A third new portable recorder was announced at the NAMM conference in
Anaheim this week. It's the Yamaha Pocketrak 2G.
http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/pocketrak/index.html
The Pocketrak 2G is the smallest and lightest WAV recorder that I've
seen. It's only half the size and weight of the next largest machine,
the Sony MZ-RH1 Hi-MD recorder.
The form factor of the Pocketrak 2G is unusual. It's about as wide as
the width of four pencils (1 1/4 inches or 34 mm) and only 1/2 inch
(13 mm) thick. And it weighs only 1.7 oz (49 g)! There will be no
excuse for leaving this recorder at home.
The Pocketrak 2G is a little longer than most other "point and shoot"
recorders, measuring 4 5/8 inches (34 mm) in length. The bottom 1/2
of this length is taken up by space for a single rechargeable AAA cell
and a compartment for a retractable USB connector. When you plug the
USB connector into to a computer, the AAA cell is automatically recharged.
The Pocketrak 2G has 2GB of flash memory built in. There is no
provision for a removable flash card. Perhaps in the future there will
be a "4G" model with more memory.
The Pocketrak 2G records in MP3 or WAV formats. WAV is limited to
16/44.1 sampling. The recorder has two built-in mics, as well as a
1/8-inch jack for mic or line level input.
The recorder has a built-in clock to time stamp recordings. The
online documents mention a "timer recording" function, which could be
useful to capture the dawn chorus while you stay in bed.
Yamaha has set the MSRP of the Pocketrak 2G at $449. This is too
high, in my opinion, for the features offered. Delivery is planned
for April.
--oryoki
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