Small mp3 player with a high quality recording function?

[jinhui]

hi everybody,

i'm looking for a small mp3 player with a high quality recording function.

Most important is the size (the smaller the better!), a high quality recording function and of course the price.

I'm staying in hotels regularly but i'm missing the right equipment. Business rooms are mostly on different floors than the couples rooms, so i can't record through my door with my notebook.

thanks in advance for your help! you will definitely be rewarded with some sounds if i find the right equipment

regards
jinhui

[yeppie]

I can absolutely recommend this device:
http://www.trekstor.de/en/products/deta ... ge=de#none
They were hard to find lately because the manufacturer became insolvent but they have been rescued by now.
Just make sure that you get used to the recorder's navigation before using it to record.

[jinhui]

First of all, thanks for the recommendation!

The functions look good, but it's too big.

I wonder how the recording quality of this is? http://www.eyespysupply.com/world39s-sm ... y-b39.html

That one is really small, but expensive

regards

jinhui

[yeppie]

Yes, size matters!
Nobody likes a big bulge in his trousers resulting from your music player.
Well, if size matters more than price, here is another one:
http://www.ts-market.com/products/?acti ... 3&prodId=2
No idea about the quality but it's on my wishlist.

[sc0tt-uk]

The problem with these teeny tiny devices starts with the inbuilt microphone. I mean actual size of diaphragm is going to be severely limiting, that's before you even get into the realtime encoding these things have to do... the micro Russian thingy specifically mentions recording at 8khz in the examples of battery life (that being less than telephone line quality).

Or in other words, I'm not convinced anyone would be thrilled with their purchase at these prices, though I'd love to be proved wrong if anybody has the money to take a punt on it.

[jinhui]

The problem with these teeny tiny devices starts with the inbuilt microphone. I mean actual size of diaphragm is going to be severely limiting, that's before you even get into the realtime encoding these things have to do... the micro Russian thingy specifically mentions recording at 8khz in the examples of battery life (that being less than telephone line quality).

Or in other words, I'm not convinced anyone would be thrilled with their purchase at these prices, though I'd love to be proved wrong if anybody has the money to take a punt on it.

thanks for that information.
well, the price is too high to just "try" it.
thought there would be some cheap small mp3 players/recorders with good rec-quality on the market, but it doesn't seem so...

regards

jinhui

[sc0tt-uk]

There are to an extent, though the only way you'll get super small is to pay super prices.

It's swings and roundabouts nowadays between the recording quality of most of the flash-based players from the big manufacturers. I've had particularly good luck with iRiver, others here have posted good stuff recorded on Creative, and our German contingent also have their favourites (ask Klabuster and Yeppie).
Most of these sound decent enough so long as your target is fairly audable, have practical battery life, and are cheap enough not to worry about too much.

Of course for more money and a lot more size, stereo field recorders from the likes of M-Audio Edirol and Zoom will do a killer job with trickier targets, but you stand to lose a lot more value with those if your mission gets interrupted, plus their extra size makes them harder to conceal in the first place.

To sum up, everything all in one on your wishlist doesn't exist, the cheap wish is probably your biggest barrier to overcome.

[jinhui]

I will test some wireless device in a few weeks.
Will let you know about the results then.

regards

jinhui

[Rograd]

Speaking of wireless devices. I came across this little "project" some time ago. It doesn't have much range, just about 20' or so; but it got me to thinking about the possibility of merging a baby monitor with a better microphone for great pickup and extended range. In this project, they put the hardware into a book, but I there's a lot of other "containers" it could be put into. Leads to a lot of stealth microphone techniques. I'm thinking of flower pots with dirt on the top half with flower and a compartment on the bottom holding the hardware. Things like that.

[futheas]

Rograd, please don't forget that it would be illegal to use this for covert recordings.

[jinhui]

I will test some wireless device in a few weeks.
Will let you know about the results then.

regards

jinhui

that one didn't work out at all

[JohnGypsy]

Rograd, please don't forget that it would be illegal to use this for covert recordings.

So, what is and isn't illegal in these cases? What is considered a "covert recording"?

The original person mentioned wanting to use a device like this to record in hotels. If this was left IN a room, then, yes, that makes sense that it would be illegal. But most people doing hotel recordings are doing it from a place where they can publicly be, correct?

Are those cases illegal? My understanding is that most laws considering audio recordings almost always have an exception for things that you could "naturally overhear". In other words, there is no real expectation of privacy if you are screaming so loud from your hotel room that you can be heard in the PUBLIC hallway outside.

Is that not the case?