Best Digital Voice Recorder??

[Bushido54]

Seeking recommendations for a good digital voice recorder. Ideally, I’d like one that I could use for presentations. I give a good number of speeches and presentations.

I'd like to record these on a small/discrete digital recorder, and then download to a PC via USB connection in a format that I could later burn onto a CD.

Does this make sense? Any tips or recommendations would be deeply appreciated. Thanks!

Kevin

 

[TesTeq]

Standard voice recorder put on the presenters table often gives low quality recording because of the acoustic characteristics of the presentation room, the distance from your mouth and the fact that you are moving during the presentation.
It is beter to have voice recorder in the pocket with separate small microphone attached to your jacket near your mouth.
TesTeq

 

[mscudder]

Best Digital Voice Recorder??

I've found my Sony ICD-MS1 digital voice recorder to be excellent as a recording device. (As I purchased it three years ago, this particular model has likely been superseded.) Features I've found useful include:

• internal mic
  external mic jack
  external power jack (adapter not included)
  external headphone jack
  removable flash memory
  voice operated recording
  support for named folders

Transferring audio files from my voice recorder via my computer onto CD has not been straightforward, however. First, to upload audio files from the dvr to my laptop, I had to buy a peripheral flashcard reader. Second, as the recorder's audio files are in a Sony proprietary format (.msv), I had to buy software to convert them to a common format (such as mp3) recognizable by CD burning software.

Regards,

 

[Jestre]

I have purchased an iRiver portable mp3 player for use in this way, and also for use in mobile podcast recording. It features a built-in microphone, but also offer an adjustable Line-in jack so you can feed it from either an external microphone or with the output from a sound board/mixer.

The sampling and encoding rates are adjustable over the entire regular scale, and recordings can be made in mono or stereo.

The recordings are then transferred to your computer via USB (2.0) and are immediately available as mp3 for posting to the web, e-mailing, archiving, or burning to CD.

Thus far, it has served me well for the above purposes and for recording telephone conversations, etc.

 

[redknife]

I have had excellent results from the Panasonic model RR-US006. It's tiny (think of a pack of gum), but it comes with a docking unit for your PC that includes a decent speaker and playback controls. The docking unit also recharges the battery. On the recorder itself, there is a tiny speaker and there are ports for the external mike and headphones. There is also an MP3 connection (cable included). The unit also comes with excellent software that will not only allow you to download the recordings, but also edit them. The built-in microphone is quite sensitive, but the external mike is even better. It is built like a lapel mike--small, discreet, and with a clip--but it also has microphone elements that extend out in several directions. You can place it on the table in a meeting and pick up voices from all over the room. The amount of memory is huge for a digital, and its built-in system for organizing sound clips into directories makes it easy to keep your recordings straight using the LCD window. The only downside is the price. At about $170 street, its not cheap, but it's an excellent value. I wish that my other hardware worked as well.

 

[aderoy]

You may also wish to look into mini disc recorders. Have been using a Sony B100 for two years with excellent results. The unit is small, good quality audio in/out put, unlimited storage - swap out the disc for another. Keep a music disc (approx 4 hours worth), and one voice for memos, thougts etc.

 

[JeffB]

I've been using a Sharp minidisc to record all the teleseminars I'm on, almost daily.

Voice quality is good, but it is only mono, since I use a Radioshack phone jack that plugs in between the phone and minidisc.

The pain: Each hour of recording is then recorded real time onto my Mac via CD Spin Doctor. This records in AIFF format. Once on my Mac, I can burn a disc or pop it into iTunes.

Is there an easier way?

Jeff

 

[Jestre]

I've been using a Sharp minidisc to record all the teleseminars I'm on, almost daily.

Voice quality is good, but it is only mono, since I use a Radioshack phone jack that plugs in between the phone and minidisc.

Do you happen to have a part number for this item?

The pain: Each hour of recording is then recorded real time onto my Mac via CD Spin Doctor. This records in AIFF format. Once on my Mac, I can burn a disc or pop it into iTunes.

This is why I stopped using MD recorders for this. Some (many?) now come with the ability to copy the raw file directly to the computer without having to record it, and thereby dropping the 1:1 time ratio but, unfortunately, mine do not.

With the iRiver, when I hit Stop following a recording session, I've got an mp3 ready to be moved to the computer and filed, played with any mp3 player, or burned to CD for archiving or distribution.

 

[JeffB]

Part number for the Radio Shack item?

What model is the iRiver? Approximate cost?

Jeff

 

[Jestre]

What model is the iRiver? Approximate cost?

I have the iRiver iFP-890, which is the 256MB version. It currently lists for $129US, so it was on par (cheaper actually) than the digital dictation-type recorder I had previously used. When recording with the same settings as most mp3's (44kHz, 128m) it will record approximately 8 hours of stereo audio. However, for voice alone, it has many much-lower bitrate settings which would extend the recording time greatly.

Another advantage, for those so inclined, is the ability to carry audio books or other music as it is not merely a recorder. While I also have an iPod on which I carry most music/books, I do have a copy of David's GTD book on my iriver for those times when I need it.

 

[JeffB]

Thanks,

I have ipod also.

Radio Shack part number is: 43-1237

I use a sharp MD-MT90 mini disc player.

Jeff

 

[morias]

iPod + iTalk

My wife uses an iPod and Griffin's iTalk ($40 - http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/italk/index.php) to record lectures. She no longer uses her mini disc player and could never get one of those other USB digital recorders to work properly. Her biggest complaint is that it only records audio in 8khz 16 bit mono WAV files, which is pretty low quality but okay for voice recordings. The thing that she likes the most is that it integrates very well with iTunes. All she has do is plug in her iPod and it automatically transfers the files into iTunes over high speed firewire instantaneously. So the trade-off for her was low voice quality audio vs. superfast transfers and easy iTunes integration.

It's a pricey combination compared to the other options, but if you're even thinking of getting an iPod, primarily need voice quality recordings, and like iTunes integration/interface, this may work for you as well. Just be sure to get one of the regular iPods (NOT mini or shuffle) as those are the only ones that support the iTalk.

Good Luck!

-Michael

 

[JeffB]

Morias;

Great idea. Of course I have 1st gen ipod, but could probably pick up a 3rd gen on ebay.

I do all my recordings off telephone. Looks like I could plug right in. Does that seem right?

With ipod and iTalk, this could streamline my process.

However, looks like it creates WAV files. Any other option?

Jeff

 

[morias]

Hi Jeff,

The iTalk does have an external 1/8" mic plug, so you should be able to plug-in the phone adapter. WAV files are cross-platform, so they'll play natively in iTunes, Windows Media Player, QuickTime, Toast, CD Spin Doctor and other apps both on the Mac and Windows. You should also be able to burn an Audio CD directly from iTunes without having to convert to AIFF first. The mono WAV files the iTalk creates also takes up a lot less space than AIFF or MP3, making them more accessible to being stored on a server or sent via email.

Hope this helps,

-Michael

 

[Jestre]

Hi Jeff,

The mono WAV files the iTalk creates also takes up a lot less space than AIFF or MP3, making them more accessible to being stored on a server or sent via email.

I'd have to disagree with this last statement. Using typical compression setting, most mp3's will be approximately 1/10th the size of the original, uncompressed, wav file.

 

[morias]

Hi Jestre,

You’re right. I just remembered that I compress my wife’s files so they take up less space after she transfers them. So I was looking at the results of the converted/compressed WAV files. Me bad, I was mixing my formats and math, comparing Apples and Oranges so to speak.

Just to clarify, CD quality uncompressed WAV and AIFF files are typically encoded at 16-bit 44khz in Stereo. This roughly translates to 10.33MB per minute of CD quality audio. Typical MP3 compression is 128kbs, so a 16-bit 44khz stereo files is reduced to roughly 1MB per minute.

The iTalk creates lower quality audio WAV files at 16-bit 8khz mono. So doing some quick math, results in 0.94MB per minute. Pretty close to the stereo MP3 file example above. I then convert/compress the iTalk WAV files to 128kbs AAC to reduce storage space even further. Comparing AAC and MP3 is another story. UGH!

Here are my calculations for the iTalk generated WAV files. I think this is right. Please correct if not.
8khz = 8,000 1/s
16-bit = 16 b
Mono Track = 1 (vs. 2 for stereo)
b = bit
B = Byte = 8 bits
K = 1024
Kb = 1024 bits
M = 1000K

(8,000 (1/s) * 16 (b) * 1) * 1/8 (B/b) = 16000 B/s
=> 16000/1024 = 15.625 KB/s = 0.015625 MB/s
=> 0.015625 MB/s * 60 seconds = 0.9375MB per minute

-m

 

[Jestre]

Now that I'll buy. And your calculations seem more than reasonable to me... The average CD audio ripped to wav yields ~10MB/minute of data... so somewhere in the 40ish MB range for an average song. Using the typical mp3 encoding rates, that'll end up in the 4 MB range after encoding, all which agree.

The iTalk does have low bit/sample rates, so the audio is not the greatest, but for most speech, who cares. Those who are looking to record at higher bit/sample rates on an ipod will have to first load linux on it.

Regardless, I think we're on the same page now

 

[propellerhead]

iListen

Thanks for the iTalk and iListen heads up. i had never heard of either before. They look really great!

 

[DeveloperMCT]

My vote goes for the Panasonic D-Snap. I love this thing!

I went to Circuit City specifically to buy a digital audio recorder. They were around $80-100. For $200 (after $50 rebate) I ended up buying D-Snap and felt I got a much better value.

--uses SD memory card (which my kodak dig camera also uses)
--very, very small
--Of course it records audio
--2 mg pixel camera (Don't let this fool you. I think this takes better pictures than my 3.1 mp kodak)
--It does video
--It plays MP3s

With my 1GIG SD card, I can store the following:
--over 3,000 pictures on the maximum resolution
--over 30 hours of audio
--over 1.5 hrs of video

how cool is that? I carry it around in a cell phone belt clip on and take it EVERYWHERE.

All the menu's have been engineered very well. I love everything about this device. And no, I don't work for panasonic.

See pics below:

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