Thanks orioki.
I am as skeptical as anyone, but the idea of the soundtainer from Orban is
at least worth investigating, up and until we find the sound quality to be
really inadequate. Five ounce recorder under $ 1000 at least makes me
curious. The original ad page does not tell a whole lot, except that you
can select bit rates up to 128 kbps, but then the recorded time gets much
shorter. Check out the comments of many (non-Nature recordists) at:
http://slashdot.org/articles/02/01/28/1447235.shtml
The machine actually holds two MMC chips at 256 Megs, whose prices have
indeed fallen since I last checked.
The four hour record limit on battery life is using 1600 mah NiMH, same as
I use in my HHb PortaDisk, which never lasts that long, and weighs 16 times
as much. And at the end of the four hours, the soundtainer is SAID to need
two more batteries, not eight more. For overnight hikes this is a huge
factor, especially in the tropics.
Just how good IS that MP3 sound going to be ? We don't yet know, I
gather. Comments by other sceptics say worse than MD, but better than
tape. Sounds like it might be in my range.
Then, there's Walt's excellent question of memory abuse vs disc abuse. We
need more trials, static, magnetic (DC and AC), Xray, sweat, sun baking,
dog slobber, then there is always MUD.
my very best,
Marty Michener
MIST Software Associates
75 Hannah Drive, Hollis, NH 03049
coming soon : EnjoyBirds bird identification software.
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