thangtn
09-05-2003, 03:11 PM
I look and look but I don't think the iQUE has an external microphone jack, but it has a headphone jack. Did I miss it?
One more thing, it would be nice if the voice recorder software allows various quality setting or sampling rate, so the filesize can be smaller at the cost of sound quality if needed.
thang
lawsonomy
09-23-2003, 11:36 PM
Never gonna happen. There's a big movement, kind of in the background, to prevent portable digital audio recording from hitting the market at any reasonable price. Note the Minidisc fiasco: You can get external mics, sure - but although you can directly copy a file ONTO your Minidisc, from a CD or from your harddrive - you can't transfer something you've recorded yourself OUT OF it. At least not digitally - you'll have to go from your line out to your PC's line in.
And while there are many voice-data recorders that will record in .wav format, and allow you to USB out those files, not a single one offers a better option than a crappy internal mic.
Pro field recordists use DAT - you can upolad via the digital link. Some of them have SPDIF. Not as fast as USB, but it's digital and near-lossless. Marantz makes a fantastic all-digital recorder that records to .wav up to 96/24 and uses those awesome IBM Microdrives. Of course, it'll cost you over a grand, if not two.
It's mostly the record companies that have put the kibosh on this - understandably so - they're worried about "sharing" occuring outside the internet. People with Minidiscs passing lossless copies around. It's amazing, though. If ONE company broke down and did it - what's so hard? Put an external mic jack on an iPod or an Archos Jukebox? They'd make a killing! Pro audio geeks and field recorders around the world would dive on 'em so fast they'd have to double the production run.
But don't expect one anytime soon. If ever.