I was recently doing some audio interviews for a project I am working on and came across some great "Free" tools for conducting and editing audio interviews. Typically, I would use Hot Recorder via Skype to do the actual audio taping, but personally It worked really poorly for me this time. I recently upgraded to Windows Vista and the latest Skype version and Hot Recorder was just not compatible for whatever reason. I am not sure if you have ever tried connecting with the Hot Recorder support, but I have yet to ever actually receive an email back.

Nonetheless, I did some research and came across a web app called Skylook. This tool actually loads into your MS Outlook interface and you can record and store Skype Phone calls in MP3 format. You can also store SMS and Skype messages within Outlook. It is a very easy and simple tool. They offer a free (fully functional) 15 day trial, but the license fee is approximately $150 US. If you tape your conversations or do a lot of online interviews, then this is certainly a very user-friendly and worthwhile tool.

Once I completed the audio recording through Skylook, I then came across a free audio editing tool called Wave Pad. This tool offers a user-friendly interface and the ability to cut out background noice, edit and paste in new audio pieces and create a professional audio segment. I know there are many other audio editing solutions out there, but this one was simple, functional and FREE!

Good tools to consider when conducting audio interviews…

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