Looking for a digital audio recorder with up to 160GB of storage? The Alesis ProTrack will turn a standard iPod into a high quality digital audio recorder, complete with XLR and 1/4th inch inputs. The ProTrack is due out in Q3 of 2008. No word on pricing yet, but here’s a rundown of the specs: […]
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WHYY launches It’s Our City project
Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter campaigned last year on what he called a reform agenda. The idea was that he would bring transparency and accountability to city government and change the way the city operates. Now that he’s in office, a lot of folks are going to want to see if he can live up to […]
Got $10 burning a hole in your pocket? Buy something
NPR ran my piece on the SomethingStore yesterday. What’s the SomethingStore? It’s a story that sells you… something. You don’t know what it is. You just know that it costs $10. It could be an iPod shuffle, or it could be a coffee mug. Entrepreneur Sami Bay started the store late last year. In the […]
Moving back to Philly… but how?
It’s official. After three years in the wilderness (Princeton and Brooklyn), we’re moving back to Philadelphia at the end of the month. The nice thing about being a freelancer reporter and blogger is that I can really work from anywhere, and the cost of living in Philly is much lower than in New York. Plus, […]
A short review of the Tascam DR-1
My friend and colleague Eugene Sonn recently purchased a Tascam DR-1 handheld digital audio recorder. He wanted to put it through the paces before deciding whether this low-cost recorder was a keeper. I got my DR1 late on Thursday. I have taken it for a spin and have decided to return it. While it’s a […]
O’Reilly weighs in on the Olympus LS-10
The other day Transom published a thorough review of the Olympus LS-10, and today it’s O’Reilly Digital Media’s turn. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: These two sites offer some of the best audio recorder reviews around. After reading both of these reviews, I’m pretty certain that I’m going to stop recommending […]
B&H Guide to handheld digital audio recorders
B&H has put together a nifty little guide to the current generation of digital audio recorders, with models ranging from the low-end Zoom H2 to the high-end Sony PCM-D1. (Translation: Some of these recorders cost as little as $200, while others will set you back as much as $1800). Each item includes a brief product […]
Transom reviews the Olympus LS-10
Transom has released the best review I’ve seen to date of the Olympus LS-10 digital audio recorder. In a nutshell, this is the first pro audio recorder the company, (which is better known for its cameras and cheap voice recorders), has released. And it’s kind of knocked one out of the park. Don’t get me […]
O’Reilly reviews the Marantz PMD620
There are two sites that publish some of the most comprehensive, thorough, and trustworthy reviews of digital audio recorders: Transom, and O’Reilly Digital Media. (Well, three if you count this blog, but I’ve only reviewed the units I’ve actually purchased, including the Zoom H4 and the Sony PCM-D50). The Marantz PMD620 has been around since […]
Using low-cost ultraportable computers for audio editing on the go
A colleague wrote me the other day to ask for advice on setting up a portable audio recording/editing kit. Most radio journalists are used to carrying around a recorder, recording media (flash cards, minidiscs, digital audio tape, etc), a microphone, assorted cables, and a good set of headphones. Typically, you can run out to conduct […]
The city that never sleeps is getting a bit sleepy (NPR’s Morning Edition)
You can’t really tell from the photo above, because it turns out I’m much better with an audio recorder than a digital camera, but this is a picture of Little West 12th Street in Manhattan’s Meat Packing district. I snapped this shot at 2:30 in the morning on a recent Saturday night. And the place […]
So this is how it feels to be #26
Anybody know where I can order a sports jersey with the number 26 on the back? Because according to TechCrunch, I’m one of the top tech bloggers around… Number 26 to be exact. Now these statistics are kind of meaningless, because it’s just a breakdown of top stories that showed up on Techmeme over the […]
Network Blogging Tips: New blog for bloggers who blog for others
There are literally millions of blogs littering, or umm, I meant to say lining the internet these days. Many are personal diaries from folks who have some thoughts to share. Many have a newsier bent. And while many people make no money at all from blogging, some make a few bucks or more every month […]
Announcing a long overdue site redesign
This blog is a year, a month, and a few days old and for most of its life it’s had a pretty ugly design. I’ve learned a lot about tweaking blog templates over the last year. And most importantly, I’ve realized I’m not very good at designing things from scratch. Fortunately, I was able to […]
Golden Delicious: Concert recording with the Sony PCM-D50
I’ve just finished uploading my first ever concert recording to Archive.org. A few of my favorite bands are taper-friendly, meaning they allow fans to bring audio recorders to shows and share recordings with other fans. Typically the only restriction is that you can’t sell the audio, which seems more than fair. So with that, I […]
Marantz PMD620 firmware update solves latency problem
Marantz has released a firmware upgrade for the PMD620 digital audio recorder that solves the biggest issue some users have had with the device. The PMD620 is compact, easy to use, and records excellent quality audio. But using the original firmware, if you were monitoring your recordings with headphones you would notice a slight lag/echo […]