Christmas Decision: iriver t30, Olympus DS-2 or...?

[leifh]

Hey Folks, Merry Christmas from the NW.

So, I've received some podcasting goodies today for Christmas (unfortunately, though great gifts, too general of hints given to family who are even more clueless than I on the best podcasting tech):

1)An iriver T30
2)An Olympus DS-2
3)Stereo ipod mic (works on any line in, not powered though, so won't work with the T30).

I don't plan on keeping both recorders and there seem to be pros and cons with both #1 and #2.

Iriver T30

+V. small, portable, even...hehe...hidable
+512 mg (vs Olympus 64 mg)
+Functions as an mp3 player as well (though I won't use it for this that much)
-Decent built in mic, but I imagine much better sound with external powered mic (though I think it only) -though I've read that even with an ext. mic, sounds somewhat faint

Olympus

-Bigger, but not too big
+Stereo mic surprsingly good quality recordings, and even better with external mic
-only 64 mg memory
-I think 128kbs was best rate (iriver t30 more with external mic?)
+Some potentially handy recording functionality that iriver doesn't have

OR
should I return all three items, and get a better configuration?
I figure I've around $300 to play with. What would you do/get?


Thanks!
Leif (Bleeding Purple Podcast)
http://bleedingpurplepodcast.blogspot.com

[kickasspodcast]

Iriver T30

+V. small, portable, even...hehe...hidable
+512 mg (vs Olympus 64 mg)
+Functions as an mp3 player as well (though I won't use it for this that much)
-Decent built in mic, but I imagine much better sound with external powered mic (though I think it only) -though I've read that even with an ext. mic, sounds somewhat faint
You can get a 256mb iriver for uber cheap and that will give you enough space for recording, you don't seem to be looking to get it as a player anyways so 256mb shold shave off some of the cost. Also, the builtin mic sounds really pretty good (for what it is) if you have it set to encode at the best quality (44/160). Several good mics work really well when plugged into the irivers, Giant Squid lapel mics are nice, you could get a high end head set too, that will sound real nice.


Olympus

-Bigger, but not too big
+Stereo mic surprsingly good quality recordings, and even better with external mic
-only 64 mg memory
-I think 128kbs was best rate (iriver t30 more with external mic?)
+Some potentially handy recording functionality that iriver doesn't have

64mb? Can you put a card or something in it? I seriously don't think 64mbs is enough to even bother with. The iriver I have records up to 44khz/320kbps with an external mic. That seems to be pretty good to me. If you have a solid, clean connection and a good mic, it should sound about as good as you'd want from a little multi purpose device.

All in all, its no question, the Iriver is what you want of the two. I am not saying its the best overall thing to get, but you can everything you need including a really nice microphone for well under that 300 bucks. All in all, the FM radio, Mp3 player, Voice recorder & respectable results of recording with even a mediocre external mic just makes the iriver seem to blow away that little voice recorder.

My 3 fav things bout my iriver:
1: Tuner Record Reservation function (literally program the thing to come on and record for X ammount of time on X station) Very handy.
2: You can easily change the firmware to make it a thumb drive.
3: I never have to use itunes when dealing with it! Yay!

As for that "stereo ipod mic"
I'd keep it for a backup, but not use it as my main mic. I personally like a headset so I can hear myself (yeah, I can also hear myself w/o the cans but yknow...). If you like lapel mics I'd go with something from here:
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/gs/gs-micline1.html

I don't claim to know which is best, they are all good quality. Someone else here can advise which is the bestestest.


OR
should I return all three items, and get a better configuration?
I figure I've around $300 to play with. What would you do/get?

This is a great question, I have no idea what is the best, I think different setups work for different types of casts. Some would tell you to take your 300 bucks and buy a MXL990 mic, a small mixer, and an external sound card, your gonna sound better that way, but not really portable yknow?

Best of luck, Merry Xmas-

Jack

[leifh]

Well, I decided to go for the M Audio Microtrack. The Guitar Center sales manager, very cool guy, sold it to me for 320 (it was listed at the store for 399)....long story.

I pick it up tommorow and will tell you about it when I've had time to play.

So far, most the reviews I've read (and heard) are quite pleased with it. Some minor drawbacks, but for the price and size, they aren't really fair.

Check it out here:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack-main.html


Thanks for the feedback though Jack.

-Leif

[leifh]

While I haven't had the time to do a thorugh testing, this Microtrack is amazing. The recordings that are done even with the small stereo mic it comes with sound excellent.

I'm excited to be able to take this thing to the street and do some on the spot interviews. Its like having an mp3 (or wav) recorder, preamp, and professional mic all in the palm of our hand (not like I've had much experience with that but...hey, it must feel something like this )

Have a wonder-full, podcast-full new year folks.

Warmly,
Leif

[TINKOFF RADIO]

WOW - that MicroTrak looks wicked cool...
Please post some audio samples so we can hear it!
What's the input jack? mini-plug?

Thanks for the details...
Adam
http://www.burningtwenty.com

[tabulator32]

I was playing around with my DS2 which I love for on the street interviews but I'm not real happy with the sound quality. Today, I tried plugging in my old Shure mic and its not perfect but it is certainly much better than before.

Now, to this point, I have been recording quotes and such and saving them to my PC laptop, converting them from WMA to mp3, and then sending them to my mac to use in my show.

I can plug my DS2 straight into my mac and it will show me the WMA files but I don't know of anything that will convert the files so I can use them in GB2 where I create my show. Itunes won't take it and GB2 won't take it.

Can anyone suggest something can put (or already have) on my mac that will convert WMA to mp3?

[monkey_one]

I was playing around with my DS2 which I love for on the street interviews but I'm not real happy with the sound quality. Today, I tried plugging in my old Shure mic and its not perfect but it is certainly much better than before.

Now, to this point, I have been recording quotes and such and saving them to my PC laptop, converting them from WMA to mp3, and then sending them to my mac to use in my show.

I can plug my DS2 straight into my mac and it will show me the WMA files but I don't know of anything that will convert the files so I can use them in GB2 where I create my show. Itunes won't take it and GB2 won't take it.

Can anyone suggest something can put (or already have) on my mac that will convert WMA to mp3?
have you tried
audio hijack pro
might have to use a mac version of media player to play the file or use quicktime usaully though it plays on the 3 channel in quiktime so you get a mono recording by
selecting the 3rd channel for both left and right side in the audio advanced settings in ahp before you hijack the sound
does that make sense

[tabulator32]

Perfect!

Thank you, my furry friend!

8)

[monkey_one]

no prob :lol:

[leifh]

Sorry for the long delay...
Check my intro to a recent pocast interview, I was using the microtrack there.
http://bleedingpurplepodcast.blogspot.com/2006/01/brian-mclaren-interview-part-i.html

Peace,
Leif

[UncleThursday]

I was playing around with my DS2 which I love for on the street interviews but I'm not real happy with the sound quality. Today, I tried plugging in my old Shure mic and its not perfect but it is certainly much better than before.

Now, to this point, I have been recording quotes and such and saving them to my PC laptop, converting them from WMA to mp3, and then sending them to my mac to use in my show.

I can plug my DS2 straight into my mac and it will show me the WMA files but I don't know of anything that will convert the files so I can use them in GB2 where I create my show. Itunes won't take it and GB2 won't take it.

Can anyone suggest something can put (or already have) on my mac that will convert WMA to mp3?

I'm kind of late to this Q... but, have you tried iTunes? Opening the file in iTunes will convert the WMA file to AAC or MP3, whichever you have the recording part set to in your iTunes preferences. At least i did that on my brother's PC, not sure if it works on the Mac the same way.

[tabulator32]

I was playing around with my DS2 which I love for on the street interviews but I'm not real happy with the sound quality. Today, I tried plugging in my old Shure mic and its not perfect but it is certainly much better than before.

Now, to this point, I have been recording quotes and such and saving them to my PC laptop, converting them from WMA to mp3, and then sending them to my mac to use in my show.

I can plug my DS2 straight into my mac and it will show me the WMA files but I don't know of anything that will convert the files so I can use them in GB2 where I create my show. Itunes won't take it and GB2 won't take it.

Can anyone suggest something can put (or already have) on my mac that will convert WMA to mp3?

I'm kind of late to this Q... but, have you tried iTunes? Opening the file in iTunes will convert the WMA file to AAC or MP3, whichever you have the recording part set to in your iTunes preferences. At least i did that on my brother's PC, not sure if it works on the Mac the same way.

Itunes won't accept the WMA file.

As it happens, I actually have an awesome file format converter on my PC laptop. At the time of my earlier post, I was converting them on the laptop and then sending them to the mac to use in GB. Now, I have an application right on the laptop I am using as cart board so I convert the files to mp3 and slap'em into the cart board, which runs through my mixer and into the mac.

But I appreciate the reponse!

8)