Question: iOS seems to refuse to allow me to email "long" voice memos, and I'm unaware of any way to extract them from iTunes backups of my phone. How can I retrieve entire voice memos that aren't really short?

Answer: 
[This answer](https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/44914/5472) by [jmlumpkin](https://apple.stackexchange.com/users/181/jmlumpkin) is canonically correct, all existing memos sync over to a special "Voice Memos" playlist in iTunes. However, if you like to record voice memos that you will retrieve later on your computer, my suggestion would be to check out [DropVox](http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/dropvox/). Instead of having to go through iTunes, DropVox uploads your recordings to your DropBox folder as soon as you finish recording, which for me is far more convenient than syncing and dealing with iTunes. Personally, I have completely dropped Voice Memos and now completely use DropVox for everything.

![](https://i.imgur.com/ELpX3.png) ![](https://i.imgur.com/u1Qb7.png)

Another avenue to avoid iTunes but still use the Voice Memo app is to use a software package like [PhoneView](http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/) to grab your existing memos directly from the device.
There is a free third-party utility that I find very useful in situations like this. [Macroplant iExplorer](http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/), for Mac and Windows, lets you mount the file system of your iOS device in the Finder or Windows Explorer, so you can copy the voice memo files (and most other iOS document files) directly to your computer without using iTunes. Macroplant also provides other paid apps with additional functionality.