Total Recorder Standard Edition User Reviews

• 5.0 stars

  "Recorded dozens of songs so far, works great!"

  December 8, 2012  |   By TheSweed

  Version: Total Recorder Standard Edition 8.4 build 4990

  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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