Podcast Interviews Over the Phone, Thumbs Down

I'm officially tired of doing podcast interviews over the phone. For every 10 interviews I record, one of them turns out to be awful. Snapping sounds, crackling noices, deafening pops, like I'm eating a bowl of Rice Krispies. How annoying.

I'm listening to an interview I did over the phone and while it was very engaging, there's static in the background. Although I used the Noise Removal feature in Audacity, it warps my audio after it removes the static. Not good.

Not only that, but one person always sounds louder than the other when the interview is conducted over the phone. Always. My editing time is increased because I have to then go through and amplify one person, trim the sound, increase the gain, but only in certain spots. And when you interview over the phone, you only get one channel - mono.

(**groan**)

I tried Skype, but Hot Recorder doesn't work on my OS (I'm on Windows 2000 SP 2; yeah I know, ancient). Plus, not everyone uses Skype.

So, any suggestions on what I can use to record interviews over the phone without stepping into a studio and without breaking the bank (I'm not interested in spending $5000 for a system)? Tell me what you're using.

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