Recording with Skype

Skype is a wonderful tool. A couple of weeks ago in my Emerging Instructional Technologies class at UNI, I witnessed the power of Skype when we had the opportunity to interview guest experts via Skype.

Since that time, I have wanted to experiment with Skype and see how it worked to create a podcast. For my first test run, I choose Dr. Leigh Zeitzas my guest. He had just returned from a week in San Antonio, TX for NECC 2008, and I had followed many of his experiences via twitter. Still, I wanted a frontline report of what was happening in the tech field.

Eager to get going, I sent Dr. Z an e-mail with my idea and he responded immediately. Great idea! So, I opened Skype, opened Total Recorder, which I use to record all kinds of steaming Internet audio, and made a quick test call.

Crash.

My PC acted like I had jolted it with 100,000 watts of electricity and froze. I did a quick google search and found a great article on recording Skype with Total Recorder, and started making the necessary corrections to my settings.

This time, my PC didn't crash, but the audio sounded like it was in a bucket and it stuttered. Not good. This was the start of a four hour search for a solution.

Lesson #1: Make sure your setup is working perfectly beforeyou contact your guest expert and setup the interview.

I'll try and recreate the process I went through:

• Total Recorder. I think Total Recorder would have worked with Skype, but I am using a USB headset, which seems to create some problems for TR, plus I know from past experience, that TR can be touchy if the settings are not correct. After working with TR for an hour, I decided to move on. (I already own a copy of TR, so it is the logical first solution.)
• A google search for apps that will record Skype calls led to a few tries. The first was an app called Hot Recorder. I installed it and everything worked great...except it wouldn't record. Strike 1.
• My next attempt was TechSmith's outstanding screen capture program, Camtasia Studio. I had downloaded a trial version of Camtasia a week ago to experiment with creating Flash Files from a PowerPoint presentation. While searching on google, I saw on a user forum that Camtasia would record from Skype. Well, after 30 minutes of trial and error, I gave up on Camtasia. Strike 2.
• My next try was a program called Skype Recorder. Again, I installed the program, fired up Skype, and the program would not record. I didn't even mess with trying to get this one to work. I uninstalled and kept moving. Strike 3.
• My next google hit was a site called DigitalPodcast.com. I found an excellent video by Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani on "How to Record a Podcast Using Skype." Score. This podcast led me to two programs that worked right out of the box (so to speak). The first is CallBurner and the other is Pamela for  Skype. I liked CallBurner, but it was $80 US while Pam sold for only $20 US. I decided to give Pam a try. After I edit the podcast, I will post it via podbeam.