Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?

Subject: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 04:35 PM

I am in the proccess of drooling over MP3 players, particularly with FM+voice record. I have one in mind one that is available in the UK which can also transmit in the FM band (allegedly) so it can be heard on an FM radio wirelessly (1 - 2 metre range would be more than necessary) but I can't get much of a fix on that feature.

the model is variously listed as Hyun Won   mobiBlu M-any or T-Mate but seems to have the model number DAH610 and the Model type "Premium"

Any experience with this little beatie? EG uploading MP3 to PC?

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 04:53 PM

never even heard of it...

I'm busy drooling in anticipation of the new Hi-density Mini-Disk format that's coming out soonish...

1 GIG of information on a mini-disk... and the ability to upload recordings to yer PC... I can't wait!

I have tried 2 or 3 FM transmitter attachments for my current MD player, and lemme tell ya... they've all sucked... maybe it's because the FM bands where I live are too cluttered? I donno...

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: BanjoRay
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 06:00 PM

Where did you hear about this new 1 gig minidisk format? I can't find anything on Google.
Ray

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 06:04 PM

http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html

Sorry for off-topicness...

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 06:06 PM

actually, I'll redo that before someone comes along and calls it something stupid...


Here's LINK for ya...

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: BanjoRay
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 05:21 AM

Thanks a lot - it's superb.
Ray

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 10:45 AM

think about Archos - 20 gig!   the old ones should be cheap as they have a new version out.
and see cnet re the 20 g hard drives coming that are the size of a stick of gum!!
Chris

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: clansfolk
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 02:44 PM

Ministry of Sound MOSMPO10 is a nice unit - not as "neat" or "small" as a lot of newer machines but does it's quite job well....

MP3 - with smartmedia slot, MP3 recorder(quality selectable)with built in mike and 3.5 mic input, audio (line)input (for recording from CD player/Mixer desk etc), FM (tuner) which you can record directly from,USB mini plug (to connect to PC)and fair sound quality (for MP3!) - I have used this to record live sessions, off the deck at festivals, radio broadcast, Pre-viewing CD masters and have been very happy.. cost £60 from Dixon's...

I've never had any luck with FM transmitters (apart from the fact they are illegal!)

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 02:54 PM

They are NOT illegal!

We used to have a toy microphone from Radio Shack that transmitted in the FM band... you tuned your radio to it's frequency and you could hear the mic over it... had a pretty good range for a kids toy too...

And if they're illegal... how come Future Shop sells 'em???? Or why do some hands-free cellphone kits use them???

----------------------------

--HD MD with AM/FM--

sweeeeeeet!

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: clansfolk
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 03:07 PM

Sorry - a lot of things are illigal to use (without the appropriate licence) but still sold including a LOT of Radio Mics.

One of them being a transmitter that is outside of the legal licencing frequencies or License Free bands in the UK (ham bands CB short range low output HF frequecies and UHF low power frequecies etc) FM broadcast frequencies ARE NOT useable for personal equipment.

Re - these transmitter you may find the following interesting (re-the disclaimer at the bottom of the PDF) FM Transmitter

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 03:17 PM

So the UK has stupid laws regarding this that I was unaware of...

Fortunately here in North America, this is NOT the case...

I find it hard to believe that such a law would even be enforceable...

------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder if that beast would work in my MD player... hummm...

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: clansfolk
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 07:44 PM

The enquiry was from someone in the UK - hence the comment...

re stupid law ... it saves unwanted interference and has worked here in the UK for many years.. by not allowing a "Free for all" system it has meant that people who use Radio Equipment for a profession or Hobby can do so without unwanted interference and when it has arisen e.g.. Taxi's breaking through on Radio Mic Frequencies there is recourse to have the problem sorted.

Trust me the Law is enforceable with hundreds of prosecutions a year and illegal equipment confiscated.


I think you have answered your own question?

Q) I wonder if that beast would work in my MD player... hummm...

A) I have tried 2 or 3 FM transmitter attachments for my current MD player, and lemme tell ya... they've all sucked... maybe it's because the FM bands where I live are too cluttered? I donno

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Jan 04 - 09:19 PM

O.k... so to get pedantic... I wonder if THIS beast would work on my MD player BETTER than the ones I've already tried...

Jeeze

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: clansfolk
Date: 16 Jan 04 - 04:32 AM

"...maybe it's because the FM bands where I live are too cluttered?"

....most likely - all the unit will use the same bandwidth (WFM)for transmission, and as these units only use two pefixed frequencies and are not tuneable across the whole of the Radio band the odds on the two frequecies being "clear" is VERY low....

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 11:32 AM

Hi folks

I have asked the UK distributers (two of 'em anyway) Amazon sell the 256K model but their info is barely info and links that look like they are to the manufacturer aren't. Amazon are not in the frame because of that.

There are transmitter models sold in the US and in Oz the Muro MR100 claims to do this. I know about the law and if the model does transmit I doubt the vendor would admit it for fear of retribution, my thought was they may have switched-off the feature in the UK but just cut and paste the web text in ignorance.

I studied radio comms at Uni. Let me spell it out, 1 - 2 metres is within 15 wavelengths and technically would be classed as within the region we call transformer field as opposed to the radio filed. the difference is the strength of the field diminishes as the inverse cf inverse square for radio Tx.

The law would be couched in terms of field strngth at more than 2 metres - I have done these tests for EC acceptance approvals. I forget the precise levels.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: GUEST,G1-UGG
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 01:08 PM

The units advertised are transmitter, not induction devices, working in the FM wide band frequecies allocated to commercial radio broadcasts (66-108mhz) and as mentioned before illegal, and liable to procecution - such low power devices rarely cause enough problems to cause interference and investigations resulting in a prosecution - unlike radio microphones which are normally higher power and also tend to drift off frequecy and cause harmonic interference as well.

Clansfolk was right in his comment, which I took as an aside, as he said he hadn't had any luck with such units implying he had used such illegal devices himself.

Doubt if feature would be switched off in UK models as most would just be "grey" imports as appose to made for the British Market and not worth the hassle - if switched off through software programing it is often easy to switch back on through keypad entries - like you can with Ham equipment and mobile phones DVD's etc.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: GUEST,G1-UGG
Date: 17 Jan 04 - 01:10 PM

for WFM frequecy read 88-108 not 66-108mhz

before anyone shouts at me!

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 06:41 PM

Thanx GI UGG - I reversed the story on field strength but you get the idea - Tx is 50% induction / radio at 1 metre and that's all you need really. I seem to remember 15 feet / 3 metres was the test but they were looking at instruments not designed to Tx.

Well I was hovering over the buy button then I found the Diva Gem in three colours - Oh I am sorely tempted by the red one. Oh decisions decisions.
Still paint is cheap..........

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Chris Seymour
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 02:12 PM

I'm interested in some of the features on the Ministry of Sound MOSMPO10 clansfolk mentioned a couple of years back, but suspect that that was a lifetime ago in technical time. Also, I live in the U.S.

So, the query is: Anybody know of an mp3 player/recorder that can store a decent number of songs for playing/learning purposes AND record out of the air - with either built in or separate microphone - at decent enough quality for bandmates to share/learn harmony lines, instrument licks, etc.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Effsee
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 02:17 PM

The Monolith Premium MX7000 2GB has all the features you need. £149 though! From   www.advancedmp3players.co.uk

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 02:20 PM

"Anybody know of an mp3 player/recorder that can store a decent number of songs for playing/learning purposes AND record out of the air"

Any HD MD recorder will to both quite well....

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Chris Seymour
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 05:07 PM

Thanks, Effsee and Clinton. Two followups:

Effsee: Have you personally used the Monolith Premium 7000 for recording, and if so, what's your opinion of the quality?

ClintonHammond: What's an HD MD recorder - Hard disk? Mini Disk? (forgive my ignorance.)
thanks again

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 05:58 PM

HD MD = High-Density Mini-Disk recorder, as mentioned above.

The link still works. Here's the latest from Sony (U.S.). The recorder itself is about 3" x 3" x 1/2".

I got one before they were high-density (higher capacity), and it's pretty cool, even so.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Effsee
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 09:19 PM

Chris S, no I have no personal experience of aforesaid Monolith, but was just passing on what I'd read in the Scotsman Magazine from a couple of Saturdays ago. Have you Googled it to find out more of it's capabilities?
Sounds pretty good to me. Wish I could afford the experiment.
I'm not sure if the HD Mds have the FM facilities.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 09:38 PM

" HD Mds have the FM facilities"

Most have a remote that is also an FM reciever

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Effsee
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 09:42 PM

A remote what?

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 09 Apr 06 - 12:12 AM

Google is your friend

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Declan
Date: 09 Apr 06 - 02:50 PM

I had a strange experince today where a member of the sales staff in a well known Irish electrical chain tried to assure me that there was no such thing as an MP3 Recorder.

I've since had a look at the website for the same shop and come up with a number of options one of which is the Creative Zen Nano Plus which has a built in mic and FM radio and enables you to record from both. I haven't used one yet and I don't know how good it is, but I've had an MP3 player from the same range for quite a while now and am very pleased with it.

There is a range of hard disk sizes up to 1 GB which should allow for many hours recording to be stored. iRiver seem to have a number of products in a similar vein, but the creative player at around 110 Euro seems considerably cheaper. If I get myself one I'll let you know how I get on with it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Chris Seymour
Date: 11 Apr 06 - 09:20 PM

Efsee - yes, I've looked at the Monolith's specs. Am looking for real-world reviews of it or other devices that can both play tracks from pre-recorded sources and record at decent quality.

Declan - please do post or email if you try out the Nano Plus.

Thanks, all

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Apr 06 - 09:19 AM

Seen one advertised in Australia that uses camera memory chips - SD I think from memory - under $40AUD - chips are extra.

Also there is one that plugs into a car lighter socket that takes USB chips for mp3 playback and is an FM transmitter for the FM radio - about $70AUD.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Jon W.
Date: 12 Apr 06 - 11:10 AM

I recently bought a Centon 1GB MP3 player with voice recorder and FM receiver for $50US (sale price after rebate). It plays a variety of formats including MP3 and WMA. Sure, it's kind of cheap and cheesy looking compared to the iPod but I don't have to throw it away when the battery dies - just replace the battery (it takes one AAA). The thing I like is it has no moving parts other than buttons and switches - no micro hard drive - so it's pretty much shock proof. It provides me incentive to excersize.

Last summer we bought an FM transmitter - about $20 - to play music from MP3 and/or CD players in our car on vacation. The reception ranged from bad to terrible - it was quite a disappointment. There might be better ones out there.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Apr 06 - 08:52 PM

Those FM 'car radio xmitters' depend on getting a good signal from them to the car radio. Without a 'direct cutin' into the antenna feed line, you get variable results. Also if they are not tunable to different frequencies, you may get interference from local stations.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Declan
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 03:49 PM

I bought a Creative Zen Nano Plus (512 MB) in a local shop on special offer at 80 Euro. It is very small (about the size of a BIC cigarette lighter) but has plenty of functionality. As with the palyer mentioned above it runs off a single AAA Battery.

It has an FM Radio as well as an MP3 Player.

There are 3 recording modes - FM radio, line in and voice recorder. FM and line-in record direct to MP3 mode, while the voice recorder produces .wav files. The voice recorder uses a built-in microphone about the size of a pin hole. As an experiment I tried recording my local session using the voice recorder last night. The sound is OK if a little muffled. It would be OK for recalling tunes if you wanted to try to remember and learn somne of the tunes, but the quality is not brilliant. However it is fine for a voice recorder which it is designed to be.

I reckon a good quality recording could be obtained if it were possible to hook up an external mic through the line-in slot (which takes a smaller input than the usual 3.5 mm headphone jack). I don't know if this is technically feasible or not (I haven't managed to get it to work yet). If anyone has any ideas on how to do this I'd be glad to hear them.

Overall I'm very pleased with the machine, but I'll be sticking with minidisk for recording unless I can get the external mic to work through the line-in socket.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Jon W.
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 05:49 PM

Without a 'direct cutin' into the antenna feed line, you get variable results

So is there a way to wire directly into the antenna feed line? I'd like to know about it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: open mike
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 05:53 PM

i saw someone have good results with i-river.

it was able to record from f.m. radio,
and other stuff too. not sure what all
it had on it...or who makes it, even.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 07:08 PM

"Without a 'direct cutin' into the antenna feed line, you get variable results - So is there a way to wire directly into the antenna feed line?"

There is almost always a technical way, but the amount of effort may mean it is not worth it. The hassle is that the player has no 'antenna output port' and the necessary hacking would negate the warranty, and make the thing look a real mess. Also you would need tiny elves to work on the thing due to modern size reductions.

The other way to attack the problem is to bring the car receiver antenna 'closer' to the transmitter. Again, the same sort of 'techie hacking' problems exist.

The simplest aproach to the solution may be this: the car antenna is outside the Faraday Shield that the metal car body is, so a more direct line of sight (thru glass) between the xmitter and antenna MAY assist the received energy at the antenna. This may mean placing the player on the dashboard (sun may damage it, and it is more visible to thieves), but you should try to fix (temporarily) it in place somehow - if the front windows are not wound up, it may fly out one when you turn a corner!

Didn't mean to steal your thunder answering techie questions JohninK, but this was obviously too easy for you! ... :-0

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Jon W.
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 12:17 PM

Well, if anyone knows or can steer me to either a device or a schematic of a device that will plug into the player earphone jack on one side, and into the antenna jack of the car radio on the other side(preferably also passing the antenna lead through), please let me know. I've done Google searches but didn't come up with anything. I'm not opposed to building my own.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: GUEST,MGB-GT
Date: 03 May 06 - 03:36 PM

solve all your problems pick up an MP3 recorder that uses SD cards an a car radio with a sd slot total cost £100 ish spare 1gig sd cards £17 hold LOADS of MP3s.

ps whatch out when buting MP3 player/recorder with "Voice recording" a lot re very low quality no good for music also try and get one with a seperate mic input.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Declan
Date: 08 May 06 - 08:13 PM

A quick update on the Creative Zen Nano.

I worked out that the way to get an external mic to work with the machine was to use a pre-amp between the mic and the line in socket. Having again been assured by my local music shops that a portable pre-amp was not available I went to the Web and found the SP-PREAMP-8 at soundprofessionals.com.

I used this equipment to record my local session again and am very pleased with the results. Having used Sonic Stage Mastering Studio to do some tidying up on the recording, I now have a record of my local session which may not quite be up to professional standards, but given that is was recorded on a single mic in a quite noisy environment, is, I think of a reasonable standard. The overall cost of this solution was about 300 Euro (80 for the MP3 recorder, 90 for the Mic and about 130 (depending on exchange rates) for the pre-amp. A more recent thread suggests that iRiver and other vendors have products that can record direct to MP3 without the pre-amp, but I am very happy with my results.

By the way the pre-amp is a good bit bigger than either the recorder or the Mic, but is about the size of a cell phone, which is still a pretty portable and unobtrusive solution.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Chris Seymour
Date: 10 May 06 - 01:23 AM

I recently bought a 1 GB SansaDisk m240 mp3 player with voice recording capability thru a built-in pinhole sized microphone, similar to the one Declan describes on his Zen nano machine. (This device lacks any optiono for attaching an external mic.) I tried it for rehearsal recording, having promised myself to take it back for a refund if it wasn't adequate, and it is ... adequate. I can hear the harmony & melody lines, and/or the accompaniment just fine.


This machine won't be winning any hi-fi competitions, and I'd like a bit more space to store pre-recorded songs to listen to on the subway, but for US$100 before US$30 rebate (if I ever get it), it's just the ticket.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 10 May 06 - 01:27 PM

this wave recorder

sounds like one of the better recorders out there - both for quality
(24 bit wav) line-in and convenience - records directly to a flash card.
although its priced around $450 US.

Id say the mini-disc technology is obsolete, (though the md users here would probably disagree) At the last fiddletunes festival in Port Townsend I met a number of former md users who switched to the iriver fp750 (last years model)

I got one myself, it has built-in fm tuner, voice recorder, and line-in
(use an external stereo mic in the line-in and the quality is very good) Stereo recording at 44kh 165kbps
no moving parts so no motor noise -which is what md users complain about and end up having a long cord for the mic.

great for recording tunes at sessions, easy to upload to pc
Ive used it to record from records and tapes directly to the line in as well.
uses one AA battery

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: gnomad
Date: 10 May 06 - 02:12 PM

There's also a newer version, looks pretty good, but again pricey Edirol R-09. WAV or MP3 direct recording to SD card.

Ya listening there, Santa?

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Declan
Date: 10 May 06 - 03:52 PM

Looks lovely alright, but I won't be investing, at least until I feel I've got some value from my current set up.

The capacity of the SD card at 64MBytes seems like a limitation (capacityu for about an hour's music?) or am I misunderstanding something here.

petr, I agree that Minidisc is facing strong competition from MP3 players and recorders but I expect that it will continue to have its uses. It was certainly an amazing technologyh when it first came on the market.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: gnomad
Date: 10 May 06 - 05:08 PM

Yeah, 64Mb would be limiting in WAV, though less so in MP3, but with 1Gb cards available recording gets more realistic.

Lot of cash though, it would need to be more than a "hobby" buy for me to indulge.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 10 May 06 - 08:18 PM

The Edirols take anything from a 64MB Compact Flash card up to a 2GB card. The 64MB is the basic card that comes with the recorder.

In the first true "field test" of my Edirol R-1 at a recent filk convention in Canada, I used two 512MB cards and recorded to MP3 at a 128 kbps rate. Managed to get almost 18 hours total of music, much of it (especially stuff performed on stage with PA) at fairly decent quality.

-- Gary

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 10 May 06 - 08:33 PM

"the mini-disc technology is obsolete"

I always wanted one, but in Australia, they were always priced as ridicuouly expensive luxury items, so they were usually kept as 'under the counter' type items... :-)

And I knew that something 'better and cheaper' would be along sooner or later. I KNOW I should never have bought that 8 track recorder... you can't get the cartridges any more you know... :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: DougR
Date: 11 May 06 - 02:30 PM

Fry's Electronics had a 512MB MP3 WMA Player and FM Radio with USB2 and voice recorder in their ad for a sale price of 40 bucks. Anybody familiar with this one? It is made by "Creative."

DougR

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Declan
Date: 11 May 06 - 02:37 PM

Sounds like the Zen Nano I talked about above - at least it has the same characteristics. The same model was previously badged as something like MPAIO.

Not sure of the $/Euro exchange rate, but it sounds like a bargain. Mine cost 80 Euro and was much cheaper than any of the other shops around where it was on sale for up to 130.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 May 06 - 03:20 PM

Fry's has some unknown brands, but I've had good luck several times going that route. I'm not an MP3 user, so I can't advise you on that. But one of my favorite places to poke around, and the place I intially start pricing new electronic purchases is Fry's or their online store at Outpost.com.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Declan
Date: 11 May 06 - 03:28 PM

Creative labs were in the MP3 player business before the iPod even came on the market. I've used a number of their products and am very pleased with them. Creative and iRiver along with apple (who make the iPod) are probably the three main companies making MP3 players (or at least they were until Sony came on the scene with their MP3 walkman. Roland who make the Edirol are well known manufacturers of keyboards and sound equipment. So were not talking about unknown brands here.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: IvanB
Date: 11 May 06 - 04:29 PM

Actually, the Edirol R1 will take up to a 4 gig card, although it won't record any single file greater than 2 gigs. But, using at least two files, it WILL fill up the entire card.

I had an old Sony RZ-55 MD player that I loved, although the recording time on the minidiscs was a bit limiting. Then I sprung for a new High MD Sony, which was fine except it gave up the ghost about two minutes after the warranty ran out.

Now I've got the Edirol R1, which I like pretty well. Won't have a real good read on it until after the Goderich Celtic College in August, but so far I've been happy with it. Its size is a bit of a disadvantage, though. The R09 looks to be a better size and the main thing it seems to have lacking from the R1 is most of the effects. That, to me, doesn't seem to be much of a sacrifice since the effects can always be applied later with a good wave editor.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: treewind
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 05:58 PM

Looks like the Edirol R-09 is available now, and its spec looks just like what I want:

- built in mic (or external, line powered electret)
- choice of WAV or MP3 recording at many bit rates
- USB mass storage device (no DRM rubbish, just copy the files)
- normal replaceable AA batteries or AC supply
- uses standard SD cards - choose your capacity, replace cards if you need more
- nice and small

No full 48V phantom power, but I can live without that for the purpose.

... and I've got some birthday money to spend. Yippeee!

The trusty old Sony MZR-30 minidisc recorder will be very much a spare/backup device now.

Anahata

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: Declan
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 07:24 PM

Edirol product looks excellent and certainly seems a good solution.

I was at the Fleadh Nua in Ennis a couple of weeks back and got some excellent results - 3 hours of high quality recordings from the Zen Nano set up as desribed in the earlier posts. I don't think I need to invest in any new gear for some time to come. And the whole set up fits neatly in one pocket.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mp3 player/recorder/FM suggestions?
From: JudyB
Date: 06 Jun 06 - 09:02 PM

We have the Edirol R-1, and it sounds as if this has most of the features we like, is missing mostly ones we don't use, and is half the size - sound like a good deal! Thanks for mentioning that it's out.

JudyB