Topic: which iriver as a back up to my r-09? or???

[floete]

while my edirol is at the shop i've got to start thinking of a suitable backup device, something to run in the background as a security measure while the edirol is front and center.  this is for voice recording only, in all kinds of environments, people close, people sorta far, people near and sorta far, fairly loud and fairly quiet.  i'd use my trusty old sony tape recorder but it's hard to go back to the farm after you've seen pareee -- ie/ with the edirol there's no changing tapes and everything can be dumped into my laptop for ez transcribing.  so, any thoughts?

really, what i'd like is something at least as tiny as the edirol.  recording capabilities don't have to be as good, only about as good as a regular cassette recorder.  a built in mic -- mono, i don't care -- is pretty much a necessity; again, quality of the recording needs only be that of a cassette rec.  it'd be nice if it could record for four or five hours or more non-stop.  being as i want to use a built-in mic, maybe there's a unit out there with functional agc. 

might any of the irivers fit the bill?  what about the sony icd-mx20?

thanks, all, once again.

[Gawain]

One iriver h120/140 gives you more than 5 hours recording, is small, have mic build-in (why use this if you can plug a mic via optical or line-in?!?), no media needed and is a fantastic machine in general (much more with Rockbox)...take a fast look to the posts here and you'll find it's very popular here :=)

[floete]

i've been reading up on the h120 and from what i can tell the built-in mic is pretty useless unless you're right up to it.  seems that an older series, maybe ifp, had certain limitations but the internal mic wasn't one of them; it apparantly came with agc that actually worked and other nice things that were for some reason phased out in the h-series.  at least that was one writer's take on it.  i haven't read anything to substantiate what he says.

the internal mic is just a strong personal preference.  i've tried using an external and it doesn't work well with  the way i work.

[sleepypedro]

how about buying a second r09?

[Gawain]

yep, the internal mic in the h120 is almost completely useless. I've just used it to record talks at home and I dont think it can do anything else. If an external mic is not your cup of tea, this model is not for you...maybe sleepypedro's suggestion is the best...

[divamum]

The iriver T series of mp3 players MIGHT suit your needs, but I suggest you try to find one to try out the mic.

I have a couple of students (begninning voice students) who picked these up and I have to say I was surprised at the quality they get out of them.  They're not so great for music (although better than many cassette recorders) but speech seemed generally clear.  I believe these are now discontinued, but you could probably pick one up cheap on ebay or overstock or some such.

Alternatively, what about those Olympus digital dictaphones?  They're fairly inexpensive and listening back w/headphones the few recoridngs I've heard on them seem to be ok for speech (not exactly HiFi, but ok).  I think Sony might make one as well - seems they're more or less DESIGNED for the kind of recoridng you're doing. 

[floete]

from what i can tell about dictation devices, they're meant to record in a fairly quiet setting.  thanks, tho.

at this pt, i guess what i'm going to do is use my old cassette player for back up.  it'll be a bummer, for the reasons already stated but also because a recorder along w/ a bunch of tapes adds a lot to the bulk of what i've got to carry around.  but i don't see any other option (short of buying another 09, which i'd do in a second if they cost $200 not $400).  now, i just hope roland is able to figure out what went wrong w/ the 09 i do own.  hope it's not major, 'cause i do love the thing!

[IpaqMan]

I use two different digital voice recorders for meetings and classes.  There is background noise and other interference but I still get intelligible recordings because the recordings are done in stereo which helps discriminate voices.

The recorders I use are the Olympus WS-320M  and the Sony ICD-SX46. 

The Sony is designed as a dictation and meeting stereo recorder with built-in stereo mikes.  It has a very strong AGC function which helps it catch loud and soft sounds by varying its recording gain.  The SX46 can record several hours in its highest quality stereo mode.  It even has a function to increase its built-in mike directionality.  It is small and slim and runs on two AAA batteries.  There is no backlight.  It records in a proprietary Sony format which can be converted to WAV format.

The Olympus recorder has very small controls and is very small itself.  It records in stereo WMA format at up to 64kbps bitrate.  Its AGC function is slow compared to the Sony which helps produce a more natural sounding recording.  The WS-320M can record up to 17 hours at its highest quality mode.  It runs on a single AAA battery.  Its built-in mikes are not quite as sensitive as the Sony's.  It is plug and play (appears as a disk drive) and has a built-in USB plug.

You can find the SX46 at local Staples stores, so you can try it out on their return policy.  The WS-3xxM series is harder to find, but I believe that both CC and BB carry it online (WS-300M) with a good return policy.

BTW, another excellent voice recorder is the Olympus DS-2 for $149 but it only has a one hour of memory at its highest quality mode.  It records at up to 128kbps WMA stereo.  It also uses a very proprietary USB cable.  It has very good built-in stereo mikes.  You can find it at BB.

You can find a lot of user reviews for these devices on Amazon.com.