digital recording devices

[Condon Thomas A KPWA]

Dennis,

> i'm embarking on a little project that will involve a lot of 
> interviews, 
> which i hope to make using one of the small, nifty digital 
> recorders of 
> the sort made by sony and olympus (i have one of the little olympus 
> devices). these can be dumped to computer via usb port. problem is, 
> they seem to save everything in their own, proprietary, file format. 
> the format varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but in each case 
> is compressed. the machines also come with windows-only 
> software, which 
> allows the user to convert to .wav, which is of course much larger.
> 
> so what i'm looking for is either a linux application which can 
> manipulate these proprietary formats, a utility that runs under linux 
> which will simply convert the files to something that i can then 
> manipulate, or a manufacturer of these little recording devices which 
> employs a standard format or has software which runs under linux.
> 
> anybody have any wisdom to impart?

I use a Sony MD recorder to record shows (that I am in, which is legal),
quartets and choruses that I coach, and music that I want to learn.  I then
connect the MD recorder to my sound card (mike input) with a direct
mini-jack cable (stereo, please) and play it while recording on the computer
with Audacity.  Audacity is a sound editor that will allow you to capture
stereo input, perform many functions with it (including edit and scaling),
and (with the right plug-ins) export it to many file types, including mp3.
Additionally, Audacity is available for Windows, Mac and Linux (I've used
all three), and is pretty much the same on all three platforms.

The Sony MD recorder (mine is the Walkman MZ-R700), when combined with a
good stereo mike (I don't remember the model of mine, but it is out of
production anyway), produces some wonderful quality sound from remarkably
poor conditions.  In extended record mode it will record the entire show of
Sound of Music (stage play - 2.5 hrs) complete with intermission and dead
time before and after (~3.5 hrs) on one disk.



In Harmony's Way and In A Chord,

Tom  ;-})

Proud Member of the Kitsap Chordsmen
Registered Linux User # 154358
You Can't Catch A Virus From Plain Text Email!