Recorder
Company: Retronyms
Price: $0.99
http://www.recordertheapp.com/

How this little application from Retronyms saved the world, Macworld to be exact.

It was late Wednesday morning at Macworld. I had two very important interviews scheduled for that afternoon. As I sat at the MyMac table in the media room, I felt a lump building in my throat. I was preparing to interview two CEOs and I still hadn't figured out a solution to recording decent audio on my iPhone 3G.

My first thought was to use Evernote to record the audio from the interview. The problem was getting the recorded audio back to my Mac for editing and eventual incorporation into the MyMac.com Podcast. I created some test audio files to test the Evernote file transfer system. The process, as detailed by Evernote, was complicated and failed to actually work.

I was rapidly running out of time and patience as the shadows of my approaching appointments began to rise like ominous clouds blotting out the sun and casting shadows of fear and trepidation overhead (well, that may be overreaching a bit, but hey, you get my point). I feverishly tried and deleted a number of free recording apps from the App Store. None would successfully transfer the recorded audio files back to my Mac.

Finally, when I could wait no more, I decided to check out some of the paid apps. I poked around the store a bit and found Recorder from Retronyms.

Like all the free apps, Recorder promised great sound quality and the ability to easily transfer the recorded audio files back to the desktop. Of course I was somewhat skeptical, but I decided to give it a go. At $0.99, what did I have to lose?

With the app downloaded and installed on my iPhone 3G, I recorded a test file as I had so many times before. Having easily configured (just a tap of the i located in the lower right corner) Recorder to record in the highest quality available (44.1K), I recorded a brief audio file and was presented with a simple screen displaying my new file and a few options.

In the lower left corner of the screen, there was a WiFi Sync button. Tapping that button displays an IP and the instruction to visit that IP from your desktop web browser.

Typing in the IP starts a sync connection between the iPhone and Mac. What a thing of beauty. My audio file synced quickly and the result was a high quality .aiff file in my download folder.

Having found the solution I had been frantically searching for, I was off to my interviews and all was right in my Macworld universe. Recorder is a simple recording application for the iPhone. The UI is beautiful and intuitive. The ability to easily transfer the recorded files over WiFi, or email makes this little jewel of the App Store Nile a must have for anyone needing a credible digital recorder on the iPhone.

For its sound quality, simple and intuitive UI, and file transfer capabilities, I give Recorder an appreciative 4 out of 5 MyMac rating. I look forward to seeing the continued development of this great little application.