SoniClear MeetingPro Gov

By Grace Suarez

Reviewed by Grace Suarez, a solo attorney based in San Francisco,
specializing in criminal appeals and writs.

Sound Quality

I immediately was impressed by the quality of MeetingPro’s sound. Even using a small Labtech table microphone, I was able to record from as far away as 3 feet. There was no static. This means that even without an additional high-end microphone, the product is ready to record small meetings. For larger meetings, Trio Systems recommends Acoustic Magic’s Voice Tracker universal serial bus microphone, which costs about $250.

Recording

The beauty of this product is in its ability to link notes entered in the computer with portions of the recording. For example, you can prepare an agenda ahead of time and link each agenda item to the recorded portion with just a click. Clicking on the agenda item takes you directly to that portion of the recording — no more endless fast-forwarding and rewinding to find the right spot. In addition, the person doing the recording can add notes linked to the recorded portion on the fly. Users can create agendas from within the program, imported from a text file or copied from Agenda Templates, which can be created ahead of time for specific types of meetings.

Once a recording is finished, it’s automatically saved and can’t be tampered with. It then can be archived and the sound file can be saved in a variety of formats. The archive can be published to a Web server, making it available to anyone with an intranet or Internet connection. Thus, completely accurate minutes of government meetings are available at very little cost. The archives also can be published to CD-ROM for distribution or storage.

You can use the program to record audio commentary and then attach it to Microsoft PowerPoint or Corel Presentations slide shows. The sound files can be divided into separate MP3 files, which can be attached to each slide to create a self-running slide presentation with audio. I have tried to do this in the past using Windows Sound Recorder, but using MeetingPro is much easier and the resulting sound files are of much better quality.

The dictation recording feature is a simplified version of the meeting recording and is available in RecorderPro. I found it easy to use. It easily could take the place of a tape recorder, although it’s not as portable.

Burning to CD-ROM

Once you have recorded the meeting and edited the notes, you can burn the recording to a CD-ROM using the program’s “Export to CD Image Folder” feature and your own CD-ROM burning software. The resulting CD-ROM can be played on any computer, even on one without MeetingPro software installed. The CD-ROM starts playing automatically and the notes are visible in a window on your computer’s screen. This is a fabulous way to preserve and distribute records of meetings.

You also can export to a format that can be played on ordinary stereo equipment. Both exporting features worked perfectly and were very easy to operate.

Transcribing

A recording can be played back on a computer and transcribed using any word processing program. Designated hot keys pause, rewind and fast-forward the recording (called virtual foot pedals). There also is a physical foot pedal available through Trio Systems for about $150, which you can hook up to the computer. This feature eliminates the need for standalone transcribing machines. Both the virtual and physical foot pedals can be used to control the recording operation as well.

Licensing and Support

The prices for Trio’s products are for a single license on a single computer, although there is a version available that can be installed on more than one computer with a single user at a time running the software. This version uses a USB key device. Technical support for one year is included in the purchase price, but I didn’t need to contact Trio for help. Everything worked well and easily. There also is a free 30-day evaluation kit available.

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Users can link agenda items to recorded portions of a meeting.