Audacity DVR - In Conclusion
This the final day of my week long look at Audacity. The possibilities are endless. I have not even covered the add on applications that further expand its capabilities. However, one of the things that is brought into focus in the manual and on their web site is the incredible usefulness of Audacity to those in the medical profession. Indeed, I would not be surprised to find out that Palm has helped to save some lives through the numerous medical programs available for use on the Palm. To be able to manage patient records and information quickly and efficiently gives doctors more time to focus on other things - possibly life saving things.
There is also an AudioMail perfect for Treo phone users. You may not consider that voice recording is more immediate than voice menus and having to deal with spotty reception. There is no dialing and the compression of the file makes it easy on cellular networks. I love voice recorders and I love the Palm and this is a perfect combination that doesn’t require me to get a stand alone device. I can record calls, make voice memos that hotsync, send voice emails, and create a virtual voice diary. I can also use it’s database features for some yet to be discovered GTD actions as well. The following is a glimpse of an actual situation taken from the manual.
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Here we go, again. The screen you are looking at features a very robust data input screen. One of the coolest things is that you can look up address book info and through certain template text specify if you want the first & last names, phone info, email, company name and practically any other address book field included in the written file that goes with your voice recording. This even includes the custom fields which gives you lots of flexibility in how you want to organize your audio recordings. However, that is not the coolest feature of this screen.
Yes, the program costs money and not the regular price you’d expect for a Palm Program but then again this is not just another Palm Program. The fact that I could devote a week to it and still keep it interesting is a testament to that fact. Security is something we probably think about as much as backing up our computer. However, when it is offered in a simple and intuitive way, it makes having it as present as a hotsync natural & invaluable if that dreadful time ever comes to pass. You are looking at the security screen. Even in this short blog post I should be able to walk you through most of your options. Security is either “None”, “Playback Only”, and “Full.” “Playback only” only prevents Playback so (pardon the reference but it works) you can voice in but you can’t voice out. Full, of course, prevents playing and recording. Qmemo (Quickmemo) Security can be off if it’s stuff like “Remember to buy the milk” (hardly top secret unless…) Security timeout how long after using the program should the automatic “door” close. Encrypt audio file and AWI file (the textual info component of your audio) are self explanatory.
Audacity can record calls on the Treo 650, 680, and 700P. You have many options as you do with all the recordings. I would recommend recording on an external card which is always an option with Audacity. On a measly 256mb card you can record 4 hours uncompressed and 85 hours (yes, I said 85) hours on the lowest compression. Imagine what you could do on a 2 gig card. Audacity allows you to conveniently set the side buttons to activate and record calls. A nice ergonomic feature is a blinking LED on recording. A text record is attached to the recording that can include caller id, email, and even info that can be pulled in from a database for fast categorization. All of this audio and text can be synced to the desktop and automatically deleted from the Palm within a certain period of time. Also remember that with a data plan you can even send this out using wireless connectivity on the road. The system is even intelligent enough to label your phone recordings “Phone Call Recording” so you can differentiate them from your regular recordings. Stay tuned for even more Palm tips & tricks blogged daily at Palm Organized.com. 
Palm Organized Palm Master App is really a Palm Killer App. This Palm Program is one of those crossover applications that work with both the traditional handheld PDAs and the ever present Treos. The only thing your device needs though is a voice recorder. So we are talking about pratically the whole T series, Zire 72, Lifedrive, TX with the hack, and the treo series. I want to take a large part of this post to simply say just like those people in the commercial for that product Head on. I don’t like your site and marketing but I absolutely love your product. You’ll find a whole bunch of glowing reviews on Palmgear.
I have to hand it to Randy Wei. His comment (in the Splash Id Post) mentioned Palm Organized’s Palm Master App for Money Management. This program is one of the best Palm programs ever. This really puts to shame Ultrasoft Money, Splash Money, Quicken for Palm, and just about any other money management program out there. You name it and it beats it. I don’t know where these guys came from but I would need to spend a week on this app alone because of how brilliant it is. I printed out it’s approximately 200 page manual and had go at it in several passes. It was well worth it and hopefully I can save you some time by going over it in future posts. I have used this program since January 1, 2007 and all my transactions are entered into it. It keeps me sane. So what is all the fuss about. Again, I told you earlier I would need about a week to give this program justice but I will give you my no copy and paste feature listing impromptu excited feature rambling.
Splashdata.com has a whole cadre of Palm apps. It could even be like a Natara.com but they only have one application that hits it out of the park for me and that is Splash ID. I used to deal with writing down passwords on slips of paper or opening notepad to log this info. I look back embarrassed to think I handled passwords any other way than with Splash ID. I no longer have to go searching for emails for account & password info or clicking that dreaded “forgot password” link. The worst part of this is having that link “reset” your password because now you know for sure you won’t be able to remember it next time. How many people use the same password for all your accounts? Please raise your hand. Oh my gosh! Want to read something scary. 
I first heard about this app in an article over at Palmaddict.com. Someone thought this little gem should be garnering more attention for its revolutionary take on text entry. You won’t find this on Palmgear and that may be one of the reasons some of you have not heard about it. This program kicks butt. It is unlike anything you’ve seen before. This app competes with the big boys. What do I mean by that? I mean this program will enable you to enter text on your Palm equal to or faster than you currently do with your keyboard. This program is nothing to sneeze at. It does it’s job and does it well. How does it work?
