Lani Spahr wrote:
> Hello everyone -
> 
> A friend of mine recently asked me for advice on portable sound
> recording devices. He's a fellow piper (I know some of you cannot
> resist the temptation for making jokes, so now's your chance :-)) who
> wants to record his lessons. He said he tried a $100 device that was
> probably a voice recorder with less than great results. So what would
> you all recommend? - short of not playing the pipes :-)
> 
> Cheers,
> Lani

Nothing in that price range will be satisfying. You need a recorder with 
separate mike input and with defeatable AGC (automatic gain control). 
The pipes have a wide dynamic range, so AGC will be fatal to decent 
sound. Built-in mikes have too limited frequency range; it's okay to 
have one, but be sure that a better one can be plugged in, defeating any 
internal.

I'd like to suggest an MD recorder, but suspect that that would be out 
of his price range, especially with the above. On the other hand, he 
should be able to locate a portable cassette player at a thrift shop 
which will do what's needed, then pick up a better mike when the budget 
permits.

The voice recorders built into MP3 players are cute, convenient and will 
be unsatisfactory for sound.

Mike
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