Topic: New to taping a quick question about storage

[eh_ohiogrown]

I got referred over here from the ekoostik hookah message board i frequent.  there are a few tapers there always too.  I've been reading a lot the past week about different equipment and what not. I'm pretty knowledgeable with electronic's and computers and types of storage and what not, but my question is this.  My first purchase is going to be mic's, i'm looking at a pair of c4's into an ua5(leaning towards +tmod). From the ua5 what kind of storage options do i have in the field? I don't have a laptop.  Nor is that really in the budget.  I'm just not sure what kind of storage i'd need, or if it depends on the output i come out of. sorry for being such a noob, hopefully it won't be too much longer.

[Belexes]

Could run a JB3 and I think there may be some for sale in the yard. Will provide 20 gig+ of storage and won't break your bank.

[evilchris]

The M-Audio MicroTrack takes digital, doesn't it?

I'd go for that if you're running digital out of the UA5.  If you're gonna run analog, go for the R-09.

[jkbyram]

iriver h120 or 140

[eh_ohiogrown]

What is the general consensus about going with digital or analog out? the prices for the JB3 and the microtrack II seem roughly in the same range.  Is it just personal preference.  Most of the recording i'm going to be doing at festivals, so i'd like to be able to have enough space for probably 8ish hours for the entire weekend. so from what i read about those two, i'd probably want to go with the digital so that i could swap out the flash cards, i'm not sure what the microdrives are i'll have to check into that more.   

[Brian Skalinder]

You should run digital-out from the UA5 to a recorder that accepts digital input.  Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 and iRiver H120 / H140 are HDD recorders, all of which will take an optical (digital) output from the UA5.  The MT1 and 2 will take the coax (digital) output from the UA5, but are CF recorders, so you'll need to make sure you either have enough media, or a storage device to which you may dump the recording after it's finished.

[eh_ohiogrown]

So unless i had a laptop or some kind of disc imager or some kind of hard drive copy device, my best bet would probably be to go with a device that takes CF cards correct? i mean you can get a 16GB card for under $50 so that's not too bad.  thanks for all your help!

[rastasean]

So unless i had a laptop or some kind of disc imager or some kind of hard drive copy device, my best bet would probably be to go with a device that takes CF cards correct? i mean you can get a 16GB card for under $50 so that's not too bad.  thanks for all your help!

Well all the devices listed by the gents here are hard drive based, h120/140 and the JB3 all have hard drives. The hard drives are pretty large, at 20 gigs so if you want 8 hours, I think that wouldn't be an issue. If you're talking about eight hours, I think you'd have to worry more about battery power rather than storage space.

[eh_ohiogrown]

well i'm sure i can charge it from one of the vendor's i know, they all have power. they just charge like any other battery right? or i'd think you could purchase a backup/spare battery as well, i'm sure they aren't cheap, but once you buy it, then you have no worries.  I just wasn't sure how much storage it took up per minute or whatever. thanks for all your help, i think i know where to go from here.

[jacobmyers]

 I'm pretty sure that the iRiver devices have internal (not exactly field-replaceable) batteries. The JB3 does seem to have field-replaceable batteries, with the possibility of loading more than one battery at a time (for 12+ hours of recording time).

 The reason for using the digital input (over the analog) on your recorder is that your UA5 has already converted the analog signal to digital, so why convert it back to analog and then to digital if you don't have to?

 A Microdrive is what the name implies: a tiny (1" platter) hard disk drive. I can't think of a single advantage of using a Microdrive instead of Compact Flash. The CF card will use less power, is less likely to cause electrical interference within the recorder, has absolutely no moving parts (so there's nothing mechanical inside to break if you drop it on the ground), and because there are no moving parts, the CF card should "never" wear out.

 Yes, I'm a little biased, having owned more devices with moving parts (that eventually self-destructed) than I probably should have. Hard drives kinda suck for analog recording but I don't see how they'd mess up a digital signal from the UA5. Still, you'll get better battery life from Flash memory. Moving parts are for bicycles! GO SOLID STATE!