See my comments below.
--greg weddig
Baltimore, MD
http://gregweddig.net
--- In Marty Michener <> wrote:
>
> Friends:
>
> Imagine my surprise when I used the "sound recorder" on my new
> touch-screen Sony 18 oz. Vista OS PC (VGN UX380N*) and it would only
> save the file as a "WMA" file. What happened to the widely touted
> "Microsoft victory" file, the "WAV"? Turns out that a WMA file is in
> practice about 1/15th as big, so there may be some very lossy
> compression going on. I wonder how it compares to other compression
> methods, notably mp3?
I'm sure we could spend countless hours debating the differences
between WMA and MP3 sound quality. In the end it is a lossey format,
and the sound quality, like MP3 depends on how small you want your
files. That said, I have used the Windows Media Encoder, which is a
stand alone encoder for converting WAV files to WMA files and other
than the interface being a little kludgey, it does the job. It also
does a nice job of creating compressed surround files. The Windows
Media Encoder also allows one to create a lossless compressed file,
along the lines of FLAC. For more (very technical) information see:
http://tinyurl.com/bzs5n (microsoft.com)
>
> Of course having admitted to all this I must suffer the traditional
> slings and arrows of outraged professionals about fragile mini plugs,
> generated heat, fan noise, electrical noise, control fragility etc.
> Added to this I found no real practical record volume adjustment!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not sure about Vista but XP typically has the mic volume control
buried in the Control Panel page under "Sounds and Audio Devices". In
my experience Sound Recorder is meant more for fun or meeting
recording than any serious recording. Load up Cool Edit and you
should have more functionality. Though without an external interface,
you may still not get the input volume control you are looking for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> But in fact, the whole computer is so much lighter than my huge disc
> recorder, I am trying it out with my ME-66 and ME-67 microphones, and
> to my (somewhat deaf) ears they sound fine for moderately loud
> natural sounds. Clearly one cannot listen on head phones during a
> recording, and there is the fragility of a 30 gig HD to worry about,
> but the computer fits in any of my four pants pockets, and is smaller
> than a "Peterson" guide, weighs about the same. There is about 9 Gigs
> of open space, plus 4 gigs per Memory Stick I put into its native
> slot, which is a lot of recording time.
>
> But how many field recorders permit you to email your captured sound
> (or photo, it takes rather bad ones of those, too) immediately to a
> friend? How many run Google Earth, or display four botanical guides
> in Hi-Res color?
>
> I do need to load onto it Cool Edit Pro (but currently lack an
> external CD drive) to save and edit non-lossy WAV files. I actually
> welcome other recommendations, comments, and the inevitable onslaught
> of do's and don'ts --- ramifications of horror? :-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Take plenty of batteries with you, and let us know how it works in the
field.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> -- best regards, Marty
>
> Martin C. Michener, Ph.D.,
> President, MIST Software Assoc. Inc., P. O. Box 269, Hollis, NH
> 03049 http://www.enjoybirds.com/
> Faculty, Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University,
> Cambridge, MA http://arboretum.harvard.edu/programs/ld/ld.html
>
> *PS The next model, just out this week and still around $2300, VGN
> UZ390N, replaces the HD with solid state memory. But both run their
> fans a lot, requiring at least a longer mic cord..
>
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