Trey,

At the Blues Archive, we have a Tascam HD-P2 portable stereo audio 
recorder, which has worked quite nicely.  It uses type I or type II 
compact flash media cards and can record up to 192kHz/24-bit. 

I have found it extremely easy to use, and have gotten great recordings 
with it.  In addition to an internal mic (which actually isn't too bad - 
it picks up bass surprisingly well), it has two XLR inputs, two RCA 
inputs, and an S/PDIF audio input. 

Once I get my recordings onto the media card, you can quickly transfer 
the audio to your computer through a firewire cable. 

Now that 8GB (120x speed) compact flash cards can be purchased for 
around $80.00, you can fit quite a bit of audio onto the flash cards.

Greg Johnson

Trey Bunn wrote:
> It looks like I may be able to convince the powers that be where I
> work that I need to get a flash recorder.  The archives wants to start
> recording lectures and presentations to preserve them and to make them
> available on our website.  (Their initial test, which they conducted
> before consulting me, was to stick a handheld consumer brand MP3
> recorder on the lecturer's podium.  "It sounds just fine to me!" one
> person said.  Sure, and while we're at it, let's take some pictures on
> a camera phone to accompany this high quality web content...  Hi, I'm
> in snark mode...)  I think I've made them see that in order to make
> things suitable for web delivery, we need to start with the highest
> quality possible since the quality will inevitably suffer once it's
> compressed down to streaming content or MP3 or the like.
>
> Anyway, I've never bought a flash recorder and was hoping for
> recommendations, particularly brands and models to look for and to
> avoid.  (Ditto for dealers of the equipment, too.)  What we get
> doesn't have to be top of the line, and right now we're only at the
> stage where my supervisor is asking me to find quotes, preferably
> cheap ones.  But I'm well aware that you get what you pay for, so I
> don't want to get something worthless.  I'd also like this recorder to
> be able to interface with the archives auditorium's existing PA
> system, assuming that there are the right ins and outs on both, so to
> speak.
>
> Comments and questions welcome here or off-list.  Thanks!
>
>
>
> Trey Bunn
> Folklife Archivist
> Alabama Department of Archives and History
> Montgomery, AL
>
>

-- 
Greg Johnson
Blues Curator and Assistant Professor
Archives & Special Collections
J. D. Williams Library
P. O. Box 1848
University, MS  38677-1848
work (662) 915-7753
fax  (662) 915-5734
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