Total Recorder Standard Edition for Windows

User Reviews

• SAVE YOUR MONEY

  lkswdMay 14, 2014

  Pros

  None that I could find.

  Cons

  The is the worst program I have ever used. It doesn't do what they claim. They wont refund your money so your stuck with it. The Standard purchase has very limited capabilities so immediately you have to upgrade for more money. There are a lot of better options................Keep looking.

  Summary

  There are programs that are a lot better than this one and they are free. ..............SAVE YOUR MONEY

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• Voice and Lips Do Not Match

  love2succeedDecember 1, 2013

  Pros

  Possible pro: if someone could refer me to another software that works much better

  Cons

  Static when playing back recording. Lips/Sound is off (does not match up)

  Summary

  I wish I could find a a good video / streaming /on screen recorder.

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• Recorded However the Lips and Words Did not Match

  love2succeedSeptember 12, 2013

  Pros

  Recorded on the screen.

  Cons

  When I played the video back - the words were not matching with the lip movement. Annoying. Now I have videos with people talking out of synch

  Summary

  I would not buy again<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on Oct 27, 2013<p/>I am so sorry I purchased this "junk." (in my opinion). The person who wrote a review and mentioned the lip movement and the words do not match is absolutely correct!! I am moving along recording my video thinking this is working and come to find out the lip movement is completely off! I will never buy any of High Criteria's software again. There has to be software much better than this. I cannot believe they released this on the market like this.

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• Recorded dozens of songs so far, works great!

  TheSweedDecember 8, 2012

  Pros

  Works as advertised.

  Cons

  Splitting long recordings into individual songs is a little tedious in the cheap version.

  Summary

  I purchased the basic level of this software ($18 or so), and have been using it for several months now with no problems. Previously, I'd been purchasing songs from a popular music website (and I was happy to pay a buck each) until the download format was changed from mp3 to a DRM version that prevented me from modifying or transferring the purchased content to all of my devices. After evaluating the free version of Total Recorder, I took the plunge and invested in the cheapest paid version to eliminate the audio glitches in the free version. Over the past two months, I've recorded many dozens of songs from a very popular internet music source without any problems. It is a little tedious to cut long tracks into individual songs, but for me it is an acceptable tradeoff to get mp3 versions of audio that I can modify and distribute among my devices without all of the DRM issues of other formats. In considering whether to buy, about a dozen of the negative reviews on this site weighed on my decision. Having now used the software for a few months, below is my evaluation of some of the points raised in the negative reviews. 1. adentuce (5/29/2011): "It behaves like a VIRUS" and ufogino (2/14/2011): "SPYWARE AND MORE INCLUDED" - If a virus or spyware is installed by this program, then Symantec isn't doing its job. I did a virus scan before and after installation, and found no viruses, even after several months of use. I also observed no symptoms of an infection. 2. juandeloxley (11/5/2010): "it takes AGES for it to save to MP3" - I didn't experience this. In my experience, it takes less than a second to save a 5-minute recording as MP3. 3. keglined (7/14/2009): "Most webmasters have figured out how to bypass this Total Recorder's features" and luis_hamburgh (8/17/2008) "DO NOT BUY THIS SOFTWARE. IT WILL BE OBSOLETE WITHIN DAYS." - I've been using it for a few months now, and it is not obsolete or bypassed yet. 4. wiseghy (1/13/2008): "Crashed the audio on my system. It seems touchy and unstable." and mm502 (3/7/2005) "half way of the recording it started to go silly, distortion!" - I didn't experience any sound problems or distortion in the recordings on my system. 5. cesarinternational (4/4/2012): "Confusing and poor saving procedure." - I didn't have any problems saving. There is a "save as" option and a "save selection as" option, which behave differently, but I didn't really find it confusing. 6. sirebral: (10/25/2008): "Messes with the system sounds causes it to *ding* every time I click the mouse." - I didn't experience this either. But, I did notice that events that used to trigger a system sound, such as plugging in a USB device, don't make the sound when the program is running. It must disable those sounds while running. I was concerned at first that I would screw up my recordings if I did something in parallel that triggered a system sound, but I was pleased to see that this has already been covered. 7. jorgephnx (11/5/2009): "The internal recording capabilities of the sound card has been disabled by most manufactures at the driver level." - I guess this could be an issue for some people. My operating system (WIN XP) and hardware (generic) are about 10 years old. Maybe that is why this software works well for me, and for many others, but not so well for some reviewers. 8. OCToolguy (5/5/2011): "The free version should work without adding an unwanted sound in the recording ... I couldn't get a good idea of how good it is." - The unwanted sound is a short (~1 second) glitch every minute or so, and for me, it did not hinder my ability to evaluate the recording quality. Listening for about a minute straight was sufficient for me. I'll skip the market economics lecture, but if they provided a version that did what you wanted for free without some incentive to buy, why would you buy it?

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• Good cheap recorder

  RWJW100August 1, 2012

  Pros

  I have used this recorder about ten years and it works fine, I only record in .wav files.

  Cons

  none that I have seen

  Summary

  It is very good at recording long programs like Pandora

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• It works. Confusing saves. Speaker &#38; mike work in Win 7

  cesarinternationalApril 4, 2012

  Pros

  It works, but it has some usability issues. The volumes between the microphone and the speaker were at different levels, but those can be adjusted with the sliders in the main window.

  Cons

  The procedure to save files should be straight forward, but it is not. It seems like to save a recording you have to start a new recording. That is not good. That is probably because the program defaults to appending recordings, which is not good. The person might forget or not need to start a new recording and then maybe the old recording will not be saved. It was something like that and I could not find a place in the Options menu to change that behavior. It has a setting to append a new recording to the old one or overwrite it.

  Summary

  Confusing and poor saving procedure. The program should either ask for the name first or after the recording, but it does not ask for it when finished with the recording (when stopping it). It asks for it long after, when a new recording is started, which is a bad time to ask for a file name. It does have a setting for automatic file names, but it is confusing to use. It seems like their default is to keep appending a recording to the previous one, but then files would become very large and people do not normally want to have that setting by default. It works for the speaker and microphone at the same time in Windows 7, which might not be possible in other recording software. I do not know if the installation comes with spyware or anything as indicated by another Download.com user, but I did not get a warning about those when I installed the program. I am using the paid version. I got some background noise, but that could be caused by the computer, not by the software.

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• Please forgive me I don't mean to cause offence to you

  adentuceMay 29, 2011

  Pros

  total recorder is TOTAL CRAP

  Cons

  It behaves like a VIRUS

  Summary

  I don't recommend it to anybody<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on May 29, 2011<p/>I only gave it one star because you wouldn't let me proceed without a star rating, so I really wouldn't give any stars I agree with OCToolguy &#38; ufogino this software is a diabolical ripoff.

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• Does what it says in the tin.

  JUANDELOXMay 23, 2011

  Pros

  Everything. It's a basic and easy to use recorder.

  Cons

  Seems to take a little lnger for mp3 but wav is fine and I convert them easily into MP3.

  Summary

  It's as easy as you want it to be. I like it. It's easy, I can record the radio and have it on my MP3 at the gym later that night. It can be as complex as you want it to be.. there are lots of controls that I know nothing about but I figured out what I needed and it's GREAT!!!! Well worth paying for it.. saved so much money not having to buy music. Not bought music in years thanks to thing.

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• I hate crippled software

  OCToolguyMay 5, 2011

  Pros

  Don't know of any yet.

  Cons

  I hate crippled software. The free version should work without adding an unwanted sound in the recording. I realize that it won't have all the bells and whistles of the pay version but don't sabotage it.

  Summary

  I won't buy the pay version since the free version was sabotaged and I couldn't get a good idea of how good it is.

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• Works for Skype--I'm happy

  raylopez99February 16, 2011

  Pros

  Works to record both callers in a Skype telephone call. My system is a modern PC running Windows 7. I am using the Pro version. Very happy with this product, I plan to buy it.

  Cons

  None except you have to pay for it. Perhaps there's other drawbacks but I'm not aware of them, however for balance I'll give four stars not five since I have not explored all its features. But for Skype, my main purpose, it works fine.

  Summary

  Works for Skype conversation recordings. I'm happy with it.

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