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Author Topic: Portable music / voice recording device recommendations? Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-07-2004 08:28 PM                     I've been thinking about getting one of those portable music players to use for jogging and stuff like that. But I am also interested in one that can do things like voice recordings. With sign design being my day job, I used to keep a micro-cassette recorder handy for whenever I was driving around at night. I could record quick remarks about businesses with signs in need of repair. Quick responses to customers could generate a good amount of money. But I lost that damned recorder and would like to get some kind of replacement. Do most portable music players feature the voice recording capability? I'd also like to hear some opinions about hard drive based units versus those using flash memory cards instead.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-07-2004 09:21 PM                        Gaa!! Where is forum member Jeff Skallan when you need him? He sent me a URL that showed a Creative Labs (I think.... not sure)unit that looked prety cool, had optical digital in and out and could record uncompressed. I would avoid the iPod like the plague due to it's lack of inputs and the fact that they get real kooky with their rights management stuff. Way too invasive if you ask me.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-07-2004 09:56 PM                     Yeah, the iPods kind of turn me off for their "rights management" features and stuff like that. Also, the lack of voice recording kind of nixes the deal. In fact, most hard drive based players I've seen lack any voice recording capability. I've seen pretty decent reviews about the music players from iRiver (yeah, very UNimaginative brand name ripping off from Apple's theme). The only downside to them is the lack of expandability. There's no slot for an SD or MMC card. I visited the Rio Music website to check out their flash memory based players. Their units have SD/MMC expansion slots, but voice record capability is not mentioned.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-08-2004 02:05 AM                     Umm.. I don't know where you hearing this. The iPod has a voice recorder adapter available as well as a microphone input adapter. I don't know what you mean by rights management. If you record to it, you can share those files with anybody. If you (dare I say) illegally download mp3s, the iPod will still play them. I've had an iPod since the day they were available, and have never regretted it.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-08-2004 03:54 AM                        The iPod does all kinds of funky shit. It will only let you transfer files back and forth a limited amount of times, Apple's super-crappy AAC files have restrictions built right into them which restrict their import to iTunes and the iPod, burning onto CD, etc etc etc. This digital rights management stuff sucks. Also, I really don't trust Apple. They are the type of company that will release a piece of new software, then release a "patch" for the older version that is supposedly an upgrade for those users, but in actuality lessens the performance in subtle ways, making the user want the new version even more *cough* Mac OS 9.2.2 *cough*  |  IP: Logged David M. Dorn Film Handler Posts: 35 From: Hartford, CT USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 06-08-2004 09:09 AM                     I have the Rio RipFlash PLUS. It will record voice with the built in mic. I have also connected its line-in to the head phone output on my computer and recorded music as MP3 files. After downloading the MP3 in to my computer and burning it to a CD I can not really tell any differnce in quality. This technque means almost any souce is accessable.  |  IP: Logged Rob Butler Film Handler Posts: 91 From: Westford, MA, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 06-08-2004 10:35 AM                     I had a Jukebox Recorder 15 by Archos, I don't think they make them anymore, but this thing had a 15gb laptop harddrive wich I had most of my CD collection on. The thing was about the size of an Ipod, but at the time when I bought it ($250 @ Circuit City), Apple only had Ipods up to 256mb. It was great, rock solid, and had both digital and analog recording inputs as well as a built in mic. After a year or so, the power jack inside the unit broke off the PCB, although it was still under warranty, I made the stupid mistake of saying to myself "so what, I'll just crack it open and solder it back on", thus destroying the unit. Now, I have a 40GB Creative Nomad Zen Xtra ($270 @ Best Buy), and I gotta say I love this thing, I have every cd I own on there and I only used up a quarter of the total capacity. Although it lacks the recording capabilities, it has features up the wazoo, including a built in graphic EQ, and it sorts files by the IDE tags embedded within the files, not the filenames. The sound quality is great as well, I use it almost constantly in my pickup, and when I have to stay late at work, I just plug it into the booth monitor. The whole thing is just barely a little bigger than the Ipod (and looks a lot cooler in my opinion). I suggest going to Cnet.com and click on Music, that's how I found mine.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-08-2004 12:43 PM                     quote: Joe Redifer It will only let you transfer files back and forth a limited amount of times, Apple's super-crappy AAC files have restrictions built right into them which restrict their import to iTunes and the iPod, burning onto CD, etc etc etc. This digital rights management stuff sucks. That only applies to AAC files downloaded from iTunes music store. AAC/MP3/AIFF files you rip yourself are not protected and have no restrictions. Here is a link to an article describing Apples FairPlay DMR. I think you will find that it is much more generous than dmrs most other companies use. The only mention of iPod is "you're allowed to put a song on an unlimited number of iPods"  |  IP: Logged Brian Michael Weidemann Expert cat molester Posts: 944 From: Costa Mesa, CA United States Registered: Feb 2004 posted 06-08-2004 03:06 PM                        I've got the iRiver iFP-390T, with 256 megs, which is really all I need in terms of space. It's pretty good. It has a 3.5mm stereo line-in for recording up to 44.1kHz 320kbps stereo, as well as an internal mic for recording up to 44.1kHz 160kbps mono. It transfers to the computer, automatically encoding to .mp3. It works great. Batteries last quite well. It won't let you upload .mp3 files to a computer, though. But anything you record with the device can be uploaded. That's really as far as the rights management goes. It also has an FM tuner, which you can use to listen to or record straight from radio. Not bad reception, either. My only complaint is the earphones it comes with. The cord to one ear is much longer than the one to the other, so it's designed to hang to a side, which is quite annoying, especially for someone anal like me, who "shortened" one of them by electrical taping the cords folding over itself so they're the same length.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-19-2004 12:11 AM                        Well is anyone gonna recommend a player for Phil? I locked his thread because this one is better. He's looking for something cheap, like himself.  |  IP: Logged Brian Michael Weidemann Expert cat molester Posts: 944 From: Costa Mesa, CA United States Registered: Feb 2004 posted 06-19-2004 07:59 PM                        And I get the impression that this one is better because it's the one Phil hasn't tainted yet, eh?  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 06-23-2004 12:02 AM                        Joe, Don't forget his need for "ease of use".. LOL.. just like himself... cheap N easy.. (Phil, have ya missed me buddy?)  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-31-2005 09:26 PM                 It has been 434 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-31-2005 09:26 PM                        I have decided that I hate the iPod. It is worthless. I recently received a brand new iPod Mini for free as a bonus from my place of employment. I have never been so frustrated with an electronic device in all my life. It is very user UNfriendly, and I consider myself EXTREMELY adept with electronic equipment as well as computer software, especially Apple's. Allow me to explain my hell. First of all, the iPod wants to update itself whenever you connect it to your computer. This sucks ass because that means you MUST keep an exact copy of what is on your iPod in your iTunes at ALL TIMES on your computer. Change one thing and it changes on your iPod as well. Decide to listen to a file someone sends you in iTunes and forget to remove it and it will end up on your iPod. LAME! Use iTunes to convert a file (a sound effect for use in Final Cut Pro, perhaps) to a different format and forget to remove it and you suddenly have a whole bunch of sound effects that you don't need on your iPod. Remove a song from your playlist in iTunes for whatever reason and it is suddenly GONE from your iPod. Copy a CD to AAC or MP3 or whatever and you must leave the ripped files on your computer or they will be deleted from your iPod, even though you have the CD. It needs to be on your computer wasting space if you want to keep it on your iPod. iTunes is your iPod at all times. This severely limits how I use iTunes, which I usually use for casual listening and sound/music auditioning. I sometimes leave new playlists in there when perusing music and whatnot and then delete them later when I am done. The other option is to manually update the iPod. Doing this you can drag a playlist to the iPod and it will update whatever is new. But suddenly I found myself having 5 copies of every song in certain playlists. You have to drag each song individually to the iPod if you don't want dupes. And I still haven't found a way to manually delete a song from the iPod's master library yet (it deletes from the playlist, but it is still on the iPod and can still be played). I decided to try to let the iPod update itself and suddenly it couldn't find a ton of songs and started deleting them from itself since I had moved them (why not, it was already on the iPod, no reason to keep it around taking up space on my computer anymore). Out of frustration I just unplugged the iPod while it was blinking red saying "DO NOT REMOVE" and literally just tossed it over my shoulder. It is completely worthless and cannot compare to the user friendliness and manageability of MiniDisc (press "record" to record, and "stop" when you are done. And that's what you have on that disc forever unless you decide to erase it). The usage of the iPod itself is also a pain in the ass. Try to skip to the next track or back up to listen to the song again, and if you don't move your thumb just right you end up adjusting the volume up or down due to the crappy "click wheel" design! Very annoying. You can press the center button so that the click wheel moves back and forth through the song instead of adjusting the volume or adjusts the "star level" of the song (whatever the hell good that is supposed to be. Retarded) but regadless of what you do the click wheel remains extremely sensitive. Trying to navigate through the tons upon tons of menus is very difficult due to this oversensitivity. The unit itself has very few external buttons which makes using it a pain. There needs to be a "backlight" button. Instead, every time you skip a track or adjust the volume the backlight comes on for a preset amount of time even when you don't need it, just to annoy the shit out of you. If you just want to look and see what track is playing, you must adjust the volume just so the backlight comes on. It's either that or no backlight at all ever. What a horrible design this thing has! The sound quality also has a considerable amount of distortion. I think the amp/preamp in this thing is asstastic. It can't deliver the same punch as my Sharp MiniDisc player without breaking up. The "bass boost" function really distorts it even more instead of nicely enhancing the lows with my super-nice headphones. There is no STOP button, only PAUSE. No OFF button, either. I hate this thing. I want to throw it in the trash. But maybe I'll sell it on eBay or something. Bottom line: The iPod is a perfect example of form over function. My name is Joe Redifer and this is my story of my iPod. I'm sure Mike Olpin will be along soon to defend it.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-31-2005 09:51 PM                        Joe, Being the great guy I am.. an dnot wanting you to have a useless piece of junk laying around collecting dust and taking up your valuable space... I'm willing to take this device off your hands free of charge... You can send it to me at 1175 Celebrity Circle Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 Thank you.  |  IP: Logged

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