i-river for digital recording

November 20, 2006 6:59 PM

I have an i-pod, but want a digital recorder so am thinking of an i-river. from what i know, there are many different levels of mic quality in them. does anyone know the detail? i am staying in japan so the models are a little different, and the info isnt easy to come by. remember, i only really want it for recording. thanks...
posted by edtut to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

You should maybe look into buying a digital notetaker, like this from sony. From what I can gather, they have quality microphones because they are designed for that purpose.
posted by cholly at 7:34 PM on November 20, 2006

I have an iriver, and I guess cholly brings up a good point, so the pertinent question is how much recording at at time do you need to do?. If the answer is not much, then go with a flash/card based model of whatever. If you need a lot of record time then the hard drive models are what you may need, BUT, (and I think this is what you may have heard about) if you do so, get an external mic that pugs in to the 1/4 jack. The motor noise is the main concern here, and there again if you don't need crisp clear sounds no biggie go with the built in mic, the quality isn't godawful, but having the external will get you much better sound if it is needed.
posted by edgeways at 7:42 PM on November 20, 2006

Assuming you want quality recordings - and if you're in Japan - why don't you get a proper portable hard disc recorder - M Audio Microtrack (Y42000) or a Roland Edirol - they both come with stereo mics.
posted by strawberryviagra at 8:05 PM on November 20, 2006

Response by poster: yeh i agree the m audio probably is good, but i was just trying to limit the expense from one of those models. it's mostly for music apps.
posted by edtut at 8:27 PM on November 20, 2006

I looked into this before I bought the Microtrack (which is the shit) and found that all the iPod/iRivery/etc units only permitted 8 bit recordings (that may have changed, but I haven't heard anything to the contrary). If so, the quality of 8 bit is really only appropriate for voice recordings.
posted by strawberryviagra at 8:33 PM on November 20, 2006

If it's for music, and you want to limit the cost, look into Hi-MD or the Edirol R9. This question really depends on quality. I've found the quality of all "voice recorders" and mp3 players to be absolute shit. But I get insanely beautiful recordings from my MD.

Check Minidisc.org and the Roland site to get better ideas. I'd go with the R9 in a heartbeat if it were available where I am.
posted by fake at 2:57 AM on November 21, 2006

You can record on the 3rd and later generation full-size iPods, with an accessory.

The 3rd and 4th gen iPods record at 8KHz, 16-bit mono, not so great. The 5th gen and later ('video') iPods will do 44.1KHz, 16-bit stereo. Xtrememac has a gadget that lets you record through a switchable line in jack.
posted by ardgedee at 3:12 AM on November 21, 2006

get an ihp120. Seriously. The default iriver provided software is shit...grab a copy of rockbox. It has optical inputs and outputs, excellent quality and has a built in mic which is alright...but will pick up disk spins at startup. Some tapper friends have started using them, and they're nuts about quality. I've had mine for over 4 years and never had a problem. It's the perfect player/recorder!!!
posted by killyb at 9:06 AM on November 21, 2006

I second the "get a mini disc" comment from fake. The quality is great and I got mine for $30 from ebay.
posted by bystander at 10:09 PM on November 21, 2006