School me on pocket digital sound recorders

[230RN]

In my ignorance, I can't tell what's what on  Google with respect to small pocket-sized sound recorders. 

I have a fairly good Olympus Pearlcorder S725 I bought decades ago which takes those microcassettes.  This serves well for about 80% of my recording needs, but has a close-talking microphone which doesn't pick up sounds from afar very well.  In addition, the jacks for I/O and power are quite proprietary "add ons" which are no longer available.  (And the microcassetes are pretty fragile.)  I am not looking to record music with high fidelity, just voices with reasonable fidelity and a high Signal/Internal Noise ratio.

With the mechanics of it --gears, pulleys, capstans, and belts  --it doesn't do well just sitting on a table, even if I cushion it with soft sponge rubber.

I know this much:

I can turn the video on my camera and slip it in my pocket to record sounds and an image of the inside of my pocket.  My camera will take large (so far, 16 Gig) high-speed SDD cards and has a USB jack with which I can move files from it to my main machine (Win 7), but it doesn't do "just audio."

The digital recorders I have seen on Google will have up to 32 Gig of memory, but I'm not clear on whether these have removable SDD cards.

I would like to connect the digital audio to my computer either by moving an SDD card or by cable, preferably both.

It should have standard jacks for microphone and earphone, and preferably for external power.

I can go up to, say, $75 or a little more for a super-duper recorder.

I suspect my cell phone will do this, but every doggoned time I diddle with its extra functions, they diddle me with extra charges, so I just leave it off unless I'm expecting a call or want to make a call.  It's also got a pretty "close-talking" microphone and doesn't pick up much at more than a foot or so.

What do you have (or make do with) for this kind of recording?  It's difficult for me to go "shopping around" for something like this.  I like to hobble into the store, hop into a handicapped cart and go directly to where I know I can pick up what I want.

Thanks, and forgive my ignorance in advance.

Terry, 230RN

[vaskidmark]

Just about any digital voice recorder at WalMart, or go higher-end and much higher price at OfficeMaxMart.  Best suggestions are to get one with:

1) USB port built in
2) SD card capability (get as much as you can - reason to follow)
3) at least two (2) NiMH rechargable batteries with the most mAh you can find, along with a basic charger unit that will handle one battery at a time  (I'm running 2400mAh and can get 18+ hours of run time (which is why the SD card)
4) time/date stamp automatically

I turn mine on as I'm putting the key in to lock the door on my way out, and turn it off and (usually) erase everything just before I put my glasses down as I'm climbing into bed.  For those days when something interesting/important gets recorded I download it to my box o' wires as soon as I get home, and then send a copy to a trusted repository.

stay safe.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I have a 35 dollar sony that does what's suggested above records 30 some hours has built in USB . And it's about the size of 2 bic lighters. It works great


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[dogmush]

Just to be that guy:

What state do you live in?  I had a long talk with one of my employees about the concept of two party consent after I learned he was recording closed door meetings at work without telling anyone. In the end,  after a fair amount of arguing he had a longer talk with a Tampa Police Detective.

Now that that's out of the way, newegg has a vast array of digital voice recorders with specs and reviews. As was mentioned,  look at max memory card capacity and battery life as your main specs.  USB transfer is pretty standard these days.

[KD5NRH]

The digital recorders I have seen on Google will have up to 32 Gig of memory, but I'm not clear on whether these have removable SDD cards.

They usually say if they do.  Ideally, you want removable media, a file type your computer handles well, (Some of the older ones I've had used a totally proprietary format to the point that the only way to save the audio was to play it back to another recording device.  Others had USB and a driver that would convert, but it took forever.) and readily available batteries.  USB transfer and recharge is nice if you're always at a computer, and have plenty of time to do it, but swapping cards and AAAs is easily done in the field in seconds.  Proprietary batteries may have longer life, but most of the AAA powered ones I've used will easily go 8-12 hours, and I know the batteries will always be available, even if I leave my spares at home.

[zxcvbob]

I bought a refurbished Olympus digital recorder for the church a couple of years ago. 

It uses one AAA NiMH battery that it charges from the USB port.  A micro SD card slot would be nice, but not necessary for us because the 32GB or whatever it is will store many hours of audio. 

We've been totally happy with it for recording the sermons, and whenever I've forgotten to turn it off it records for about 12 hours before the battery runs down -- and the battery wasn't necessarily fully charged to begin with.

[Harold Tuttle]

i run tascam pcm recorder on my iphone

[230RN]

zxcvbob noted,

It uses one AAA NiMH battery that it charges from the USB port.  A micro SD card slot would be nice, but not necessary for us because the 32GB or whatever it is will store many hours of audio.

That's a good point.  I'd like to be able to remove the memory, though, and stick another card or whatever in there.   But I wonder how your individual audio files can be accessed.  Is it like my camera, where I can see all the files, then handle each one individually as in IMG001.JPG to IMG999.JPG, or is it like a sequential-access tape (as on my microcassette Olympus), where you just have to run the tape to a given point on the "odometer" to replay or transfer that recording?  And I hate proprietary file formats.

I have a digital answering machine where playback of a "saved" call can be a pain in the patootie since you have to go through them one at a time (although there's a skip button) to get to the one you want to hear again.  I can't imagine doing that with 30 hours of recording.

In other words, how do you "find" a particular recording?

On batteries, I frankly prefer removable AA or AAA rather than the bult-in ones, despite the greater bulk, but that's becoming less important than the jacking, especially with respect to an external microphone input.  However, that's something I can verify by talking to the vendors on the phone, rather than traipsing down there to look for myself.

dogmush remarked,

Now that that's out of the way, newegg has a vast array of digital voice recorders with specs and reviews.

Hey, thanks!  I had never heard of them, but a Gargle search brings up a lot of hits.  I'll have to browse through them.  I'm not concerned with two-party permission, though.

Harold Tuttle remarked,

i run tascam pcm recorder on my iphone

Not for me.  As I said, the less I turn my cell phone on, the more money stays in my pocket.  Besides, doesn't that record on some remote system somewhere?  I play my cards a little closer to the vest than that.

Others:  Thanks for your input.  Every remark contributes to my understanding of what comes closest to my needs.

Terry, 230RN

[zxcvbob]

zxcvbob noted,

That's a good point.  I'd like to be able to remove the memory, though, and stick another card or whatever in there.   But I wonder how your individual audio files can be accessed.  Is it like my camera, where I can see all the files, then handle each one individually as in IMG001.JPG to IMG999.JPG, or is it like a sequential-access tape (as on my microcassette Olympus), where you just have to run the tape to a given point on the "odometer" to replay or transfer that recording?  And I hate proprietary file formats.

I have a digital answering machine where playback of a "saved" call can be a pain in the patootie since you have to go through them one at a time (although there's a skip button) to get to the one you want to hear again.  I can't imagine doing that with 30 hours of recording.

In other words, how do you "find" a particular recording?

The recorder plugs into a USB like a flash drive, and the files are individually accessible as MP3's.  You can also play them thru a 1/8" headphone jack or the little internal speaker.  The USB plug is built-in, so you don't need a cable, although it came with a short extension cable.  You can also set it to record in WMA format.  I think I might've had to get a firmware update to get MP3 capability for this particular model.

I find a particular recording from the date/time stamp on the file.  Also the filenames are numbered sequentially.  It's just like your digital camera.

HTH

[vaskidmark]

To add on to zxcbob's comment -

you can either stop recording and then start again, creating a new file, or use the "bookmark"* feature to mark segments.

stay safe.

* - that's not what they call it, my recorder is in the other room, and I'm too lazy to go pick it up to get the correct nomenclature.

[Harold Tuttle]

pcm recorder stores locally

[230RN]

Closure and thank  you

I ended up getting an Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-821.



Runs on one AAA battery, has a microSDHC card slot.

Far too much gegawdry for what I need, but simple record, stop, playback is easy and obvious without consulting the manual..

Has an extendable USB plug, records in MP3, loses a lot of the high sound spectrum, but I can correct that on my PC.

Got an 8 Gig SanDisk microSDHC card with it with an adaptor for standard SDD slots, like this:



Has 1/8" microphone and earphone  jacks, no proprietary or out-of -the-ordinary jacking.

Storage architecture is pretty simple once I plug it in to my PC and look at it as a separate drive.

Need a magnifying glass to "get" all that's on the screen.

Cannot figure out yet what the hell "Scene" means on it.  Not very obvious from the instructions without reading them in detail.  Also haven't figured out how to change recording folders yet.  ( I know, RTFM, but just got it this AM.)

So thanks for all your input(s).  That was all in all, very helpful.

Terry "Welcome to the 21st Century," 230RN

[Doggy Daddy]

"Recording Scene Select For Flawless Recording

By simply selecting from the menu, you can set optimum recording settings according to the scenes. With five modes and three user configurations, anyone can easily make fail-proof, high-quality recordings, even in an environment requiring a quick response.

Lecture: Suitable for recording a lecture in a large room where there are many people.
Conference: For clear recording in a conference room with some people.
Meeting: To record conversations in a small meeting room.
Dictation: Optimum to capture your speech by talking directly into the recorder.
DNS: Provides the best settings for voice recognition with Dragon NaturallySpeaking by Nuance Inc."

[vaskidmark]

Set at "Lecture" for carrying around in your shirt pocket/wearing on a lanyard under your shirt.

I just recently learned that if you poke and stuff things in the same shirt pocket as your recorder there is a possibility you will hit the playback button and folks will wonder why your shirt is talking to them.

I may start looking for a recorder with recessed buttons, as opposed to the ones that stick out.

stay safe.

[230RN]

"Recording Scene Select For Flawless Recording

By simply selecting from the menu, you can set optimum recording settings according to the scenes. With five modes and three user configurations, anyone can easily make fail-proof, high-quality recordings, even in an environment requiring a quick response.

Lecture: Suitable for recording a lecture in a large room where there are many people.
Conference: For clear recording in a conference room with some people.
Meeting: To record conversations in a small meeting room.
Dictation: Optimum to capture your speech by talking directly into the recorder.
DNS: Provides the best settings for voice recognition with Dragon NaturallySpeaking by Nuance Inc."

That's very helpful.  The two manuals that come with it don't seem to have that detailed an explanation as to what "lecture," etc means.  Is there a downloadable full manual for it?

Terry

[Doggy Daddy]

That's very helpful.  The two manuals that come with it don't seem to have that detailed an explanation as to what "lecture," etc means.  Is there a downloadable full manual for it?

Terry

Dunno.  That was just a cut 'n' paste from the Amazon page.

[Hawkmoon]

That one looks to be an updated version of my Olympus VN-7200. The 7200 doesn't have provision for an external memory card. Even so, it claims to offer some pretty long recording times -- which I have not yet tested.

[230RN]

That one looks to be an updated version of my Olympus VN-7200. The 7200 doesn't have provision for an external memory card. Even so, it claims to offer some pretty long recording times -- which I have not yet tested.

From what little I've seen,there seems to be a tradeoff between long built-in memory versus external plug-in memory.  You get one or the other.  I wanted a removeable memory for various reasons.

However, the built-in memory shows up as follows when I plug it in and look at it through "My Computer" and "Properties."

Total as a separate drive G:/ : 1.78 GB (part of that being the installer and their housekeeping stuff)

Folder A: (On which I've already recorded stuff) 4.81 MB
Folder B: 2.56 KB (that's correct, KB)
Folder C: 4.63 MB
Folder D:  4;63 MB
Folder E:  2.56 KB (that's correct, KB)

Seems kind of odd.  I wonder if they're dynamically allocating recording space according to some bizarre protocol.  In any case, I got (as mentioned) an 8 gig card for it, which I have not yet plugged into either the recorder or the desktop.

(Say, is there any way to recover a deleted file as in, like the Recycle Bin in Windows?  I screwed up and deleted one semi-precious recording.)

Dunno.  That was just a cut 'n' paste from the Amazon page.

Humph.  I would never have thought of that.  But it's kind of new and I don't have hours and hours to probe around the net for other juicy info on it.  The reason I asked about a full manual is that a couple of years ago I got a Casio camera with again, two sets of instructions for it.  One was the simplified "point and shoot" get-started set, and another multi-page manual which went into more detail.

About two months after that I discovered there was a downloadable "full" manual for it which revealed many many more capabilities that the camera had, and is about 100 pages long.  I was amazed at what that stupid little camera can actually do!

If you have a link to that Amazon page, it would be nice.  I suppose I could dig around for more info, but I don't want to make a full-time job of it, at least not right now.

vaskidmark remarked, "I may start looking for a recorder with recessed buttons, as opposed to the ones that stick out."

This thing has a "hold" setting, as opposed to "off," but I'm not yet clear on what it does and doesn't do.

Once again, 10e6 thanks for youse guys' input and support for this "bear of very little brain."

Terry

[230RN]

AHA !  There is a PDF "full manual" in the device's memory itself.

Maybe now I can quit asking dumb questions.

And next time I buy something like this, I'll know to look in its memory for an on-board manual in the first place.  See?  I are even smarter now than I were before.  Twenty-first Century, here I is!  :D

@vaskidmark:  Son of a gun if I didn't have the same problem with sensitive buttons.  I set it on Record, slipped it in my pocket, found out later that the stop button got depressed while doing that and nothing got recorded.

[Firethorn]

@vaskidmark:  Son of a gun if I didn't have the same problem with sensitive buttons.  I set it on Record, slipped it in my pocket, found out later that the stop button got depressed while doing that and nothing got recorded.

Reminds me of my policy of buying a cheap 'x' the first time if I'm inexperienced with that type of item or tool.  If it works, great, if not I now know what to look for in selecting a good version...

Some sort of button protector or lock would be good for a voice recording device intended to be slipped into a pocket.  For that matter microphone placement and even a latch might be good to make sure the mic stays out in the open.

[230RN]

Reminds me of my policy of buying a cheap

• the first time if I'm inexperienced with that type of item or tool.  (1) If it works, great, if not I now know what to look for in selecting a good version...

(2) Some sort of button protector or lock would be good for a voice recording device intended to be slipped into a pocket.  For that matter microphone placement and even a latch might be good to make sure the mic stays out in the open.

(1) Works for wives, too.

(2) The two microphones are right on top and stick out a little.  Next time I'll glance in my pocket or a mirror to see if the record light is still lit.  Not that much of a problem once you know about it.  (That usually works for wives, too. [And visa-versa.  Just to be fair.])

Now that I know what to look for, next time I dig out the camera I mentioned and see if it's got the "full manual" somewhere in the built-in memory, and could have saved the time in rooting around the Casio site looking for it.

Hmmmm...maybe I should have said "spouses."

[Firethorn]

(2) The two microphones are right on top and stick out a little.  Next time I'll glance in my pocket or a mirror to see if the record light is still lit.  Not that much of a problem once you know about it.  (That usually works for wives, too. [And visa-versa.  Just to be fair.])

My MP3 player has a latch that if you slide it will disable all the buttons until you slide it back.  That way it'd take an extreme amount of jostling to stop it from recording, and you wouldn't have to glance at your pocket as often.

[Doggy Daddy]

If you have a link to that Amazon page, it would be nice.  I suppose I could dig around for more info, but I don't want to make a full-time job of it, at least not right now.

I see that you found the full manual, but FYI here's the link to what I was looking at.  Just scroll down to where it says "Product Description".

http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-WS-821-Voice-Recorders-Built-In-Memory/dp/B00HFW1E6K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416374869&sr=8-1&keywords=olympus+ws-821

[230RN]

Looks like a good review, Doggy Daddy.  Thanks for the link.

I think there's some kind of button pr "keyboard" lock in there somewhere, but I haven't specifically looked for it. 

[Doggy Daddy]

Happy to help.  Following your thread has put me in a mind like I might want to pick up one of those for myself. Any owner feedback after you've had it a bit would be appreciated.