Wednesday, August 27, 2008 -- 11:37 p.m. -- at my desk

I have a lot of choices when it comes to the App Store. Today, I noticed an app that teaches me how to tie a tie. Not bad, considering I only know one knot and could stand to know another.

There's even one that helps me brew the perfect cup of tea by telling me how long to let my tea steep.

What more could I or anyone else want?

I'd start off with Plum Record (link opens in iTunes) -- which turns your iPhone into a digital audio recorder that can tag sound files with photos and text. For $5, you can record just about anything and use a corresponding free server program to send your recordings to your computer.

Plum Record comes from Plum Amazing, which also offers Plum Caddy for golfers. I happen to like plums -- especially the ones that are really red inside. They are the sweetest. Anyhow, Plum Record is really nice. I've been using it for a while now. In the previous version, the first thing that I noticed was that the audio recorded too low. Well, clearly the developer listens to users because not only is the audio louder, other bugs were fixed and language localizations were added.

Here's the list of features, according to the company. Very impressive, I'd say.

* Record, pause, continue, rewind easily using familiar controls and a beautiful interface.
* Record secs, minutes or hours at a time. See elapsed time and time remaining.
* Very familiar interface for controlling recording.
* Files named automatically, rename sound files easily.
* Library to keep sounds in and arrange by dragging into folders.
* Create hot tagged (colored) folders for sounds.
* Folders and sounds can be selected and deleted or rearranged by dragging.
* Tag sounds quickly with multiple photos or instances of text.
* Easy to use and view even outdoors.
* Plum Record Server to transfer even big files to your Mac and soon Win and Linux.
* Works with larger interface in rotated mode.
* Choose the sampling rate for high or lower res (and size) files.
* Change the skin/interface for recording.
* Change files recorded on the iPhone to other formats like WAV, MP3, MP4, AAC, 3GP, AC3, AIFC, AIFF, AMR, Next/Sun, Sound Designer II, 3GPP2, etc.

And this is something that the company mentions that I'll take a step further: The icon is a cool parrot, not a microphone.

I appreciate the fact that the developer is creative enough to realize that you don't have to use the same icon that every other application is using. I loved the whole parrot thing. I think it shows imagination. Small detail, but as someone who works in a creative industry, that stuff doesn't go unnoticed.

That said, there are a lot of things you could buy in the App Store for $4.99. So far, I haven't found a more full-featured audio recorder than Plum Record.

If you've tried this app, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Thanks for calling.

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Sounds like a great app and 1.0.1 seems like it fixed some bugs from the comments. Will be better yet when you can transfer files to a PC also; may have to wait for that. Tell us how you like it if you get it.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Oh I have it. It's great. It works just as advertised. I'm not sure I'll really need to transfer my voice memos to my Mac, but I like knowing that I can. I love the idea of creating a grocery list or saying where I parked or something simple like that.

Try the PhotoSwap app. You end up having these facinating visual conversations with random people. There are a few folks that are using it to "hook up," but there is a handly report button that can get them removed from the system.

I gave it a little bit of time, now I'm completely hooked. Just reply only to the photos that are worth while.

SCOTT"s REPLY: I saw this app and I wondered how it worked in the real world ... it sounds like a great new way to learn something new and cool.

That sounds like a great app. Question though: if you recorded something and wanted to make it into a ringtone, could you do that? (I know that the iPhone takes a specific file type as ringtones, just don't know what it is)

SCOTT'S REPLY: Well, I think you'd have to put it directly into Garageband and do the conversion that it does for the ringtone, but that's an absolutely excellent question to ask of the developer. What a great way to create a ringtone!

Notice the carrier in the photo is T Mobile. Hmmm.

SCOTT's REPLY: Well, remember ... T-Mobile is a carrier for the iPhone overseas.

Just downloaded it- thanks. Now can you or anyone else recommend a quality, reliable video recorder app to use until we get MMS?

SCOTT's REPLY: I don't think that app is out there yet ... it exists in theory, so I think it's just a matter of time.

Do you like this app better than Evernote?

SCOTT'S REPLY: I haven't really done a side-by-side comparison to say with certainty. Do you? Or haven't you checked out this one yet. I think Evernote is OK. I don't love it, so I'm not sure what my ultimate answer will end up being.

This is one app that I'd really like to try but they've not released a Windows version yet! :(

SCOTT'S REPLY: Looked at the notes in iTunes and it appears as though it's being worked on ... good news!

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