Tapes iPhone App: The Portable Tape Deck Dictaphone

If you are a journalist, or someone who needs to create voice memos, to do lists, or, even, remember your shopping list, you probably have quite a few gadgets that will record your voice, so that you can play it back, to remind you, however, the £0.59p ($0.99) application, Tapes, by Senstic, means that you only have to carry one device around with you – your iPhone. This application obviously (but unfortunately) does not work with the iPod Touch, due to its lack of microphone (however, it could work with an external microphone). The application takes on the looks of an old tape deck, however, provides very 21st century features, such as WiFi synchronization to you Mac/PC using FTP (compatible with any internet browser), and being able to name and rename the tapes.

When you tap the icon that looks like this:

You should see a new tape, with the usual buttons that you would find on a tape deck, underneath:

• Record
• Play
• Rewind
• Fast Forward
• Stop
• Pause
• Eject

The tape deck should look like this:

The first thing that I would recommend doing, is renaming the tape, so that you know what it’s about when you look for it at a later date. To do this, just tap next to the ‘A’ on the tape itself, then type in the name of the tape, just like you would put the Subject in an Email. When you have put that in, tap ‘Done’.

Then you can start recording your voice memo or reminder etc, to do this, press ‘Rec’ (Record), in the bottom left-hand corner. Then create your voice memo or reminder, to stop recording, press ‘Stop’. If you would like to listen to the recording that you have just made, rewind the tape, by tapping the ‘Rew’, and then press ‘Play’.

To see other tapes that you have created, tap ‘Eject’ (bottom right), this will bring you to a list that looks something like this, this is known as the ‘Tape Vault’:

To listen to one of them, tap it, then press ‘Rewind’, then ‘Play’.

This does not sound any different to the Dictaphone that I’m using now – what can this app do, that my Dictaphone can’t?

As I said earlier, ‘Tapes’, can syncronize to your Mac/PC using FTP in any internet browser. To access this, all you need to do is, in the app, navigate your way to the ‘Tape Vault’ menu (if you are on the Recording screen, tap ‘Eject’). At the bottom of this screen you should see an address that starts with ‘FTP://….’ then some numbers. The way that I like to get the files off of my iPhone, and onto my computer is by doing this: (instructions for Windows users)

• Open Windows Explorer (A Folder like My Documents).
• Type in the FTP://…. where it says Documents. Then Press enter.
• Identify the file that you would like, then drag it into a different folder such as My Music.
• It may take a while to copy, but when it has finished you will be able to play your recording.

This is a great app if you currently own, and use a Dictaphone, it will save room in your pockets as you will only be carrying around your iPhone (that you carry anyway). The app is cheap and has a retro style to it that, if you can remember what a tape deck looked like, you will be familiar with. The GUI could be a bit livelier, however, it does the job that it needs to. This application is certainly a must for people who need to remember things, or for people to use as an alternative to making notes on Post-it’s!

You can download ‘Tapes’ here