[zero8]

I'm thinking of getting a portable digital audio recorder mainly to record interviews and lectures. Any particular products you recommend that would work with my PB? It seems like many of them are NOT mac compatible. How do I transfer the audio to my PB? I don't see any mic in on my PB...I see a headphone jack, would it work as mic in? Thanks for your help!

[analogika]

which powerbook?

all aluminum powerbooks have an audio input. it's right next to the headphone jack.

[PacHead]

Originally Posted by zero8

I'm thinking of getting a portable digital audio recorder mainly to record interviews and lectures. Any particular products you recommend that would work with my PB? It seems like many of them are NOT mac compatible. How do I transfer the audio to my PB? I don't see any mic in on my PB...I see a headphone jack, would it work as mic in? Thanks for your help!

If you use an ipod w/something like the belkin recorder, then you can just transfer digitally via firewire.

Powerbooks do have mics, at least my pismo does, so I would assume the new ones do also. You don't want to use the mic though to transfer from a digital recorder. It's going to sound like poo, not to mention that method is slow (realtime), and a complete waste of time. Since you're recording digitally, keep it that way.

[analogika]

The ipod microphones will only record in 8-bit 22 kHz mono, which sounds like crap.

A number of Titanium powerbooks did NOT have a line input.

They all had built-in microphones, though - as do all the aluminum 'books.

[macanon]

What is the quality of the built-in mics?

[barang]

Originally Posted by analogika

The ipod microphones will only record in 8-bit 22 kHz mono, which sounds like crap.

A number of Titanium powerbooks did NOT have a line input.

They all had built-in microphones, though - as do all the aluminum 'books.

Do all the iPod recorders record at 22kHz? Are there no prefs? What about if you hook up an external mike (one of the two voice recorders does have a line input)?

[analogika]

The iPod's A/D chip can do 16 bits / 96 kHz (above CD quality). Apple limits all iPods to 22 kHz and 8-bit mono recording (grungy as hell - think Mac SE, 1987).

They have to, because they are also the largest online distributor of recorded music, and their distro deals very likely hinge upon not producing record-enabled portable players.

[PacHead]

I found this:

apple cripples recording on an ipod so belkin and griffin then have to sell us add-on devices for over $50 that can only record at 8khz, which is all pretty shitty. apparently (the rumor is) apple does this so people don’t use their ipods to record stuff they think we shouldn’t, like concerts, whatever.

but don’t worry, there’s a way around it and you can record at high quality, all for free.

1. Install Podzilla on your iPod (not all models are supported).
2. Boot in to Linux on your iPod.
3. Go to Extras > Recordings, choose 8,32,44.1,88.2 or 96kHz the higher, the better quality.
4. Record via Line In a microphone or even use your headphones.
5. Boot back in to the normal iPod OS plug in to the doc, grab your files from the iPod in the “Recordings” folder.

i suspect the next version of the ipod won’t allow booting in to linux and/or this type of recording. enjoy it while you can.

with all the podcasting people out there apple should consider not crippling our ipods so we can all use ipods to record, apple could do this now with a simple software update… or i guess i can keep booting in to linux and never update this ipod or just buy a cheap recorder, bah.

http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000147025394/