<p>Dear all you incredibly helpful people -</p>
<p>What type/brand of recorder/mini-recorder do you (or S or D) use at school for songs, etc? Or summer programs to help remember stuff?</p>
<p>Mini tape? I-Pod? Cassette recorder? (I know - showing my era...)</p>
<p>Our D is off to CMU this summer - and my husband said 'before I go get a recorder - ask everyone on CC what they use'.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>janenw</p>
<p>My D used a micro tape recorder but the quality was awful. I don't recommend that and can't wait to see what others recommend!</p>
<p>My daughter (who is also going to CMU summer) just uses an inexpensive regular casette tape recorder. It plays her warm up exercises that her voice teacher taped, etc. This worked fine last year at Interloche. I don't think it has too get more complicated than that. Bring extra batteries and some blank tapes.</p>
<p>Has anyone used any of the iPod recording devices? How do they work? Thanks.</p>
<p>vocaldad</p>
<p>I have heard glowing reviews of iPods, but don't have any experience with them. S uses a mini-disc recorder with excellent results. I know H and S hunted around for awhile till they found one that would let them transfer the files to a computer - apparently that is not an automatic feature. He burns CDs from there, and they have been good enough to get him a bunch of scholarships, awards, and a summer job!</p>
<p>But I am anticipating the day when he starts begging for the iPod. I just learned that our church sent an iPod to friends overseas with something like 20 years worth of sermons and 300 songs recorded on it -- so it apparently has lots of potential.</p>
<p>I have students that use their I-Pod to record accompaniment in class. They seem to be happy with the results.</p>
<p>Although it is bulky, I tell my students to buy a Sony model cassette tape recorder. It is a large black tape recorder, (it won't fit in the palm of your hand) with a handle that runs on batteries. It uses standard size audio cassettes. It has a large speaker, so when used correctly, accompaniment and vocals come out very clear. I have used one for many, many years to record in rehearsals and this unit has never let me down. I have always found them at Circuit City.</p>
<p>Hi - about recordings</p>
<p>I agree w/ wct. I actually use a Sony cassette tape recorder for choir rehearsals. It has a pretty stable pause button for play back when you're trying to find certain sections, harmonies , doing a lot of stop and start. The quality of sound is decent and it can take a lot of wear and tear, you can use a plug in which comes w/ it - some would consider it a "boom box." Not real big, though; about 4 " deep and 12-14" long. My son also uses it when he's under the gun for learning volumes of material w/ parts. Good luck. Hope your daughter enjoys her summer at CMU. We're meeting them at an off campus session in Philly in 2 wks.</p>
<p>about the iPod recording device,</p>
<p>Does anyone know where I can buy one? I am off to a summer program in a couple of weeks and I already have an iPod so it's a lot easier to get the recording device then to bring along a tape recorder....</p>
<p>We purchased ours at Best Buy.</p>
<p>vocaldad</p>
<p>We just picked up a mini sony cassette recorder that takes regular cassettes at Best Buy to take to SDM. Never knew about the Ipod recording device..are they simple to use? How much are they? D. has an ipod.
The cassette recorder will come in handy and already has.</p>
<p>I went on to the apple store site (<a href="http://www.apple.com%5B/url%5D">www.apple.com</a>) and they had two different recording accesories. One costed $35 and the other one costed $40. I didn't see much difference between the two recorders though. I think I'm going to purchase mine through that website.</p>
<p>If you are a college student..you can get a discount on it by going through the applecollege store. I cant remember the addy..but a quick web search will show it.</p>
<p>Love2Sing or anyone else that has an ipod recorder,</p>
<p>Which one did you end up getting? And how do you like it?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I thought about getting an ipod recorder. A lot of my friends use it for their private lessons and say that it's great.</p>
<p>Last year we purchased a minidisc recorder and a small compatible microphone; my D's voice teacher highly recommended it for creating high quality CD's for vocal demos. I have some practicing to do in order to get mine to work with ITunes and my Mac, but I'm really impressed with what we have recorded on it so far. Sony and Sharp both make mindisc recorders, though they are hard to find and kind of pricy (around $350). I have seen people use them to make cast recordings of community theater productions and a radio theater company in our area uses them to make their broadcast qualtiy recordings. Also, I've seen them used for radio sound bytes and interviews. Minidisc is a popular format in Japan, but it seems to be fairly limited in its use here in the states.</p>
<p>I have also heard good things about the IRiver MP3 player/recorders, though I can't remember the model that works best for high quality recording. They are also tricky to find and cost around $300.</p>
<p>From what I've heard, the quality of the iPod used as a recording device is okay for taking notes in class, comparable to an inexpensive tape recorder as far as sound quality. Currently, I don't think there are any microphones available for the iPod Mini, only the full size iPod.</p>
<p>I use an iRiver. H320, the model's discontinued, but it is just simply AMAZING. It had a color screen LONG before iPod came out with theirs and it has a firmware upgrade that you just download off the site and install in your iRiver. This "unlocks" new features, such as the ability to play videos, different formats, etc etc. And the customizing factor is just UNLIMITED. Change the font, change the color, change the load and shutdown screens. Very cool stuff though. The radio, the line in/line out recording and the external microphone itself. I often use it to record my classes when I'm just too lazy to take notes. ;) It's not very "high quality" recording unless you actually get a microphone, stick it in the line-in socket and start recording, but it's better than nothing!</p>
<p>I have the Sony minidisc - if you are getting it - make sure it's one that can record through a mic - otherwise, there are probably better, cheaper options out there if you're just looking for MP3-type use. I use it to record accompaniments, then can plug it into the computer, and burn onto CD's.<br>
However, my buddy who turned me on to minidisc, has since upgraded to the IRiver, and highly recommends it - I just can't justify another "toy" for myself :)
The recording quality of both is amazing, if you get a decent mic.</p>
<p>My d uses the Griffin model that plugs directly on top of her iPOD for recording lessons. Works fabulous - saves as a voice memo and uploads automatically to iTunes. There you can play it or burn it to CD.</p>
<p>We also have the same setup as ABlestMom. IPOD and Griffin on top. My D burned a CD of her summer OCU classes for her voice teacher. Worked well.</p>