I was in need of a tool for recording audio, both from the internal microphone on my MacBook (i.e. recording meetings), and also from the line in port (I recently had to import some audio from Mini Disc). Tape Deck does the job in a very visually appealing and intuitive way - it looks just like an old fashioned tape deck. The spools rotate as you record and play back and the button sound effects are great. A really neat application.

Each time you press record, Tape Deck creates a new “tape” which can be labeled. All the tapes are stored in a virtual drawer on screen and are searchable. Set your recording input in your system preferences, then choose mono or stereo in Tape Deck, and low, medium or high quality. Press record to start the recording, press stop to finish it. Simple.

Finished tapes can be exported to iTunes straight from Tape Deck, complete with cassette coverflow artwork. All the files are stored in .m4a format and the compression is excellent.

It could do with a full quality (320Kbps) option as the high quality compresses at 128Kbps. It’s good, but Tape Deck could be used for a wider array of things with this option. It would also be nice to be able to wipe portions of a tape, or even trim a tape. I got sidetracked on the phone whilst recording from a Mini Disc and forgot to press stop, so I have a file with 15 minutes of blank space on it. You can set a stop marker in iTunes, but that doesn’t help with the wasted diskspace. The application is only at version 1.0.1, so I’m sure the developer will look at these extra features in due course.

Priced at $25, I think this is an excellent tool at a very reasonable price.

Check it out at www.tapedeckapp.com.