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Are there simple line-powered MP3 recorders?

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3 recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records onto USB. Any ideas?

--
Regards, Joerg

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Joerg
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maybe something like this

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or browse through the bhphoto site for the better ideas

martin

Reply to
Martin Griffith

...

Does it have to be main powered, or would a USB powered recorder be acceptable?

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Guy Macon
Reply to
Guy Macon

This is neat...

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Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Preferably not, because then some PC has to run. A totally autonomous device would be best. And ideally no wall wart.

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

Yes, I found a few of this kind. But: AA batteries, charger ...

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

| > This is neat... | >

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| >

| | Yes, I found a few of this kind. But: AA batteries, charger ... | | --

The Ikey appears to need a wallwart. Its much easier to buy a UL approved/listed wallwart than to put a AC plug in the box. You'll be hard pressed to find that. Have you looked on the BHphoto web site? lots of pro stuff there, might be what your looking for.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Jeorge, We used a pro gear Tascam recorder for our last project, but it used compact flash, not USB flash, and is in the $900 range. I like your idea, though, and would like to buy it as well. Maybe it is time to design one!

Charlie Edmondson Engineering Inc.

Reply to
Charlie E.

Put the Ikey and wallwart in a project box and run an extension cord out of the project box.

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Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, TX
Reply to
Joe Chisolm

Yes. Mostly they offer products with intermediate disk storage but from there they transfer to not so modern media such as CD, not USB sticks. Like this one:

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The other ones are usually battery operated pod-style devices. Maybe we have to settle for one of these but it's not ideal. No good power supply, can often not be operated without inserted batteries (which in this scenario _will_ leak some day), or aren't USB compatible. Flash cards and stuff are nice but the de-facto standard these days is USB.

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

I wanted to avoid yet another project but it might have to be done.

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

Do you remember the Tascam model? Flash isn't ideal but a lot better than CD or having to plug the whole device into a PC. That is because a church member does the spooling onto the web from home and would then have to drive back to church to return the unit.

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

On a sunny day (Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:26:29 -0700) it happened Joerg wrote in :

Use a PC, with Linux, soundcard, give it an IP addresss and webserver. Auto update the audio from a script, like I do with security cam. Now tell everybody about the web address, then they can play the mp3s with media player or something. If must be, then you can give everybody a password. That PC should be on 24/7, or at least boot when the power comes on... This can all be full automatic. This is how I directly encode to mp3 from soundcard (scipt):

# save status cmix /dev/mixer1 save /root/this1

cmix /dev/mixer1 vol 50 cmix /dev/mixer1 line1 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 mic 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 pcm 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 cd 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 speaker 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 phin 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 phout 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 video 0 cmix /dev/mixer1 rcs line on cmix /dev/mixer1 igain 64 cmix /dev/mixer1 line 50

rec -d /dev/dsp1 -r 44100 -c 2 -s w -t raw - | lame -r -s 44.1 -m s -x - line.mp3

# .... # restore status cmix /dev/mixer1 load /root/this1

In crontab copy the file to the webserver at given times, and start a new one. You can also assign a hot key for that of course.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

I suggested exactly that to our IT guru at church. He does not want yet another PC, it's enough work as it is, and I agree with him. None of us gets paid, we all serve freely.

Not needed. After all, the bible was brought to us without DRM, passwords or any of that ;-)

Not possible. It's inside the sanctuary and the fire marshall as well as the insurance carrier won't like that. Also, we just want to keep thing as simple as possible. No boot-up, no hard drive, nada.

[...] 
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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

I have one of these:

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which says in "High Quality" mode it can do 2 hours, but it doesn't know anything about MP3 - it only has an analog output. It was about $70.00 new, but I had some cash on me at the time, and a use for it; you could use it like that cassette recorder sans cassettes, but you'd need another box to turn the analog to an MP3.

Good Luck! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

On a sunny day (Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:06:06 -0700) it happened Joerg wrote in :

Na, jaaaa, when I was a kid we had two empty cans with a string between. hehe ;-)

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

Just wait until someone who attends your church runs for public office and your web server gets hammered trying to fulfill all the reporters' requests, trying to dig up dirt. :-)

I think your idea of a standalone widget is better than a PC. Why don't you like wallwarts, though? The possibility of them getting lost?

Reply to
Joel Koltner

Olympus LS10, under $300. Great sound, record/stop/playback buttons that just work. It also has the screens and so on, but the pastor doesn't have to futz with them at all--hit the red button and talk.

Cheers,

Phil

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

We'd like the string between the cans to be digital :-)

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

It's all open. No dirt though :-)

Have seen too many go up in smoke. You never know where stuff really comes from these days or whether the engineers who designed it had a clue. Also, the average quality of electrolytics has fallen dramatically and I'd rather have one blow up in a metal enclosure than in a plastic thingie on the carpet.

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Regards, Joerg

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