I was glad to learn this evening that Call Recorder for Skype, a $15 program I’ve used for a year or so to record skype audio calls now has been updated to also record Skype video calls. Excellent! The program integrates right into Skype (for Macintosh) so you specify the settings you want like other Skype preferences:
My main complaint about audio-only recordings with Call Recorder in the past was that they were in QuickTime movie format. To get them into MP3 format, I had to use QuickTime Pro to export the audio as an AIFF file, and then used iTunes to convert the AIFF to a 32 kbps mp3 file. That multi-step conversion process will still be required with this updated version of Call Recorder when I’m working with audio-only conferences, apparently. There is not an available option to record audio-only conferences in mp3 format. Despite this shortcoming I think still this is a great program, and even better now that it also records video (on both the local and remote sides.)
My main caution to people using this program to AUTOMATICALLY record all skype calls (or using ECamm’s other program, ConferenceRecorder, to record iChat calls) is to remember to clear out your saved calls folder regularly, especially if you make a lot of calls. I hadn’t cleared out mine in quite awhile, and learned tonight there were over EIGHT gigabytes of saved recordings in those directories. Ouch! That’s a lot of hard drive space, especially on a laptop!
The fact that skype/iChat calls can be automatically recorded with software like this means people should assume whenever they talk to someone on a Skype or iChat call, the conversation is being recorded. I am under the impression that by FCC rules in the U.S., to legally record a phone conversation the person has to notify you of the fact that it is being recorded up front. I remember years ago hearing some kind of tone in the background when a POTS conversation was being recorded, but I haven’t heard that lately and guess that may be a thing of the past. It’s good to keep in mind that just as emails can and often are archived for later use, recorded audio (and now even video) calls made over the Internet can be archived as well. Be careful what you say and share!
On the Windows side, for K-12 Online last year we recommended recording skype calls for “When Night Falls” with PowerGramo. I know some people also like HotRecorder to record Skype calls on the Windows-side, as well as Pamela software. More options for both platforms are listed in this June 2006 article by Amit Agarwa.
Are there programs anyone knows about for Windows-based systems that record both audio and video skype calls, like Call Recorder for Macintosh? Both Call Recorder for Mac and Powergramo for Windows systems are commercial programs. It would be great if free software was available for skype recording. In the case of Call Recorder, $15 is a small price to pay for this powerful functionality I think. (Free is always nicer, however! Unfortunately some of the programs advertised as “free” skype recorders are just limited demo versions than can’t record skype conversations beyond a certain length.)
Technorati Tags: skype, skypecast
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- Join the Digital Literacy debate - Live! - 2009
- Exploring differences in preteen social networking sites - 2008
- Blogs, Wikis, District Polices, Walled Gardens and the Open Web - 2008
- An iPhone SMS poll demo over videoconference - 2008
- Sorry honey, you can't believe everything you read in your printed science textbook - 2008
- Confronting the Wicked Problems of Teaching with Technology - 2007
- Changing Schools: A conversation with Roger Schank - 2007
