Recording phone interviews is relatively simple: Get an $18 mini recorder control from Radio Shack and plug one end into your phone, the other end into your tape recorder. But what if you’re doing the interview on Skype? Hot Recorder ($15) seems like a slick solution, and it works, up to a point. You install the software, start it up, and press the record button once you’re in a Skype call. HotRecorder saves calls in a proprietary audio format but a separate utility (included) lets you convert them into WAV or MP3 files. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work perfectly: In a 40-minute conversation I recorded, the two sides of the conversation were out of sync, so my questions started about 4 seconds before the other guy finished talking, and then there was 4 seconds of silence before the guy started answering. That would be OK if it were just for my notes, but for a podcast or similar uses, the recording was unpublishable. Use with caution.
