Topic: Recommending a pocket field recorder

[netwriter]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a pocket digital recorder and am coming to this forum to share my research and ask for the opinions of the experienced folks here.

I intend to use this recorder for a number of related applications:

First, I'm a writer and need the functionality of a pocket voice recorder to capture notes and ideas on the go, and make quick interviews -- so portability and ease of getting right into record mode is important.

But while sometimes these are just the rough "voice notes" that I'll later transcribe, there are occasions when my spoken word is something that I'll want to later share. So I always record in the highest mode available and I never delete my audio recordings. Audio quality is important -- the recordings might end up on a podcast or as part of some professional release, such as an audio track on an album.

I also plan to use this recorder for occasional field recordings -- readings and spoken-word performances, concerts, field recordings of parties and other social situations as well as out "in nature" where I'll be capturing spoken word and other ambient sounds. I'm not looking for absolute studio quality, but it should be capable of making a decent field recording that one would enjoy listening to.

Finally, I use linux, so unfortunately HiMD is out.

I'm thinking that the Zoom H2 might be good, but I'm concerned about the negative reviews and complaints. On the lowest end, the Olympus DS-40 seemed fantastic as a voice recorder (even though it records in WMA), but you can't use removable memory and I question its worth as an occasional field recorder.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Brian Skalinder]

That's a fairly broad range of planned uses, and I suspect you'll find most standalone recorders will do well enough for personal voice and interviews, maybe okay for ambient or nature sounds (depending on environment, distance, quality requirements, etc.), and not so well for concerts.

Do you have a budget?
Any desire / willingness to carry external mics and preamp for concert / ambient / nature situations?

[Belexes]

The only negatives on the Edirol R-9 is the input jack that is prone to failure and the internal mics are not the greatest, but a mod is available by Chris Church on that now.  Since you would be using the internals, the jack issue shouldn't be a problem for you.

I love my R-09. 

[ozzyzak]

The only negatives on the Edirol R-9 is the input jack that is prone to failure and the internal mics are not the greatest, but a mod is available by Chris Church on that now.  Since you would be using the internals, the jack issue shouldn't be a problem for you.

I love my R-09. 

Hi there!  I'm loving my R-09 for the most part as well and want to inquire on this post.  Do you know if the jack issue is still a problem?  I was under the impression that it was an issue with earlier models.  I ask because I got mine in the last month or so and am wondering if this is something I still need to treat carefully.

thanks!

[Belexes]

PM sent.

[flintstone]

Over on the O'Reilly Digital Media pages, Mark Nelson has posted a series of reviews of pocket recorders useful for voice and music podcasts.  http://tinyurl.com/yvocwn

Flintstone

[spcyrfc]

Over on the O'Reilly Digital Media pages, Mark Nelson has posted a series of reviews of pocket recorders useful for voice and music podcasts.  http://tinyurl.com/yvocwn

Flintstone

nice link.

[nameloc01]

I believe the r9 input has been rectified on the new ones. If you own an older one you may want to send it in and corrected before it breaks. I know several people who had them poop out on them while trying to record a show.

[netwriter]

That's a fairly broad range of planned uses, and I suspect you'll find most standalone recorders will do well enough for personal voice and interviews, maybe okay for ambient or nature sounds (depending on environment, distance, quality requirements, etc.), and not so well for concerts.

Brian, maybe I can help narrow things a bit. The most important use of this device will be for voice notes and interviews, which I'll be doing on a daily basis. However, as I mentioned I don't want sub-par sound quality -- often snippets of the interviews or of the spoken-word stuff will be used on podcasts or other places where quality will be important. Previously, I used an MP3 recorder in 128k mode for this.

I had throught about minidisc and LOVED the idea, but I think the copy protection aspect ruled it out, since I don't know how I'd be able to use it without Windows. I know a lot of journalists have used minidisc in the past. I was going to ask my question on a journalist forum but since I'm mostly concerned about the quality, and about having something that's sensitive enough to record outdoor/room ambience and so on, I wanted to ask here.

Which leads to:

Any desire / willingness to carry external mics and preamp for concert / ambient / nature situations?

Absolutely willing. I have a few mics and if that's what it takes for the concert/nature situations, so be it. But the built-in mic has to work for the spoken word and interviews since I'll be carrying this recorder with me everywhere.

Do you have a budget?

Just the best value for the lowest price, is all. I'm not a pro audio guy but I don't want to waste money on something that isn't right. I know you can get cheap voice recorders for $30. When I saw the Olympus DS40 ($150) it seemed like it was much higher quality, but I'm not sure if it will be acceptable for the better concert/outdoor recordings even with a better external mic. I saw that the Zoom was only $50 more than that and seemed like it would be better for me, but then I keep hearing that it's not good with external mics, so I'm more confused than ever.

Also (and please don't laugh) but I'd initially seen this Denpa MP38 with 512MB Memory and I'd thought it was perfect: it's tiny, it records in WAV, it comes with a wireless mic, a phone mic, and an external mic. But it's only available from one seller on eBay and I've never heard of it before:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wireless-Digital-Voice-Phone-Recorder-512MB-MP3-player_W0QQitemZ250211687104QQihZ015QQcategoryZ48688QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[netwriter]

The only negatives on the Edirol R-9 is the input jack that is prone to failure and the internal mics are not the greatest, but a mod is available by Chris Church on that now.  Since you would be using the internals, the jack issue shouldn't be a problem for you.

I love my R-09. 

Thanks for the recommendation. $400 is a bit more than I was wanting to spend, but everything I see about the R-09 makes me happy. I guess this does look like the ideal recorder for me ... it's just that I see so many of these voice recorders for less than $50 and while I can justify tripling or quadrupling that price for something good, it's hard for me to get up to the $400 range just yet!

[Belexes]

I picked up my R-09 in the Yard for much less than $400, but as of late, I have not seen anyone selling theirs and I can see what everyone is holding on to them.  Keep your eyes open though and you may be able to grab an R-09 that is within your budget.

[flintstone]

"I had thought about minidisc and LOVED the idea, but I think the copy protection aspect ruled it out, since I don't know how I'd be able to use it without Windows."

The Sony Hi-MD recorders MZ-M100 (now discontinued) and MZ-M200 include "Hi-MD Music Transfer" software that moves files to/from Macs.  Here's Sony's page about the MZ-M200
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/DisplayModel?m=0&p=10&sp=83&id=84320

DJDeals.com sells the MZ-M200 for $322 on eBay.

Flintstone

[netwriter]

I think I found my answer...

Iriver H120 + Rockbox

I can't believe nobody recommended this!

What do you think, recommended?

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a pocket digital recorder and am coming to this forum to share my research and ask for the opinions of the experienced folks here.

I intend to use this recorder for a number of related applications:

First, I'm a writer and need the functionality of a pocket voice recorder to capture notes and ideas on the go, and make quick interviews -- so portability and ease of getting right into record mode is important.

But while sometimes these are just the rough "voice notes" that I'll later transcribe, there are occasions when my spoken word is something that I'll want to later share. So I always record in the highest mode available and I never delete my audio recordings. Audio quality is important -- the recordings might end up on a podcast or as part of some professional release, such as an audio track on an album.

I also plan to use this recorder for occasional field recordings -- readings and spoken-word performances, concerts, field recordings of parties and other social situations as well as out "in nature" where I'll be capturing spoken word and other ambient sounds. I'm not looking for absolute studio quality, but it should be capable of making a decent field recording that one would enjoy listening to.

Finally, I use linux, so unfortunately HiMD is out.

I'm thinking that the Zoom H2 might be good, but I'm concerned about the negative reviews and complaints. On the lowest end, the Olympus DS-40 seemed fantastic as a voice recorder (even though it records in WMA), but you can't use removable memory and I question its worth as an occasional field recorder.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[cybergaloot]

Just so you know, I have an H2 and am mostly happy with it but I think you wouldn't be so happy. It doesn't respond well to being hand held if you are using the internal mics. The mics pick up the noise created between the plastic body and your hand. Since I don't use it that way its not a problem for me. As said, the external mic hookup stinks. I use a Church audio preamp and cardioid mics into the line in and that setup works great. I think you'd find that a hassle for most voice applications though. Also, my H2 has held up well but it is plastic and probably will not take well to being dropped or roughly handled. I'm very careful with mine.

I'd recommend the R-09 with one of the Edirol's stereo mics for your voice uses. If you branch into recording ambient sounds like bird calls or into recording music, you'll want to step up that mic setup eventually but I have a friend who has been recording with that basic setup and it works fairly well. The R-09 feels much more solid than the H2.

[jeromejello]

I think I found my answer...

Iriver H120 + Rockbox

I can't believe nobody recommended this!

What do you think, recommended?

based on your descriptions above, i would not recommend the iriver.  If you want to use an external mic, then yes, its a great thing, but you are going to be extremely disappointed in the built in mic's performance.

r-09 is a good choice... as is the r-1 (a little bigger and no longer in production)... the new Marantz pmd 620 looks nice (i have even thought about changing out my r-09 for one) and then there is the sony PCM-D50 and Olympus LS-10.

most of those are a bit more then you want to spend, but you do get what you pay for.