I am a beginner whistle player and have now attended a couple beginner sessions (in upstate NY) as well as one advanced session in which I played about 4 tunes (yeah!).
I would like to purchase an MP3 recorder so that I can practice on my own time.
Does anyone own one? Which kind? Can you tell me what you like and don't like about it?
I am not, I don't think, interested in a mini disk recorder... unless, does the mini disk transfer right to mp3? I would rather have something go right to mp3 with a gig or so of space...
About annually, I buy a cheapo cassette player at Long's Drugstore for recording at sessions. The reason is that if I forgot it somewhere, beer spilled on it, or it went crashing to the floor and was irreparably damaged, the worst that could happen is that I'd have another annoying errand to replace it. (Actually, I'd probably be more upset about losing the tape.)
I have an iPod Nano whose loss would cause me serious pain, so I don't take it where there's a serious chance it will get lost or damaged.
Mine's an iriver. I bought it to take to lessons. It will record for about 18 hours once you remove the free songs they load it with. 18 hours makes it really great for fiddle camps or festivals where it's okay to record, or for a night at a session. It's hold button is weak, and so you want to keep some AA's around. However, if your battery tanks, you don't loose everything you've recorded.
It cost me about 80 US dollars. I can download the music off of it onto my computer and from there put it on to my ipod which I connect to my car radio. I've had it for almost a year and it does a fair job.
By the way, I've dropped it without any problems. I have never had anything spilled on it, so I don't know what it would do. It's tiny, and so easily left somewhere.
I use a $150 Creative Labs Zen Micro that fits nicely in my pocket. The built in mic is for voice recording but does quite well at picking up all the instruments in a session without clipping. It's not going to be awesome quality, but it's not bad. The mightycraiconline clip with me, ZIna, and whoosis was recorded on mine.
Pros: Rechargeable (and replaceable) battery, small, 5GB, so it records for long periods of time (I record 5-6 hour sessions on it with no problems). Easy software to copy files to/from it. (The Mac software is open source, and free, but not officially supported).
Cons: Voice quality recording. Somewhat more expensive than some of the little iRiver devices, etc.
I've used a little flash memory gadget (size of a lighter) with a built-in mic for more than 2 years. I've used it primarily for recording sessions, lessons and concerts.
After screwing around with a few other devices before acquiring this one, I'll say that the most important characteristics of a recording device for me have become:
* Size
* Ease/speed of file transfer and post-processing
* Battery duration
I cannot be bothered to drag around a bunch of equipment at a session and/or festival, nor can I be inspired to spend alot of time post-processing tapes or disks or whatever.
My device is an MPIO FY-200, but my recommendation would now be for the ~ $150 Olympus DS-20. Four friends of mine each have one and are making great use of them. They can record in stereo and have many other nice features.
I have always been a proponent of devices that run on removable, standard batteries. The last thing I want to do is spend $300 on a device that I will eventually have to leave plugged in because its battery life has eventually whittled down to less than 20 min.
I wouldn't let fear of leaving it someplace deter you from something that can be turned into a great and efficient tool for learning. As far as I'm concerned mine's pretty much paid for itself just in the time I DON'T spend screwing around with what I've collected afterwards.
At the Chris Langan Memorial weekend I was able to process my recordings of the concert and rip them to a CD in approximately 20 minutes the next morning before driving home. Mine only records in mono but it was still good enough for that purpose.
Generally speaking the quality of such devices has drastically improved over the past year. You can get something really decent now for under $100. Hell you can even get something that's going to give you 4 hours of decent recordings for under $50. It's defintely worth it.
Don't go for the ultra cheapies. My first mp3 player's "voice recorder" was unusable for sessions as the recording quality was so bad. A slightly more expensive player had an improved voice recording function and although no better than a cassete recorder's recording (without tape hiss) it does the job - you can hear the tunes and learn them at your leasure at home.
Be careful, though - some of the digital recorders they sell in say, Best Buy don't directly interface with your computer. Bad design if you ask me, since that's the only reason I'd buy one, but obviously they didn't
I use a cheap tape recorder - the mini-cassette answering-machine type, and it works pretty well. Got it for maybe $20 at Best Buy.
definately appreciate all of your help... I have narrowed it down to the most important factors for me (as I will be travelling while using this)
1) Recording at a possible bitrate of 256
2) least amount of batteries (AA or AAA rechargable would be ideal so I can bring one charger for my camera and this)
3) records in MP3 format (easily transferrable from this to my ipod while travelling)
4) disks would be fine, but a large internal memory would be best.
Based on this, have you all been using one that fits these specs?
I'm finding myself a bit overwhelmed with the selection of recorders out there. some of the ones you've mentioned are WAY too expensive for me.
MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Hey everyone...
I am a beginner whistle player and have now attended a couple beginner sessions (in upstate NY) as well as one advanced session in which I played about 4 tunes (yeah!).
I would like to purchase an MP3 recorder so that I can practice on my own time.
Does anyone own one? Which kind? Can you tell me what you like and don't like about it?
I am not, I don't think, interested in a mini disk recorder... unless, does the mini disk transfer right to mp3? I would rather have something go right to mp3 with a gig or so of space...
thoughts appreciated!
Smiles, Jess
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by meika2u2
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Not the answer you wanted, but...
About annually, I buy a cheapo cassette player at Long's Drugstore for recording at sessions. The reason is that if I forgot it somewhere, beer spilled on it, or it went crashing to the floor and was irreparably damaged, the worst that could happen is that I'd have another annoying errand to replace it. (Actually, I'd probably be more upset about losing the tape.)
I have an iPod Nano whose loss would cause me serious pain, so I don't take it where there's a serious chance it will get lost or damaged.
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by cathrynb
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
ah... point well taken.
I will definately consider that option, but would also still like opinions about the above. Thank you cathrynb!
Smiles, Jess
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by meika2u2
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
These discussions cover a wide range of devices:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/9777/comments#comment205745
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/7517/comments#comment161201
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/8616/comments#comment184209
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/5958/comments#comment127889
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by joesmith
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Mine's an iriver. I bought it to take to lessons. It will record for about 18 hours once you remove the free songs they load it with. 18 hours makes it really great for fiddle camps or festivals where it's okay to record, or for a night at a session. It's hold button is weak, and so you want to keep some AA's around. However, if your battery tanks, you don't loose everything you've recorded.
It cost me about 80 US dollars. I can download the music off of it onto my computer and from there put it on to my ipod which I connect to my car radio. I've had it for almost a year and it does a fair job.
By the way, I've dropped it without any problems. I have never had anything spilled on it, so I don't know what it would do. It's tiny, and so easily left somewhere.
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by Meri-pixie
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
The Olympus ws-320M looks pretty impressive--that's what I'm thinking of. It has a gig of flash memory, records in stereo, 44.1 khz, 128 kbps.
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by dwdeacon
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
I use a $150 Creative Labs Zen Micro that fits nicely in my pocket. The built in mic is for voice recording but does quite well at picking up all the instruments in a session without clipping. It's not going to be awesome quality, but it's not bad. The mightycraiconline clip with me, ZIna, and whoosis was recorded on mine.
Pros: Rechargeable (and replaceable) battery, small, 5GB, so it records for long periods of time (I record 5-6 hour sessions on it with no problems). Easy software to copy files to/from it. (The Mac software is open source, and free, but not officially supported).
Cons: Voice quality recording. Somewhat more expensive than some of the little iRiver devices, etc.
Pete
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by Reverend
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
I've used a little flash memory gadget (size of a lighter) with a built-in mic for more than 2 years. I've used it primarily for recording sessions, lessons and concerts.
After screwing around with a few other devices before acquiring this one, I'll say that the most important characteristics of a recording device for me have become:
* Size
* Ease/speed of file transfer and post-processing
* Battery duration
I cannot be bothered to drag around a bunch of equipment at a session and/or festival, nor can I be inspired to spend alot of time post-processing tapes or disks or whatever.
My device is an MPIO FY-200, but my recommendation would now be for the ~ $150 Olympus DS-20. Four friends of mine each have one and are making great use of them. They can record in stereo and have many other nice features.
I have always been a proponent of devices that run on removable, standard batteries. The last thing I want to do is spend $300 on a device that I will eventually have to leave plugged in because its battery life has eventually whittled down to less than 20 min.
I wouldn't let fear of leaving it someplace deter you from something that can be turned into a great and efficient tool for learning. As far as I'm concerned mine's pretty much paid for itself just in the time I DON'T spend screwing around with what I've collected afterwards.
At the Chris Langan Memorial weekend I was able to process my recordings of the concert and rip them to a CD in approximately 20 minutes the next morning before driving home. Mine only records in mono but it was still good enough for that purpose.
Generally speaking the quality of such devices has drastically improved over the past year. You can get something really decent now for under $100. Hell you can even get something that's going to give you 4 hours of decent recordings for under $50. It's defintely worth it.
Cheers,
Stephanie
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by _Steph_
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Don't go for the ultra cheapies. My first mp3 player's "voice recorder" was unusable for sessions as the recording quality was so bad. A slightly more expensive player had an improved voice recording function and although no better than a cassete recorder's recording (without tape hiss) it does the job - you can hear the tunes and learn them at your leasure at home.
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by Cammy
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
leisure even..
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by Cammy
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
thanks everyone!
Cammy... what do you have or recommend?
appreciate your help... smiles...
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by meika2u2
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Check out the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96. It's pricey, but it's the sh*te for what it does.
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by gw
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Ah... I WISH i could afford that one, but it's definately out of my price range! Thanks anyway GW!
# Posted on May 6th 2006 by meika2u2
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Agreed on the Microtrack - 2-channel recording gives superb stereo, and you can save in .wav or .mp3 formats.
Highly recommended!
# Posted on May 7th 2006 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
Be careful, though - some of the digital recorders they sell in say, Best Buy don't directly interface with your computer. Bad design if you ask me, since that's the only reason I'd buy one, but obviously they didn't
I use a cheap tape recorder - the mini-cassette answering-machine type, and it works pretty well. Got it for maybe $20 at Best Buy.
# Posted on May 8th 2006 by tualha04
Re: MP3 Recorder in Sessions...
definately appreciate all of your help... I have narrowed it down to the most important factors for me (as I will be travelling while using this)
1) Recording at a possible bitrate of 256
2) least amount of batteries (AA or AAA rechargable would be ideal so I can bring one charger for my camera and this)
3) records in MP3 format (easily transferrable from this to my ipod while travelling)
4) disks would be fine, but a large internal memory would be best.
Based on this, have you all been using one that fits these specs?
I'm finding myself a bit overwhelmed with the selection of recorders out there. some of the ones you've mentioned are WAY too expensive for me.
let me know? Thanks!
Jess
# Posted on May 9th 2006 by meika2u2