Topic: JB3 successor?

[janerik]

The JB3 seem to be 'the' recorder to get for all kinds of field recordings, but... I seem not to be able to buy it anywhere. Maybe this is a problem cause I live in Sweden, but it's not listed on any web pages nor web stores, it's all about Zen and Muvo and others. Is it out of production and replaced by another model?

Anyway, my question is (probably the most common one on this great forum - sorry) what recorder shall I get ? Is there a just as good or better updated model of JB3, and which is the one to get from all new products out there? Is Creative the ones to stick to?

Thanks

Janne

[Evil Taper]

The JB3 is no longer being manufactured.  However, you can buy them directly from Creative on ebay for a nice price usually.  You use the JB3 because it allows you to record in .wav format which is something that no other models allow.  You should spend around $150 us for a new JB3 on ebay, not bad.  If you can't find one then you do have 2 other options:

Edirol R1
Edirol R4

There's a few people around here who do use those and like them alot.  They allow 24bit recording and the JB3 only allows 16bit, so they will sound better.  The a/d converter is also better.  The drawback is the price...look for yourself.

If you can't find a JB3 and can't afford an Edirol, you do have options.  You could use a Minidisc, Hi-MD, DAT, Laptop.  If you are open taping (not stealth) and have a laptop already, install a good sound card and use that instead of buying something else.  Minidisc only get 80 minutes per disc, then you have to switch.  Hi-MD gets 90 minutes per disc.  DAT gets up to 3 hours per tape, but has a hefty price tag new.  Don't forget than you need mics and other stuff too, so don't skimp on those in trade for an expensive recorder, spend as much as you can on your mics and whatever else is between your mics and recorder, you'll be very very glad you did later!

[tomluvsgiants]

 
  I agree 100% with everything that EVIL TAPER  said.

   +t for breaking it down

   affordable recorders means more $ for rig enhancement,
   better sounds, higher success rates.....general bliss & blast!

   i have seen the future.......no one is riding pause.....
 

   t X b

 

[John Kelly]

Also soon you'll have that M-Audio option. 

[wbrisette]

Also soon you'll have that M-Audio option. 

At least we hope that will be an option. ;-)

Wayne

[terrapinj]

If you do decide to go for a JB3 I wouldn't try too hard to find a new one. I scouted eBay for a few weeks and never saw a new one come up. Perhaps Creative releases New ones for sale from time to time, but I haven't seen one yet. There are a lot of used JB3's based out of the UK on eBay which is probably better for you to help the cause with shipping costs. Make sure if you do buy a used one that is specifies that it includes a battery. Your other option is to watch the Yard Sale here at TS.com. It seems a JB3 or two comes up almost every week for sale and you can usually guarantee that someone here has taken good care of it. Best of Luck whichever route you choose to go.

[jkoch]

a downside for the edirols (IMO) is they don't have an internal hard drive and you also have to buy flash cards.

[WiFiJeff]

a downside for the edirols (IMO) is they don't have an internal hard drive and you also have to buy flash cards.

The upside of this is that it takes less power to run the CF cards, you can upgrade as
the cost of memory comes down and the CF cards get bigger, you can pull a card
out and use another if you don't have time to download between recordings,
and you can pop the card into a  reader without needing the recorder on
power.  Since an 8 GB card will run about 9 hours at 24/44.1 on an R1, which is
about the same amount of time a pair of lithium AAs will power it, you have
lots of room even now.

Jeff

[John Kelly]

a downside for the edirols (IMO) is they don't have an internal hard drive and you also have to buy flash cards.

The upside of this is that it takes less power to run the CF cards, you can upgrade as
the cost of memory comes down and the CF cards get bigger, you can pull a card
out and use another if you don't have time to download between recordings,
and you can pop the card into a reader without needing the recorder on
power. Since an 8 GB card will run about 9 hours at 24/44.1 on an R1, which is
about the same amount of time a pair of lithium AAs will power it, you have
lots of room even now.

Jeff

Plus there's the whole "no moving parts" thing, which IMO is the greatest benefit of going to compact flash.

[jkoch]

agreed with above. i was just going cost wise an 8gb card isn't going to be cheap! (do they even support those?)

[John Kelly]

do they even support those?

That is a very good question.

[WiFiJeff]

do they even support those?

That is a very good question.

I have been using an 8 GB Sandisk CF card on the R1 for over a month.  Each file is limited to 2 GB, and they don't roll over automatically at the file size limit (but save the file and shut down).  But you can put 8 GB of files on the card, for sure.  So with lithium AAs you can run for about 9 hours at 24bits/44.1kH, all you have to tend is the file closing and restarting (takes about 10 seconds max, hard to screw up after you've experienced the few no-nos like powering off when you intended to take off the hold switch).

Jeff