Are there simple line-powered MP3 recorders?

[Joerg]

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

 

[Martin Griffith]

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

maybe something like this
http://www.auditory.org/recorders.html#pmd660
or browse through the bhphoto site for the better ideas

martin

 

[Martin Riddle]

| For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
| recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick.
As
| simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.
|
| I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
| mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
| which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
| probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
| hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
| screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
| say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
| record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
| magnifier just to see it.
|
| IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
| onto USB. Any ideas?
|
| --
| Regards, Joerg
|
| http://www.analogconsultants.com/
|
| "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
| Use another domain or send PM.

This is neat...
http://www.ikey-audio.com/ikey.htm

Cheers

 

[Joerg]

Does it have to be main powered, or would a USB powered recorder
be acceptable?

Preferably not, because then some PC has to run. A totally autonomous
device would be best. And ideally no wall wart.

 

[Joerg]

| For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
| recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick.
As
| simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.
|
| I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
| mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
| which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
| probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
| hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
| screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
| say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
| record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
| magnifier just to see it.
|
| IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
| onto USB. Any ideas?
|
| --
| Regards, Joerg
|
| http://www.analogconsultants.com/
|
| "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
| Use another domain or send PM.

This is neat...
http://www.ikey-audio.com/ikey.htm

Yes, I found a few of this kind. But: AA batteries, charger ...

 

[Martin Riddle]

| Martin Riddle wrote:
| > | > | For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
| > | recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB
stick.
| > As
| > | simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.
| > |
| > | I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which
had
| > | mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or
Intempo
| > | which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and
would
| > | probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a
few
| > | hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny
LCD
| > | screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone
and
| > | say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the
red
| > | record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
| > | magnifier just to see it.
| > |
| > | IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that
records
| > | onto USB. Any ideas?
| > |
| > | --
| > | Regards, Joerg
| > |
| > | http://www.analogconsultants.com/
| > |
| > | "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
| > | Use another domain or send PM.
| >
| > This is neat...
| > http://www.ikey-audio.com/ikey.htm
| >
|
| Yes, I found a few of this kind. But: AA batteries, charger ...
|
| --

The Ikey appears to need a wallwart. Its much easier to buy a UL
approved/listed wallwart than to put a AC plug in the box. You'll be
hard pressed to find that.
Have you looked on the BHphoto web site? lots of pro stuff there, might
be what your looking for.


Cheers

 

[Charlie E.]

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

Jeorge,
We used a pro gear Tascam recorder for our last project, but it used
compact flash, not USB flash, and is in the $900 range. I like your
idea, though, and would like to buy it as well. Maybe it is time to
design one!

Charlie
Edmondson Engineering Inc.

 

[Joerg]

| Martin Riddle wrote:
| > | > | For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
| > | recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB
stick.
| > As
| > | simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.
| > |
| > | I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which
had
| > | mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or
Intempo
| > | which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and
would
| > | probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a
few
| > | hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny
LCD
| > | screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone
and
| > | say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the
red
| > | record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
| > | magnifier just to see it.
| > |
| > | IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that
records
| > | onto USB. Any ideas?
| > |
| > | --
| > | Regards, Joerg
| > |
| > | http://www.analogconsultants.com/
| > |
| > | "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
| > | Use another domain or send PM.
| >
| > This is neat...
| > http://www.ikey-audio.com/ikey.htm
| >
|
| Yes, I found a few of this kind. But: AA batteries, charger ...
|
| --

The Ikey appears to need a wallwart. Its much easier to buy a UL
approved/listed wallwart than to put a AC plug in the box. You'll be
hard pressed to find that.
Have you looked on the BHphoto web site? lots of pro stuff there, might
be what your looking for.

Yes. Mostly they offer products with intermediate disk storage but from
there they transfer to not so modern media such as CD, not USB sticks.
Like this one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/447951-REG/Marantz_CDR310_CDR_310_2_Channel_Stereo_Mono.html

The other ones are usually battery operated pod-style devices. Maybe we
have to settle for one of these but it's not ideal. No good power
supply, can often not be operated without inserted batteries (which in
this scenario _will_ leak some day), or aren't USB compatible. Flash
cards and stuff are nice but the de-facto standard these days is USB.

 

[Joerg]

Put the Ikey and wallwart in a project box and run an extension cord
out of the project box.

I wanted to avoid yet another project but it might have to be done.

 

[Joerg]

Jeorge,
We used a pro gear Tascam recorder for our last project, but it used
compact flash, not USB flash, and is in the $900 range. I like your
idea, though, and would like to buy it as well. Maybe it is time to
design one!

Do you remember the Tascam model? Flash isn't ideal but a lot better
than CD or having to plug the whole device into a PC. That is because a
church member does the spooling onto the web from home and would then
have to drive back to church to return the unit.

 

[Joerg]

Use a PC, with Linux, soundcard, give it an IP addresss and webserver.
Auto update the audio from a script, like I do with security cam.
Now tell everybody about the web address, then they can play the mp3s
with media player or something.

I suggested exactly that to our IT guru at church. He does not want yet
another PC, it's enough work as it is, and I agree with him. None of us
gets paid, we all serve freely.

If must be, then you can give everybody a password.

Not needed. After all, the bible was brought to us without DRM,
passwords or any of that ;-)

That PC should be on 24/7, or at least boot when the power comes on...

Not possible. It's inside the sanctuary and the fire marshall as well as
the insurance carrier won't like that. Also, we just want to keep thing
as simple as possible. No boot-up, no hard drive, nada.

[...]

 

[Rich Grise]

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records onto
USB. Any ideas?

I have one of these:
http://www.usersmanualguide.com/panasonic/ic_recorder/rr-qr160
which says in "High Quality" mode it can do 2 hours, but it doesn't know
anything about MP3 - it only has an analog output. It was about $70.00
new, but I had some cash on me at the time, and a use for it; you could
use it like that cassette recorder sans cassettes, but you'd need another
box to turn the analog to an MP3.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

Na, jaaaa, when I was a kid we had two empty cans with a string between.
hehe
;-)

We'd like the string between the cans to be digital

 

[Joerg]

Just wait until someone who attends your church runs for public office and
your web server gets hammered trying to fulfill all the reporters' requests,
trying to dig up dirt.

It's all open. No dirt though

I think your idea of a standalone widget is better than a PC. Why don't you
like wallwarts, though? The possibility of them getting lost?

Have seen too many go up in smoke. You never know where stuff really
comes from these days or whether the engineers who designed it had a
clue. Also, the average quality of electrolytics has fallen dramatically
and I'd rather have one blow up in a metal enclosure than in a plastic
thingie on the carpet.

 

[Joerg]

I have one of these:
http://www.usersmanualguide.com/panasonic/ic_recorder/rr-qr160
which says in "High Quality" mode it can do 2 hours, but it doesn't know
anything about MP3 - it only has an analog output. It was about $70.00
new, but I had some cash on me at the time, and a use for it; you could
use it like that cassette recorder sans cassettes, but you'd need another
box to turn the analog to an MP3.

Well, thanks, but that doesn't get us much beyond what we have today.

 

[Joerg]

Olympus LS10, under $300. Great sound, record/stop/playback buttons
that just work. It also has the screens and so on, but the pastor
doesn't have to futz with them at all--hit the red button and talk.

Thanks. Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks) but if it
has your endorsement maybe we can get a real power supply for it.

Question: It says "recording time can be extended with a SD card". It is
possible to record only onto the SD cards and not at all into the
device's memory? Someone needs to take it home and they should not have
to take the whole device because it may be needed again soon after.

 

[Joerg]

True, OTOH my 12V adapter from the Timex Sinclair ZX81 from the early 1980
has been on 24/7 with original parts and is still working fine.
That makes > 25 years.

Them's were the good old days when stuff lasted an eternity. Like the
electrolytics in the Sachsenwerk, Astor and Philips Gamma radios out
here. All around 60 years old. Ok, the Philips blew its audio plate
transformer. Once, back in the 70's. Fixed that, not one problem ever since.

It has also been shorted 100000000x, as every time you plug in that
phone plug it shorts..
Dunno about those modern switch mode things though, how long those last.

Not very long, usually. Anyhow, I don't like that in a church where
people throw the mixer cover, boxes and all kinds of other stuff on top
of it. They shouldn't but you know how that goes.

 

[Joerg]

Yes, you can tell it to record straight onto SD. It also takes SDHD, in
case your pastor is really on a roll some Sunday. It doesn't have
XLR inputs, but it does have two very decent condenser mics built in.
(How much stereo you're going to get from two mics 2 inches apart is
another matter--one for singing and one for the harmonica.

Cool, thanks. He tries to keep his sermons to roughly 1/2hr. But we may
need longer recording times for special events such as a memorial
service. Relatives are really glad if they have a recording that
includes all the speeches and eulogies. It's usually the last thing
they've got to hang onto regarding the spouse or family member that
passed away. Other than the Pontiac GTO and stuff ...

It's often used by musicians, who seem to love it. I got it for my
wife's birthday--it arrived about a week ago--and she seems to like it
too. (She's trying to get into doing voiceovers and uses it for
practice.) I haven't used it significantly myself, so you might adjust
your salt grain size on that basis.

If it survived that week it ought to be good.

One problem with small voice recorders and wall warts is that you can
get a surprising amount of hum--I haven't tested this one, but the
effect is quite strong with IPods and powered external speakers or even
headphones. (It goes away if you touch the metal case.)

I figured that. Nowadays I don't expect any audio designers to truly
understand diff-mode circuitry. Luckily Radio Shack has audio baluns,
hum eliminators, ground noise reducers or whatever is the current
marketing speak du jour for those. Now that's a 20 mile drive since our
local Radio Shack became <gasp> a cell phone shop.

 

[Joerg]

Joerg,



If you really want USB sticks, there are a couple options:

1) Use SD cards with built-in USB connectors:
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-SDSDPH-004G-A11-15MB-Ultra-Plus/dp/B000UZJ0O2
2) Just get a USB stick that accepts an SD card (an SD card reader,
effectively):
http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-MobileMate-Plus-Memory-Reader/dp/B000Q3IUV2

Approach #1 seems just about as good as a USB stick with the only drawback
being that, if it gets lost, your local Wal*Mart probably won't have another
one in stock (whereas they would have plenty of USB sticks).

Yes! Thanks. Come to think of it I had seen method #2 at my sister's.
That would be the ticket here.

 

[Frank Buss]

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I would use a computer. Did you read my posting some weeks ago?

http://groups.google.de/group/de.sci.electronics/msg/58b7c863b5257a33

This would be most flexible, because you know: Once the client sees a first
version, they always have new ideas how it could be enhanced

And there are small and cheap PCs (e.g. thin clients, maybe you can get one
from ebay or an old laptop). Maybe you can even combine it with your
counseling service, that some parishioner can work on the software, to do
something useful, e.g. if unemployed etc.