[HANASHIR:15577] Portable Recorder Review

[Freedabet <Freedabet...>]

I just started playing with my new Pogo Ripflash DX and am very impressed so 
far.  Unlike the Sony MiniDisc, this does not have any moving parts.  It is 
credit-card size and about 3/4" thick.  2 AAA batteries are supposed to last 13 
hours (I'm still on my first charge of rechargeable NiCads).

The internal 128MB can hold 2 hours of near CD quality sound or 33 hours of 
voice quality sound (bitrates are selectable from 8-128kbps).  It uses plug-in 
memory cards (the same ones that I already had for my camera) so you can expand 
the memory or exchange it in seconds.  It has an internal mic or you can buy a 
mic with pre-amp to plug into the 'line in'.  

It has a 'rip' function which takes the analog audio stream and divides it into 
tracks based on silence between the tracks.  While your computer can do this 
better for CDs (without going through the analog conversion) I can see using 
this for converting casssette or vinyl recordings to digital, or for recording 
multiple tracks quickly (a separate track for each verse of a Torah or Haftarah 
portion, for instance). 

The PC software is simple to install and use.  It allows you to upload from the 
DX or download pre-recorded songs/sound files via USB.

The 'DX' model uses SD memory cards and records in WMA format.  It can store 
and play WMA and MP3.   They have other models which record in different 
formats and use different memory cards, and some models also have built-in 
radio receivers.

In short, I think this is a great alternative to Sony's MD recorders, 
especially if ease of getting the tracks into your PC (for CD burning, mixing, 
archiving) is important to you.  

Chag sameach,

Michael

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