Topic: which bucket is for me???

[halleyscomet8]

ok, so i have a birthday coming up, and want to get a bit bucket. i have been using DAT but am sick of buying tapes. i need something with digital inputs since i run ps2>ad20. what do you guys think about what you run. i don't need to spend more than $250 max. thanks

please explain your vote.

[JasonSobel]

well the R-09 does not have a digital input.  so if that's important to you, you should take that off the poll.
I voted for the MT, because it'll allow you to keep the same recorder should you decide to make a switch and go for 24 bit, but, I don't think there's a way you can get the MT and CF card for $250 or less.

which really leave two choices, the iRiver and the JB3...

[stirinthesauce]

I voted jb3 'cause this way you can buy mine when I decide to slut it up in month     

You'll be glad to do away with tapes when you make the switch.  Still use my d7 on occasion but becoming less frequent.  Good luck in your search, Dave.

[Sanjay]

iriver because the AD-20 doesn't output 24 bits so a MT would be overkill, plus  its small reliable and HD based so you won't run out of space.

[morningdew]

I haven't been following the R-09 and I-River threads but I believe they are not an option for you because they do not have digital input.  Actually the I-River might now support digital or will in the near future so you'd have to look in to that.

I'm in the same boat you are.  All a recorder is to me is a bit bucket.  For your choice (digital in only) this is what you should consider.

JB3 16-bit, solid as a rock.  I own one and haven't had a single problem.  It really is the bit bucket miracle.  20GB of storage (some have more).  Continous recording times are more than enough.  Cheap (I've seen them go for $100).

A drawback: 16- bit only. If this unit had 24-bit I bet there would be less than 6 tapers who owned a MT2496.  It's smaller but not by that much.

MT2496.  I just purchased one used for $250.  Take this with a grain of salt because I haven't used mine but from what I read it's looking very promising.

drawbacks: It won't record longer than 2 hours (24/48) without the need to restart a file with a loss of time (@5-6 sec).  No problem for me, I went back and looked and I've recorded exactly one set that went longer than 2 hours.  If it happens again I'll be prepared with my JB3 or do a new file start between songs.  It is stil quirky, seems to be mostly minor stuff but it can be specific about how you power it up, power it down, is your s/pdif hooked before power up, etc.  The other drawback is limited media.  About the biggest you're going to get into it is 8 GB and that is expensive.  The card prices are always falling and for now I have a 6 GB microdrive but if the bit bucket performs well, I'll see myself with a few 2GB cards to expand my runs for mult-band shows.  For festi's I'll be back to the world of 16 bit (JB3) or I've considered hauling my laptop and then just dumping the shows on to my laptop as the CF cards fill up.

[JoeKiller]

I love my Microtrack and have found it to be very reliable recently, but I also dropped $300 on a 8GB CF card (Kingston) to make sure I don't lose anything.  It was worth every penny at 10klf.

Oh and make sure you update the firmware!

[bgalizio]

It looks like you're in the 16bit realm, so I'd stay with a JB3 or iRiver H120. I used a JB3 and it was rock solid. I also use an iRiver, but I've never tried the digital input. Due to the small size, better metering, better battery life, generally lower price, and reports of fine optical in performance, I voted for the iRiver.

[halleyscomet8]

ok a few more things. i don't have a need for 24bit now or any time soon. i also would like to stay away from cf for now. i will probably go r4 next year sometime. but until then would i be better with a h-120 or jb3. i know the jb3 is solid but i don't know much about the 120.

[Sanjay]

The iriver has been rock solid for me both analog and digital in, plus its battery life far surpassed the jb3 on two internals, in addition you can change out the battery and get 12 hrs recording off 1 charge or something crazy.

[bgalizio]

ok a few more things. i don't have a need for 24bit now or any time soon. i also would like to stay away from cf for now. i will probably go r4 next year sometime. but until then would i be better with a h-120 or jb3. i know the jb3 is solid but i don't know much about the 120.

In that case, get the iRiver. When you move to an R-4, you still have a small recorder for SBD patches (if the R-4 is very far from the SBD), and/or a small mp3/FLAC player.

[ScottT]

Due to the small size, better metering, better battery life, generally lower price, and reports of fine optical in performance, I voted for the iRiver.

I ran DAT for 6 years before moving to the JB3 last year.  I LOVE not buying blank tapes!  It helps to know something about computers and making redundant copies of your recordings for archival purposes, but I think you'll enjoy moving to a hard-drive based recorder.

Granted, I haven't used the iRiver myself but everything I've seen and read makes it appear that it has a number of advantages over the JB3 - as enumerated by bgalizio above:  Much easier to stealth with the iRiver.  JB3 meters SUCK!!!  JB3 batts aren't cheap.  I believe the price is generally the same (around $150).

While both units are no longer in production, the Rockbox system is still seeing active development so add another check to the iRiver column.  Oh, and you can get a remote for the iRiver with record level control.  Slam dunk for the iRiver...

[J.Maye]

I would go with an I-river. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet is that it would be easier to stealth with than the jb3. Even if you don’t stealth now, you can always have it as an option.

Also, when you upgrade you can have an mp3 player. The jb3 is great, but I don’t exactly see myself taking it snowboarding/biking. Maybe putting it in a backpack, but it dosent really fit in your pocket. It’s the size, but also the shape.

I think you can get an I-river with a reasonable power solution for less than a comparable JB3. JB3 batts are running around $40 each, if you can even find them.  Or a juice box from Todd R and a L-ion DVD batt. If you go the jb3 route I would buy the Jb3, Immediately sell the battery or batteries and buy the juice box/l-ion if you ever foresee a need to tape more than an opener and a main act. 6 hrs of record time is about all anyone I know can pull out of a jb3 w/o external power, and they don’t make these batteries new anymore, so it’s not going to get any better.     

I am currently in the market for an i-river. Just waiting to find a deal on one. The code is open source, so that leaves the potential for major upgrades, like rockbox firmware and such. If anyone was going to mod the jb3 it would have been done, and I don’t consider having to file off some of the optical input to make the connections fit correctly a “mod”.

Just my 2cents. 

[Javier Cinakowski]

http://www.bukket.com     edit: NOT SAFE FOR WORK


being serious, the iRiver.

[J.Maye]

http://www.bukket.com


being serious, the iRiver.

Seriously, how about a NSFW warning on that link? Not cool.

[halleyscomet8]

differences between the 120 and 320?