Affordable digital recorder advice

Tue Jan 31 16:18:17 UTC 2006

Hi, Susan, 

I didn't read the whole main thread, but I thought I was perceiving a
recommendation for "recording studio quality" for archival recording.
Bringing people into a sound controlled studio is very different from
working in communities where we create tons and tons of material for use by
the community. 

When we were doing this initially 4-5 years ago now, Depree and I created a
whole checklist of things we wanted to be able to do, with a focus of
working in the community. For us, the considerations ranked approximately as
follows: 

1.       Elder comfort

2.       Affordable by community members

3.       High quality recording

4.       Convenience

5.       High portability

6.       Battery-powered 

7.       Ease of use, for us & for community members

Our goal was to work with communities to show them how they could take a
major hand in designing and developing their own resources. As such, many of
our considerations incorporated the needs of the Community in our assessment
of recorders. Sophisticated, expensive recorders wouldn't be appropriate;
special recording rooms and devices would take us out of the community and
would also be difficult to use in places where people live. We didn't want
to use our hosts' electricity; for some people, this is a financial
hardship, even for small requirements. We were also prepared for places
where there is no electricity; or where the travel to and from the locale is
challenging, as for example, the path down the Grand Canyon to the Havapai.
So we included all these considerations in our analysis. 

Mia

  _____  

From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Susan Penfield
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 7:59 AM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] Affordable digital recorder advice

Mia, Jan and all,
Just a thought here -- It seems to me that we might not want to distinguish
between the uses for revitalization and documentation. Good quality is
needed on both fronts since they really play into each other. I think that
ease of use is important (for some of us less techie folks), and certainly
cost is an issue for many, but getting good archival quality doesn't
necessarily mean giving up all the other things Mia referred
and,increasingly, those of us who do revitalization work need to be mindful
that many of those recordings may end up as the only documentation of the
language. 
Best,
Susan

On 1/31/06, Jan Tucker <jtucker at starband.net> wrote:

Thank you all for the information you provided about affordable digital
recorders. I'm looking at this one right now. 

Yes, I'm using it for language revitalization, and would like the best
possible quality and least degredation. I have about 100 to spend on the
devise and the accessories such as a microphone. 

Olympus VN-960PC Digital Voice Recorder, with LCD Display - Built-in 128MB
Flash Memory and PC Link

  Any further comments would be welcome. Here is a link with specifications.

<http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&
sku=389757&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation#Recording>
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&s
ku=389757&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation#Recording

In recording format they say ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse code
Modulation)(WAV on PC). Can I assume then this is a .wav format recorder?

Thank you,

Jan

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Nicholas Thieberger" < <mailto:thien at UNIMELB.EDU.AU>
thien at UNIMELB.EDU.AU >

To: < <mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU >

Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 2:30 PM

Subject: Re: [ILAT] Affordable digital recorder advice

> David,
> 
> If it does not record in WAV format then it is not archival. |If it 
> records in a compressed form like WMA, mp3, or others, and then 
> converts to WAV it means the actual recording has already lost lots 
> of the signal. The m-audio microtrack records to WAV and is around 
> US$300 and is not too bad, it has some problem with preamps.
> 
> Nick
> 
> At 11:17 AM -0800 30/1/06, David Lewis wrote:
>>Hi Nicholas,
>>I checked out the first website mentioned and they wrote this as to 
>>an archival quality format "For audio, use WAV 
>>< <http://emeld.org/school/glossary.html#wav>
http://emeld.org/school/glossary.html#wav > format." 
>>Coincidentally, I was at Best Buy last night and looked over their 
>>selection and chose the lower end of the higher end devices, the 
>>WS-100. It is supposed to transfer directly into Microsoft WMA 
>>format to the computer. I'm pretty sure I can then convert it to WAV 
>>format either with Windows Media player or ITunes. Any advice here? 
>>the device cost $100. the next higher device was $149.00.
>>David Lewis
>>
>>Nicholas Thieberger wrote:
>>
>>>-->
>>>Just to add to this thread from an archival perspective. If you are 
>>>recording unique things that you want to be available to 
>>>generations to come then you need to think about the format of what 
>>>you are recording and whether it will endure. Olympus and other 
>>>small (and cheap, unfortunately) recorders do not record in 
>>>archival formats.
>>>
>>>For a summary of the issues around longterm storage of recorded 
>>>material and endangered languages you could look at 
>>>http://emeld.org/school/index.html.
>>>
>>>There was a discussion of recorders on the RNLD list and if you go 
>>>to the archive of the RNLD list, here: 
>>>http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?S1=resource-network-linguisti
c-diversity 
>>>and search for 'flash' and 'recorder' you will get some useful info
>>>
>>>A summary item is here:  <http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-2710.html>
http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-2710.html
>>>
>>>All the best,
>>>
>>>Nick Thieberger
>>>
>>>At 7:36 AM -0700 30/1/06, Mia Kalish wrote:
>>>
>>>>Jan & all,
>>>>
>>>>I have been using Olympus digital recorders for years now. They have 3
>>>>quality settings (low, medium, & high) and 2 recording modes (one for
>>>>meetings, one for one-to-one). The ones I buy are about $99. I recently
got
>>>>a Sony refurb unit for $32 at e-cost.com.
>>>>
>>>>I didn't read the thread about recorders, because I'm really happy with
>>>>mine, and I had shared about it before.
>>>
>>>>Mia
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>
>>>Project Manager
>>>PARADISEC
>>>Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
>>>University of Melbourne, Vic 3010
>>>Australia
>>>
>>>nicholas.thieberger at paradisec.org.au
<mailto:nicholas.thieberger at paradisec.org.au> 
>>>Ph 61 (0)3 8344 5185
>>>
>>>PARADISEC
>>>Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures
>>>http://paradisec.org.au
> 
> 
> -- 
> Project Manager
> PARADISEC
> Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
> University of Melbourne, Vic 3010
> Australia
> 
>  <mailto:nicholas.thieberger at paradisec.org.au>
nicholas.thieberger at paradisec.org.au 
> Ph 61 (0)3 8344 5185
> 
> PARADISEC
> Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures
>  <http://paradisec.org.au> http://paradisec.org.au 
> 

-- 
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics 
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program 
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20060131/83aa438b/attachment.htm>