Recommendations on a Digital Voice Recorder

[esaym]

I need to get a voice recorder for one of my college classes since I can't ever follow what the professor is talking about. Anybody have any good experiences with a particular brand or model? It needs to be not too big or obvious looking. Recorders aren't allowed so I am going to have to keep it in a mesh pocket on my backpack and look like I am not using it:D

[esaym]

Ok looks like the only thing that I can find that might actually work with ubuntu is this olympus ds30 http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1276

The ds-30 in windows requires no drivers and is mounted just like a thumb drive so I am guessing it should work fine.

The only problem is it is alittle expensive and it uses WMA! :mad: Why why why?? Why in the world would they pay royalties to ms to use their format!? It even comes with their own player to get the most out of the device and the wma format. Why in the world would they make a player for wma when they could make one for ogg for free?!

I almost dropped the idea of buying this because of the wma. But it does look like I am up the wall here and I have no other chooses that I can see...


Also the model ws-100 has actually been confirmed to work with ubuntu. Although it still uses wma too.. if anyone cares..

[tweedledee]

Did you in fact purchase one of these and get it to work? I'm looking to buy a recorder, and it is quite clear that most of them will not work, and I'd prefer not to resort to using my virtual Windows install.

[esaym]

Yea I will post a full review sometime on my website.

I really don't have any complains with it. The dual mics it has are great even for mono recording. I paid $30 for an external clip on mic but the built in mics are better. It mounts in linux just like a thumb drive.

My only complaints would be that you can't select a file naming scheme. The the files are just random numbers.

This is about the best deal that I found for the 512mb ds40:
http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-DS40-Digital-Voice-Recorder/dp/B000MVBHRW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6701281-1520839?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1179460623&sr=8-1

The ds30 is $120 but might as well shell out the extra $30 for more space.

[Jeff Gavett]

I'd love to hear how things have worked out for you on the voice recorder front. I'm looking to pick one up to work on kubuntu, for the recording of voice lessons and musical performances, so the quality is very important.

Did the Olympus turn out ok? Did you end up converting the wmas or what?

[tweedledee]

I'd love to hear how things have worked out for you on the voice recorder front. I'm looking to pick one up to work on kubuntu, for the recording of voice lessons and musical performances, so the quality is very important.

Did the Olympus turn out ok? Did you end up converting the wmas or what?

I purchased the DS30. It works perfectly as a USB drive. I have the W32 codecs installed on my computer, so while I philosophically object to the .wma format, it plays back on my computer just fine. Quality is fairly good, price is good if you shop around a bit (Amazon had best prices a few months ago, may not still be true). As a voice recorder to work with Linux, I recommend it. As a playback or multimedia device, I'm not so sure.

[silurius]

Anyone have any thoughts on how well the Sony ICD-MX20DR9 (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-MX20DR9-Flash-Based-Digital-Recorder/dp/B000N29LAK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3543206-9048713?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1187982905&sr=8-1) will work on Ubuntu (or any Linux variant for that matter)?

[tweedledee]

Anyone have any thoughts on how well the Sony ICD-MX20DR9 (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-MX20DR9-Flash-Based-Digital-Recorder/dp/B000N29LAK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3543206-9048713?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1187982905&sr=8-1) will work on Ubuntu (or any Linux variant for that matter)?

Probably not at all, based on reviews for the ICD-MX20 (presumably essentially the same):
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-MX20-Memory-Digital-Recorder/dp/B0007Y6AF8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5/102-4045379-1976949?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1187998028&sr=8-5

In short, it uses proprietary codecs, proprietary compression, and proprietary (Windows-only, as is typical of Sony) software for communication - it does not appear that it would work as a standard USB flash device.

Most of the above is actually typically of most voice recorders out there, which is what makes the Olympus DS30 and DS40 unusual.

[silurius]

Ah, well not a huge deal I guess. This would be for a new Asus Eee I plan to purchase when it comes out (might replace its OS with Ubuntu). I have a Windows PC onto which I suppose I can dump these recordings once in the office and if I need to access recordings while on the road, I'm sure I can do so via the player itself. Thanks for responding!

[Jofaba]

I just tried connecting the Sony ICD-P520 and discovered that, well pretty much nothing happened. No way to mount it or access it, although Ubuntu knows what it is. So I came here to see if anyone knew how to make it work and of course it's a driver issue (or lack-of-a-driver issue).

There is a semi-solution though. It's slower and you have to pay attention to the transfer, but if you get a double male wire (like from pc sub to sound card) you can feed the headphone jack on the recorder to the microphone jack on your sound card and stream it in 1:1 speed. it's a pain in the butt and this whole lack of support for everything I have is stressing my patience with linux, but I know it's not linux's fault etc. Anyway, this works if you've got the patience.

[ellis rowell]

Ah, well not a huge deal I guess. This would be for a new Asus Eee I plan to purchase when it comes out (might replace its OS with Ubuntu). I have a Windows PC onto which I suppose I can dump these recordings once in the office and if I need to access recordings while on the road, I'm sure I can do so via the player itself. Thanks for responding!

I have a problem with the Olympus VN240PC (it needs it's own software, Windows of course!).
"Just my luck!

I emailed Olympus and the reply was:-

"Dear Ellis

Thank you for your e-mail,

our VN recorders require software to work, all other Olympus recorders, WS and DS series do not require software, they are usb mass storage devices.

Kind regards Joshua"

I don't think the WS and DS series were available when I bought the VN. So the answer is , DO NOT buy a VN type recorder.

So far my workaround has been to download to a Windows machine then transfer the file to a USB Key and download the .wav file into my Ubuntu machine, playing it with VLC Media Player.

[esaym]

Small review of the ds-40 here: http://www.lindsay.ath.cx/recorder.html

[rare HERO]

Works when I first plugged it into my system. reads like a removable drive. I shall assume that it will work for all other purposes. I originally purchased it to work as a voice recorder. If it stops working I'll repost.

I have a ZEN stone that works well with my system.

I use Ubuntu 7.10