# recording lectures with ipod



## josheejs (Jul 23, 2005)

has anyone had experience using either the belkin voice record or belkin microphone adaptor with their ipod? there's a lot of mixed reaction on the apple website and i wondered if someone on here had actually used it for uni lectures?

also, would this sony be compatible with the ipod? or others on this site possibly?

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/se...ationPath=n32120n32260n32264&productId=125022


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## stillmot (Apr 8, 2005)

You may want to try and irivier for recording lectures, it works much better fotr that kind of thing and your price is quite good. I use an external lav and thr iriver to regularly record the vows during wedding shoots and it works great, so that really speaks to the quality. It has a bult in voice recorder or a external mic which does not need to be powered and gives you full control over recording quality and level. Very easy to use, doubles as an mp3player/fm radio and much more flexibility. They have the 1gb version at costco for $190 now and the 512 is even cheaper. A good mic will only run about $30 for that too. Something to consider...


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## josheejs (Jul 23, 2005)

thanks stillmot,

but alas, i already have an ipod. got one with the education deal they have right now...so i am resigned to finding a solution using the ipod itself


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

The iPod is limited to 8 KHz recording. Your limiting factor other than the narrow bandwidth is whether the microphone you use will have sufficient sensitivity and directionality to "reach" the lecturer while rejecting closer sounds.


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## Thusenth (Mar 3, 2005)

Yeah, apparently if you do get a mic in, it's not going to be very good quality. That's why i plan on using my PowerBook this year to record/take notes.


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## mr.steevo (Jul 22, 2005)

Hi,

Keep your eye on http://www.ipodlinux.org/Main_Page Soon you will be able to record using your earbuds. Higher bitrate is expected as well.
http://www.macworld.com/2005/05/secrets/julygeekfactor/index.php

s.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

I have had a few students record my lectures with both the Belkin and Griffin input devices for their iPods. I think the Griffin iTalk is far superior, at least from what I can hear of what I said in class. I tend to walk around the room, and the iTalk was able to follow me around.


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## josheejs (Jul 23, 2005)

yeah i have been keeping an eye on the ipod linux for the 4th gen, looks like that will help tremendously in terms of bitrate....sounds like they are getting there. 

other than that though, i guess it's just a matter of deciding on griffin/belkin...or some other microphone that will do the job....i don't think i want to rely on an earbud for recording in terms of positioning....

thanks for the response guys, Dr. G, what do you teach?


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## KardnalForgotHisPassword (Oct 14, 2004)

First, a friend of mine used the iTalk and a cheap $8 mic to record most of our lectures. The sounds wasn't the best (a bit echo-y), but it was better then the same recording from my friends Powerbook in Word (The iTalk didn't pick up on the typing like the PB does)

Secondly, I was playing around with iPodLinux on my 3Gen the other day. Using my earbuds, the quality was decent, but the volume was *really* low. I'm not sure if using a 'real' mic would help, but I couldn't figure out how to get a higher input volume onto it. 

Other then that, iPod linux worked great. Recorded at a high bitrate, and they .wav files were right on the iPod to be converted to mp3's. I'd definately check it out once it becomes available for the 4G's, before I went and spent money on the iTalk.


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## josheejs (Jul 23, 2005)

thanks for the info Kardnl, good point with the asking of the profs...


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