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 […]
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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 […]
Edirol updates the R-09 flash recorder to R-09HR
Edirol has given its R-09 digital audio recorder a bit of a shot in the arm to help it compete with the slew of other low-cost recorders on the market today. A few years ago when Edirol launched the R-09, it was one of just 2 or 3 prosumer level recorders available for under $500, […]
Which ThinkGeek fake products do you wish were real?
Online store for geeks ThinkGeek has a history of advertising fake, but kind of cool products on April Fool’s Day, and this year is no different. The store is filled with listings for products that don’t exist. And for the most part, they really shouldn’t exist. But last year, ThinkGeek included one item in its […]
The Value of Trash (NPR radio story)
I have a story on NPR’s Day to Day today about Justin Gignac and Christine Santora, two New York artists that enjoy playing with the idea of value. Gignac has been selling cubes of New York trash for a few years. At first, he sold them for $10 per cube, but he keeps raising the […]
CNET drools over the PCM-D50
The folks at CNet have published a nice, detailed review of the Sony PCM-D50 digital audio recorder, complete with a video, a few decent photos (including the one to the right which shows just how ridiculous the D50 looks with a windscreen and a funny looking tripod), and a video review. They rave over the […]
Awesome new journalism blog: The Changing Newsroom
When I started this blog about a year ago, I had the ambitious goal of writing about the impact of technology on journalism and vice versa. The internet, globalization, satellite and cable news channels are dramatically changing the way people receive their news. They’re also changing the way we as news producers need to think […]
Transom reviews the Sony PCM-D50
Transom’s equipment Jeff Towne has posted an excellent review of the Sony PCM-D50 digital audio recorder, complete with a ton of audio clips that should give you a pretty good idea of what the recorder sounds like using internal mics and a variety of external mics. I think I’ve already talked up the D50’s strong […]