Portable audio recorder

[laserblazer]

Our music dept. is looking for a few recorders for the kids to use when they go off in break-out groups. The only thing I have found so far is http://bigbenaudio.co.uk/p793/Olympus-WS-100-64MB-WMA-Digital-Voice-Recorder-with-USB-Connection- which is the right sort of price and looks easy to use. Sound quality isn't important as it will be garbage in - garbage out.

 

Has anyone come across anything else we could consider?

[daveyboy]

We used Speak IT Realy helpful.

 

They have lots of ideas and a great selection.

 

We went for the Olympus WS-210S Digital Voice Recorder & Mass Storage Device - plugs in and works like a pen drive.

 

For our better stuff we are going for Olympus WS-311M or one of the DS range, with a good quaility digital microphone - once again works like a pen drive - no software to install.

 

Hope this helps........

[contink]

Our music dept. is looking for a few recorders for the kids to use when they go off in break-out groups. The only thing I have found so far is http://bigbenaudio.co.uk/p793/Olympus-WS-100-64MB-WMA-Digital-Voice-Recorder-with-USB-Connection- which is the right sort of price and looks easy to use.

 

Broken link should be:

 

http://bigbenaudio.co.uk/Electronics-Digital-Recorders/c29_70/p793/Olympus-WS-100-64MB-WMA-Digital-Voice-Recorder-with-USB-Connection- (WS100) /product_info.html

 

You'll need to remove the spaces because the dope who built the site didn't realise they aren't really value URL characters.

[Jona]

Here's a better url: Olympus WS-100 64MB WMA Digital Voice Recorder with USB Connection WS100 Big Ben Audio

[contink]

Here's a better url: Olympus WS-100 64MB WMA Digital Voice Recorder with USB Connection WS100 Big Ben Audio

 

Thanks Jona... Totally forgot about that...

[ICT_GUY]

Zoom H2 Portable Recorder. with 512mb SD card, Tripod and Half Price Headphones offer!!!*::*Digital Recorder*::*Planet Gizmo

 

This is the a very good reorder and a doddle to use. Sound quality is excellent.

 

http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/1c1ea8897b.jpg

 

Simplicity is a beautiful thing.

It's a simple idea: provide brilliant stereo recording in an easy-to-use, ultra-portable device. Now everyone can record pristine audio in an infinite variety of applications. From seminars and conferences, to electronic news gathering (ENG) and podcasting, to musical performances, songwriting sessions and rehearsals, the H2 provides amazing recording quality. And no matter what kind of music you perform or the instrument you play, the H2 can effortlessly record it in high-quality stereo.

 

With its built in USB 2.0 interface, you can even use the H2 as a USB mic and record directly to your favorite digital audio software!

[dhicks]

Has anyone come across anything else we could consider?

 

These are in the Tesco catalouge this year:

 

TTS - Easi-Speak

 

Might be appropriate, maybe bit on the primary school side, mind.

 

--

David Hicks

[torledo]

You can turn an ipod video into an audio recording device with the appropriate microphone.

[Andrew_C]

I've not long ago bought one of the red ones on this page. The only issue so far is that the level with the internal mic is a bit low when doing dialogue recordings for ML exams. We've now been told that the board is sticking with cassettes for a while. We'll keep looking, and the Zoom H2 looks promising!

[john]

Id go for a Zoom product, the H2 listed above is good by the sounds of it but I've seen a H4 http://www.samsontech.com/images/productimages/H4_top-web.jpg - Samson - Zoom - H4 and thats the dogs bananas. Looking to get one of them for music / general use say recording concerts, music groups, speeches etc

[laserblazer]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Sorry about the link. I have one of the Zoom H2s and really pleased with it but too expensive for this project. I'll take a close look at the other stuff tomorrow. I'm off to bed

[enjay]

Resurrecting this thread since it is over a year old - are the products recommended here still worth it, or have better ones come out since? We need something for MFL orals and music practicals, so quality is important... Edited May 7, 2009 by enjay

[ICT_GUY]

The zooms are fantastic, still great.

[enjay]

What about direct CD recording? Anyone got any experience of those??

[dhicks]

What about direct CD recording? Anyone got any experience of those??

 

Would now definatly recommend the TTS EasiSpeak - people keep on borrowing mine from me, and you can ge a set of 5 and a charger unit for under £200. The design's been updated a bit to be more suitible for secondary children, too. Our languaghes department is using a direct-to-CD recorder, I'll ask them.

 

--

David Hicks

[Andrew_C]

I've bought some Marantz PDM-620 recorders; and boy are they busy this week! 140 quarter hour French exams, Spanish and German last week, Russian, Chinese, Italian, and Japanese next week.

 

Not without issues though. Last week we were getting partially corrupt files, turned the sample rate down which reduced the failure rate, but didn't cure it. Ordered some faster SCHC cards (didn't know until Monday that such a thing existed) and this stopped that particular issue.

 

However, I am now trying to sort out two files that exist on the cards but wont play. They report as .wavs of appropriate size. It seems VLC can deal with them, and they play happily on my daughter's eee.

 

Grrr! Why isn't life easy?

[Sylv3r]

We have one of these Tascams (below) for the higher end recordings - GCSE / A Level musical pieces and the smaller Olympus WS-100's as mentioned above. I bought all departments one so they could create podcasts; the MFL department now have 10 and the ICT department have 5.

 

Tascam DR-07 | Dolphin Music

[enjay]

Those of you who are using MP3 recorders - how do you submit these to the exam boards? Do you send them the MP3 files or do you burn audio CDs??

[enjay]

Is no-one using real-time CD recorders?

[dhicks]

Is no-one using real-time CD recorders?

 

Just checked with languages, they're using a Coomber 6131-F tape/CD recorder. They seem quite impressed with it, it ceertainly seems to manage audio recordings for speaking exams okay.

 

--

David Hicks

[enjay]

Thanks David. That was one of the models I'd identified as well, reassuring to hear they're actually being used!

[LeMarchand]

One of my schools has a couple 0f the Coombers. I suspect one was purchased in error, as it's recording facilities will never be used, but the other was used when they had a dedicated music teacher.

 

Coomber's support was helpful but slow (and it took a couple of tries for them to get it right) when there was a problem.

 

Being a Primary, it was never used in an exam situation.

[laserblazer]

Just checked with languages, they're using a Coomber 6131-F tape/CD recorder. They seem quite impressed with it, it ceertainly seems to manage audio recordings for speaking exams okay.

 

--

David Hicks

 

We have some 6021s, which I guess are an earlier model. Once you get used to the strange menu they are great. They have a cassette player as well so you can transfer directly to CD, copyright permitting.

[enjay]

I've just been passed a document from our exam board about the phasing out of cassettes, and it says that they want "CDs using MP3 format" - does that actually mean they won't accept a 'regular' audio CD, such as one would burn from Media Player or with real-time recorders such as the Coomber thing?

 

We could do this with the likes of the Zoom, but for our MFL Department, I would rather have a direct-to-CD solution...

[Andrew_C]

I think that what it means is that they don't have the first clue what they are talking about.

 

I expect to get a letter in the near future whining that they can't play the mp3s we've just sent them (as requested), so I am keeping all of the recordings on disk so I can re-do them if required.