Abstract

Voice recording is initiated immediately upon pressing a record button on a digital computing device such as a palm computer. To enable an immediate response to the button being pressed without a delay that would be normally be incurred to load a user interface and a recording application, a stub program is continuously executed on the device, even when a main user interface program is not running. When the record button is pressed, the stub program immediately begins recording a digital signal corresponding to the sound waves incident on a microphone of the device in a compressed format. If the record button is depressed for more than a second, the recorded digital signal is stored in a file so that it can subsequently be played back, and if the record button was pressed for less than one second, the file is not retained. Sound recording can be initiated in an “eyes free” mode, e.g., while using the device under low ambient light conditions, or while engaged in another activity. Recording and playback are controlled by a user interface that is launched when the record button is initially pressed, if not already running. Sound files can be selected and played back at either a normal speed or at a substantially higher speed without any significant change in the frequency of the recorded sound, using control buttons provided on the hand held computing device or the user interface that is provided on a touch screen display.