Suggestions on MP3 Player with Mic-In Port...

WetDaddy

I used to use my Net MD for recording our bands practice sessions. Worked a treat, except for 2 things: (1) Reviewing the recordings was a *real* pain in the ass since they were about 3 hours long each, and (2) the Net MD has since died ;-)

So, I'm looking for a cheap MP3 player that has a Mic-In port. Doesn't have to be fancy or large capacity (in fact, the cheaper the better!) since we just want to record the sessions and dump them onto a PC / burn them to a CD.

Anyone got any suggestions please?

Also, we do have our hands on an MP3 player with Line-In, but we'd need some kind of pre-amp for the mic to use it with that. Does anyone know of any cheapy 3.5mm (input and output) mic preamps?

Thanks in advance!

rubadub

second hand iriver h120, it would be hard to find a new one. line-in, mic-in.
optical in/out. its default settings mean you would want something to actually reduce the line in signal if anything.

ooh um i have a zen micro, they're good and the mic records up to 10 hours and you can easily seek to a certain point. but the mic is quite delicate wouldn't want to have it too near what you're recording or it'll be too loud for it and come all blah.

TempestSabre

Buy a 2nd hand HiMD.

muckwarrior

Idealy an old iRiver if you can get it, but i suppose an iAudio x5 would be a pretty good alternative.

WetDaddy

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

Piratequeen, I have a zen micro myself. But the condenser mic really won't do the trick. It doesn't have a great range of frequencies and is alarmingly sensitive. The digital clipping is naaaasty on it...

TempetSabre, the problem with the HiMD's is that copying the recordings OFF the device is restricted to line-out (due to Sony's fear of pirating music), unless I'm mistaken. This means sitting at the PC hitting record on Goldwave or Soundforge or whatever. What I'd like is to just run the recordings across over USB 2.0 or even 1.1. It'd save a lot of time that way. But thanks for the suggestion.

Rubadub & muchwarrior, I reckon that's probably what I'll go for, and 2nd hand 120 (or the 140, I believe).

TempestSabre

deathfunk wrote:

....
the problem with the HiMD's is that copying the recordings OFF the device is restricted to line-out (due to Sony's fear of pirating music), unless I'm mistaken. ...

You are. Theres no limitations with analog recordings in the latest version of SonicStage 3.3. You simply transfer them to the PC and convert them to WAV. Transfer speeds are USB 1.1. other than that you can record for hours on 1 GB disk, control levels, use all sorts of mikes. Etc. For recording theres nothing like it for the price. The MP3 players like the iRiver/Cowon that claim to be able to do this can't they have problems with levels and clipping, even if you could control that which you can't. You can with HiMD. Even the cheapest of the HiMD is the same recording quality as the most expensive. So buy a cheap one. Just avoid the ones that don't have a mic in. I've a NH700 I use for recording all sorts of things.

If you are looking for more info have a browse through here.
http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showforum=18

WetDaddy

Fantastic! I've never been so happy to be wrong

Cheers, TempestSabre.