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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Since there wasn't any mention of
solid state recorders in Jessica's summary, I thought I should share my recent
experiences of using a Marantz PMD 670 solid state recorder for fieldwork in
<?xml:namespace prefix = u1 /><u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:City
u2:st="on"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Nagaland</u1:City></st1:City>, <u1:State u2:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">NE</u1:State></st1:State> <u1:country-region
u2:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">India</u1:country-region></u1:place></st1:country-region></st1:place>.
I think that overall it's the best recording medium I've ever used (in the past
I've used cassette recorders and a minidisc). It's got no moving parts, so it
tolerates a fair bit of abuse. It's about the same size as a Sony ECM5000-EV
cassette recorder, has an internal speaker and weighs in at 1.3kg (plus a bit
more for the AC adapter). I used it to record onto a 1GB compact flash card in
wav format at a sampling frequency of 48KHz. Mono recording at 48KHz gives
almost 3 hours of recording time, more than ample if you have a laptop handy.
When the card is full the wav files can be dragged and dropped on your hard disk
via a USB port. Backups of data can be easily made by burning the wav files to
CDs. Another good feature is the balanced XLR mic inputs. I used an AKG C420
head-worn mic for recording word lists and narratives of speakers who weren't
freaked out by it, and a Sony ECM 44B lapel mic for those uncomfortable about
wearing the AKG. The Marantz supplies 48v phantom power if your mic needs
it<SPAN class=562354223-23032005>.</SPAN></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">On the negative side, it's expensive
at around $1600 plus $450 for a 1GB compact flash card, but I saw 1GB cards for
sale in <u1:place u2:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hong
Kong</u1:place></st1:place> last week for AUD $250, so at least the price of
memory seems to be coming down fairly rapidly. I paid a bit extra ($100) for a
rechargeable nickel-cadmium battery, which has 4-5 hours of life between
charges. The Marantz comes supplied with a battery holder that takes x8 AA
batteries. This gives 6 hours of playback according to the manual. I never
needed to use AA batteries as I was able to charge the Ni-Cd battery between
recording and transcribing sessions or else run it on AC power.
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">There is one irritating design
feature: to charge the Ni-Cd battery, the unit has to be turned on and then off
again. Power outages happen every couple of hours in Nagaland during the
northern winter, so every time the power went off, the Marantz stopped charging.
Also, AC power isn’t routed via the battery (presumably to allow the safe use of
non-rechargeable alkaline batteries), so running it on mains power won’t
simultaneously recharge the Ni-Cd battery. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The only potential disadvantage of
using the Marantz is that you are very dependent on a laptop to store and access
the wav files once your CF card is full. If you don’t have an expensive stack of
cards, then it might be prudent to take along some other kind of backup device
that will allow storage/access. The Marantz user's manual is available online
at<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dr Alec Coupe</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>ARC Postdoctoral Fellow</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Linguistics Program</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>La Trobe University</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bundoora, Melbourne 3086</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Australia</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tel. +61 3 9479-3297</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fax +61 3
9479-1520</FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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