iPods for Bird Calls - portable speakers, editing software & the Ornithology of Rock Music ...

[Robert Gosford <>]

Bruce,

Thanks for the tips - I had a browse around and have dowloaded Audacity 
(as a live sound engineer in a past life it doesn't seem too daunting, 
though access to the manual [when in doubt, RTFM!] via the link at the 
Help page doesn't work) as it seemed to be the best and most popular of 
the free downloads.
From your note I image that the procedure might be as follows:
1 - download tracks from CD to Windows Media Player to compress to MP3;
2 - download the MP3 file to audacity to edit;
3 - Post edit download to IPod, or whatever;
4 - Play edited track ...

I'll try some today and advise if any problems - of course I can't 
download to my IPod yet because its still in Alice ... hopefully by 
Tuesday I'll have and can then start having some real fun ...
Further to Peter Marsh (Fumiyama FSP-505) & Alan McBride's $18 DSE) 
comments re cheap speakers the Fumiyama is still available in Singapore 
and looks small enough for the field 
(http://www.fumiyama.com/index.php?option=com_ecatalog&func=show_details&id=36&catid=3) 
a bargain at $S26) and next time I'm through Changi I'll have a look (or 
if the Logitech I've ordered is too big, has crappy sound etc) or get it 
over the net.
In terms of convenience I think the idea of having all of my local 
calls, in regional/language/State folders, on a device smaller and 
lighter than a pack of cards is very attractive - I doubt I'll use the 
full capacity of the 4gb iPod on bird calls so I'll use it for its 
original purpose and fill the rest up with my favourite music ... which 
turns me to Nick Cave & the bad Seeds - their last album (Abattoir 
Blues/the Lyre of Orpheus) is replete with bird references - anyone for 
a paper on "The ornithology of Rock Music"?.
Cheers and best,

Bob Gosford
Bruce Cox wrote:

> From: "Robert Gosford" <>
> To: "Bruce Cox" <>; "Birding-Aus"
> <>
> Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:24 AM
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus](was pocketPCs)iPods for Bird Calls - portable
> speakers & audio editing software
>
> Bob,
>
> As previouly stated I use "Audacity" as an editing tool, it is a  free
> download, another is "Dexter" which is again free but I find not as user
> friendly as "Audacity".
>
> The main problem is that the bird CDs (and in most cases music CDs) are .CDA
> format which both "Audacity" and "Dexter" will not open, From  memory
> "Audacity" will open .WAV, .AIFF (uncompressed Mac format), .MP3 and Ogg
> Vorbis. You need to get to one of these to audit in "Audacity", I use
> "Windows Media Player" to compress to .MP3 before editing.
>
> Bruce Cox.
>
>  
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Further to this post I've ordered, but yet to receive, an iPod nano for
> > field playback - to resolve the playback issue I'm trying the Logitech
> > mm28 speaker, runs off AC & AA batteries - by all accounts and reviews
> > it might be a bit big but it may have the grunt to provide a decent
> > sound in the scrub.
> >
> > I'd be interested in the views of anyone who has tried iPods for this
> > purpose - I'm also interested in any audio editing software that is (a)
> > easy to use and (b) free or cheap that will allow me to edit the
> > announcements and also record repeats of the calls ...
> >
> > Cheers and best from n-w of Alice Springs, where it is raining and cool.
> >
> > Bob Gosford
> >    
>
>
>  
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