Need Voice Recorder Suggestions
Posted March 16th, 2006 @ 11:48am by Erik J. Barzeski
I'm attending the launch of a new product in early April. The launch will be held on a golf course, and some golf pros and some PR types will be around for interviews. I'd like to incorporate some of the audio from the event into The Sand Trap's podcast, and as such, I'm looking for a good quality voice recorder. Ideally, the recorder would (in order of importance):
- Fairly small (easily met requirement)
- Last awhile on its battery/batteries
- Record digitally in fairly good quality
- Allow me to get the audio file(s) onto my Mac
- Record quite a bit of audio (or have removable media so I can record a lot)
- Cost less than $100
Any ideas or suggestions? Please don't suggest an iPod microphone - I'm probably looking at a dedicated recorder.
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Posted 16 Mar 2006 at 4:46pm #
Use a griffin iTalk. It only works on gen3-4-5 ipods. (Not compatable with video, or nano versions)
Its fantastic, small, cheap (
Posted 16 Mar 2006 at 4:49pm #
Alex:
The iTalk qualifies as such.
Posted 16 Mar 2006 at 7:45pm #
Dedicated personal recorders are expensive. The fine folks over at the 43 Folders wiki recommend the iAudio U2 from Cowon. It's an MP3 player as well but nobody says you have to use that part 🙂
It seems they've introduced some new products since the U2; check out what they've got:
http://eng.iaudio.com/product/product_iaudio_flash.php
They come in various sizes so something should fit your budget.
Posted 16 Mar 2006 at 9:48pm #
From Engadget:
Although the user interface is a bit of a pain, iRiver's IFP-series MP3 player/recorders are a great deal, and you can plug your existing headset right into the 1/8" mini-mic port and record away. You have control over the recording bitrate, and files move via USB directly to MP3 files on your computer, Windows or Mac.
Minuses? Well, the user interface, as I mentioned; built-in flash memory instead of swappable cards; and you have to use the iRiver software (Windows or Mac, as I mentioned) to move files on or off. The biggest downside is, like Apple's iPods, if you move MP3 or other music files onto the iRiver, you can't move them off again. (Recordings and other files come off no problem.) But it does play .ogg format, and runs on a single AA battery.
It looks like about $49 bucks gets you started.
Posted 17 Mar 2006 at 11:34am #
As I mentioned on IM I use the Olympus WS-200S. More info:
http://mikezornek.com/archives/2005/08/24/car_podcasting_setup.php
It works ok, though I would recommend getting a real mic if you are using it for interviews.