Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family
Belkin Podcast Studio makes iPod recording easy
Our blog brothers over at Engadget point to this interesting new device from Belkin at CES. The Podcast Studio basically turns your iPod classic into a mobile voice recording studio. It has a built-in mic, but more interestingly features 1/4" and XLR mic jacks for using more serious external microphones. It also has gain controls and a built in compressor/limiter to help voice recordings sound more professional. Since it records directly to the iPod (in WAV format) you can transfer your audio back to your Mac just by syncing with iTunes, and thence to editing and compression. For their target audience of mobile podcasters this looks like it could be a very handy tool.Wired notes that it should be shipping in June for $100 and is compatible with the 5G iPod video as well as the 3G nano.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
David said 10:55AM on 1-11-2008
Wow. That's nice! I'm not a podcaster myself, but if I were, I'd be pretty excited about that. $100 doesn't seem to steep to me, especially considering the built in XLR.
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geekazine said 4:04PM on 1-11-2008
That's a pretty expensive digital recorder. I can get a 45 Hr digital recorder with external connection, Cellular interface and USB transfer for under $200. No plugins, no problems. The compressor/limiter is nice - yet I would probably not use it so I could let my computer do the compression and limiting. That way I don't miss anything.
It's cool to see, but $100 is a little pricey.
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BLACK MONGOOSE said 5:26PM on 1-11-2008
Sorry guys but you cannot get a digital recorder that is worth the money under $200 bucks let alone $100.00. They start at $300.00 and go up from there. In the sound and recording arena you get what you pay for. Don't limit the quality of your recording by going cheap. Trust me on this one.
Rowan said 5:26PM on 1-11-2008
XLR is just a connection, without 'phantom power' it's essentially useless as it can't run a condenser mic. Try a Zoom H4, i think the street price in the USA is about $250, works as an audio interface for OS X too. Built in limiter, effects etc. Has two XLR mic pres with phantom power, plus surprisingly high quality X Y condenser mics. Can do 24/96 uncompressed wav, or mp3 at any bitrate, mounts as mass storage device when connected.
Or if you're near a computer, use a Rode Podcaster as this is a good quality condenser mic with an internal inverter, powered from USB.
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Gisch said 9:41PM on 1-11-2008
At this point who knows what it has for sure. The specs released, as far as I have seen, haven't been too, well, specific.
geekazine said 6:12PM on 1-11-2008
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/dr-45.html
This is a pretty good Digital recorder for under $200.
At any rate, I still use a Sony Minidisc and condenser microphone. It does the job and interviews sound pretty good.
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Gisch said 9:40PM on 1-11-2008
This seems like a sweet setup. Hopefully the specs (and price) don't change too much before June...
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heiner kruse said 9:48AM on 2-14-2008
question for me is if ipod classic does proper wav recording
ipod 5g 5.5 80gb didnt do, recording always skipped on 44.1 khz, not on 22.05, so something seemed to be to slow. wonder if its a difference between 5.5 and classic
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