I cant recommend this part of the app.
Its just too inaccurate.
It failed to understand my wife, for example, who speaks with a clear, North American accent.
Best of luck if you speak with a regional inflection.
On this front, there are far better alternatives.
You could hire someone fromUpworkorGoTranscript, if youve got the budget.
Im not joking when I say thatSony Audio Recorderis the best dictaphone app on Android right now.
*I recommend theSony ICD-PX370, which is an amazingly hardy workhorse with excellent reliability and battery life.
