Record Skype calls as MP3 files for free using CallGraph

Posted on March 27, 2008 at 6:06 am

Lately, I’ve been using Skype a lot to talk with my family and friends in India since it’s completely free and the quality of the call is excellent. If you’ve never used Skype before, you can use it to make free calls to other Skype users or to make calls to mobile phones and landlines for a small charge per minute (a few cents).

One of the cool things about talking over the computer to others is that it’s a lot easier to do stuff like record calls! If you need to record a call on a normal landline, there’s really not a very easy way to go about it other than having a phone with a record button that you have to press each time to record a call. Also, it’s not easy finding those recorded calls since there is no GUI interface to view them.

That’s where a nifty little application called Call Graph can help you out! Call Graph is a freeware app that will record all of your Skype calls for you automatically and save them as MP3s! There are no limits of any kind on the software, so you can record until you have no more hard drive space left.

Here are some of the overall useful features of Call Graph:

Automatic Call Recording:
Call Graph can automatically record all your Skype calls without any intervention. You can configure the directory where the recorded files are the be saved via the Settings dialog.

The recording can also be stopped at any time during the call. This is the default behavior of Call Graph but it can overridden from the settings dialog. If you do not want Call Graph to record every call automatically, Call Graph will display a notification with instructions on how to start the recording after the call has started.

Call Record Tagging, Indexing, and Search:
Call Graph automatically tags each recorded call with the display name of the contact, which makes searching super easy! These tags can be edited, changed to whatever you like via the search dialog. The MP3 files can be renamed or deleted from the search GUI as well. These tags are useful for indexing and filing of the recorded calls. You’ll also be able to sort the calls via different criteria soon.

Notifications:
The notifications of Call Graph are subtle and informative. The application runs as a Windows Task Bar Icon on your machine and the notifications appear as a sliding window over the task bar. They disappear by themselves after sometime and do not require any user intervention. The notifications can also be disabled from the Settings Dialog. If notifications are disabled, Call Graph will operate in silent mode.

Automatic Updates:
Call Graph supports automatic upgrades. Whenever a new version is available, a notification will appear to download the upgrade. The upgrades contain important bug fixes and new features.

Overall, the program is very well laid out and contains only what it needs to record calls, no extra bells and whistles that’ll cause everything to crash (Office?). If you’re looking for a simple free way to record Skype calls, definitely take a look at Call Graph. You can also use Call Graph to record podcasts since it directly stores the audio in 128 Kbps bit rate MP3 format. Enjoy!