Apple's software only uses the iPhone mic to make calls. Why not include a recorder to capture lectures, bootleg concerts, and spy on your siblings? App Store developers have filled the void, but there's clutter between a dozen competing apps. We've picked nine noteworthy tools to capture audio. Follow along as we highlight the best.

The iPhone still has its recording limits. You can't capture phone calls, adjust the level of incoming sound, or capture stereo sessions. And you might notice some mild hiss in the background, be sure to test the recorder before capturing a chance-of-a-lifetime interview. But even with those drawbacks, you're sure to find a favorite to capture audio anytime.

Griffin iTalk Recorder

Griffin drops ads into its voice-recording app, iTalk Recorder. When touched, the ads shut down iTalk and launch App Store or Safari pages. The ads do intrude somewhat, but Griffin also offers an ad-free version for a dollar.

On iTalk's main page, you choose from three audio-quality grades, touch the big Record button to record, and you can name the audio before or after recording. A library screen, where you can replay or delete files, lists all your recordings by name along with date and file size. Griffin's free iTalk Sync for Mac or Windows lets you transfer your recordings from the handheld to a computer over a Wi-Fi network.

Check out the full review of Griffin iTalk Recorder

BIAS iProRecorder

If all you need is easy one-touch recording, iProRecorder has you covered, but it also piles on a lot of extras: three playback speeds, seven category folders, pause and resume during recording, adding on to old recordings, photo tagging, three-second countdown before recording, and timed recordings from one minute to 24 hours. The app records in three quality grades (up to CD-quality), and you can email recordings up to 10MB to any address. Larger files are downloadable to a computer via Wi-Fi network.

While iProRecorder rules as far as features go, buggy performance holds it from its lofty potential. We ran into occasional crashes while playing back, fast-forwarding, and rewinding.

Check out the full review of BIAS iProRecorder

PlumAmazing Plum Record Audio, Photo and Text Recording

Plum Record exceeds in organization. You can create and name any number of color-coded folders in which to place audio. You can tag each recording with text and photos later, but Plum Record even lets you operate the iPhone’s camera within the app, which is really cool.

To transfer your recordings to a computer over a Wi-Fi network, download the free Plum Record Server software (Mac-only), which also can convert Plum Record's AIFF audio files to several audio file types, including MP3 and AAC That’s another great great bonus feature.

Check out the full review of PlumAmazing Plum Record Audio, Photo and Text Recording

Retronyms Recorder

In the two most most important traits for a simple recorder--sound quality and stable operation--Recorder notches ahead of the competition. Its audio--available in two settings, with CD-quality AIFF as the highest--sounds just a bit clearer than most competitors. And while we didn’t experience flawless operation, Recorder does better than most similar apps on average.

Recorder aims for simplicity. With one-touch record, you can pause and then resume recording smoothly. Saved files are namable, but there are no category folders for organization. For the last, crucial feature--transferring audio to a computer--Recorder lets you email files of up to 10MB to any address or transfer larger items over a Wi-Fi network through a Web browser.

See more recorder apps, including our winning picks after the break.

Concrete Software Voice Memo Recorder

Another recorder app that focuses on organization, Voice Memo Recorder lets you create your own categories for audio notes. As a clever twist, you can rank recordings with a priority rating of 1 to 10, and they’re labeled in shades from green to red according to the priority number. You can also sort recordings according to category, priority, date, and title, a scheme that other App Store hopefuls would do well to mimic.

Voice Memo only has one audio quality setting, a lowly 8 kHz AIFF (CD quality is 44.1 kHz). That keeps files small, but it renders Voice Memo poor for podcasting or field recording by sound designers or musicians. Also, Concrete Software provides no in-app or online documentation, which is rare, not to mention annoying. When you factor in semi-regular crashes, Voice Memo disappoints.

Check out the full review of Concrete Software Voice Memo Recorder

Better Day Wireless Voice FX

Voice FX doesn’t qualify for much more than cheap thrills. It records audio clips and then alters them with one of eight sound effects. You can save and name the audio files, but you can’t save them with an effect applied to it. Nor can you offload the clips to a computer, which makes the app a one-trick pony (although the developer says that file-emailing is coming).

By today's standards,Voice FX's audio effects sound cheap. The eight effects include Echo and Reverse, which are the most satisfying; Helium and Deep Bass, which speed and pitch the sound up or down; and Creature, Nasal, Static, and Robot, which use different combinations of pitching and distortion to basically make a mess of the sound. The latter four use irritating, low-res distortion and often render speech unintelligible, which we doubt was the intent of the app.

Check out the full review of Better Day Wireless Voice FX

Tomsoft Voice Changer

Voice Changer applies sound effects to audio recordings and might be relegated to the novelty category. Surprisingly, it actually has some practical use. You record, save, and then alter audio with eight built-in effects, including Helium, Reverse, Sci-Fi, Mouse, Slow Down, Speed Up, Echo, and Evil Demon. The effects aren’t complex, but they produce nice-sounding results on speech or other sounds.

What’s great about Voice Changer is that you can save a recording as a separate file with an effect permanently applied. You can then take that file and apply another effect on top. You can also transfer recordings to a computer through a Web browser over a Wi-Fi network.  

Check out the full review of Tomsoft Voice Changer

LittleCodeShop.com 4 Tracks Audio Recorder

Made for singers, songwriters and musicians to practice, 4 Tracks Audio Recorder lets you record four streams of audio (one at a time) that can be played back all at once and mixed with volume faders. There are also mute buttons for each track, so when recording a new track, you can have silence if not listening through headphones.

Although the inclusion of track delete buttons and an optional and an audible metronome from 60 to 200BPM is nice, 4 Track can't export audio to a computer or save more than the one song in progress. There's no panning of tracks, no fast forward or rewind, and not even a timeline for skipping around in the song. Frequent app freezes and often unresponsive controls also make 4 Tracks a tough sell. 

Check out the full review of LittleCodeShop.com 4 Tracks Audio Recorder

Sonoma Wire Works FourTrack

This four-track audio recorder's smart layout utilizes every square centimeter of screen space without resorting to controls that are too small to operate. You can record four separate audio tracks of unlimited length, one track at a time, with volume mixing and panning upon playback. A shuttle wheel and a timeline help you skip to points within song, which helps tremendously for any song of a minute or more. A record slider starts the recording, which helps prevent accidental track overwriting. A Song drawer opens to let you create and name as many songs as you want. A Wi-Fi sync feature lets you download the individual, CD-quality tracks to a computer from a Web browser, where you can load and edit them in music software such as GarageBand. That's especially imporant if you want to use FourTrack projects as parts of more polished recordings.

With decent audio quality, nice features, and smooth operation, FourTrack stands out among App Store music programs. It could benefit, however, from adding a metronome, audio effects, and an overdub option for layering tracks.

Check out the full review of Sonoma Wire Works FourTrack

THE WINNERS

We've covered several types or recorder apps, and because they don't all easily compare to each other, a few different standouts have emerged. When it comes to the special effect audio recorders, Voice Changer easily beats out Voice FX with its superior effect quality, effect rendering, and ways to transfer to a computer. The competition between four-track recorders is similarly lopsided. The more primitive 4 Track Audio Recorder can't touch FourTrack's superior navigation, audio exporting and project saving features. FourTrack's primo design and operability also helped make it the most impressive of the nine apps overall.

Of the remaining five basic audio recorders, the competition tightened up significantly. In the end, we recommend Recorder the highest for its easy use, good sound quality, and solid performance. However, Recorder has heat on its heels from up-and-comers such as iProRecorder and Plum Record. Both sound very good and offer a larger complement of features, such as the three playback speeds and timed recording of iProRecorder, and the color-coded categories and photo/text tagging of Plum Record. If those apps fix their crashing and glitchy performance problems, they'll give Recorder a run for your money.