Voice Recorders

What should I look for when shopping for voice recorders? All I know is that I need it to have at least 10 hours battery life while recording with rechargeable batteries. Obviously it needs to be able to store that much audio, however while looking, it seems that must do and so much more. It needs to be able to pick up conversations from my pants pocket and have as clear a recording as possible.

That's the biggest one right there, the being able to pick up voices through my pants pocket and do so clearly enough to make out what is being said. I'd be using it at least four times a week. Each time between 9-12 hours.

Posted using my HTC Evo

Having some way to upload the sound data to your computer I think is a big must as well. Some recorders can only play back the sound.

Another plus, but not really a requirement would be removable storage. Many of them store the data internally and upload through USB. But some accept microSD cards, which would allow you to expand your capacity. Also, memory cards are very robust, able to withstand even a trip through your washing machine (believe me, I've done it several times lol). So even if your recording device gets destroyed, your data will still be safe on the card.

Yeah, but I mean what to look for in determining whether or not a recorder is capable of "hearing" what I need it to.

The microphone is what determines the capacity and quality of the recording ...

SovereignAxe said:

Having some way to upload the sound data to your computer I think is a big must as well. Some recorders can only play back the sound.

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Thus it behooves future purchasers to buy a recorder with digital upload capability.

Another plus, but not really a requirement would be removable storage. Many of them store the data internally and upload through USB. But some accept microSD cards, which would allow you to expand your capacity. Also, memory cards are very robust, able to withstand even a trip through your washing machine (believe me, I've done it several times lol). So even if your recording device gets destroyed, your data will still be safe on the card.

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That's a fine idea! If I were marketing the devices, I'd include dual chip recording technology, one obvious, under a screwed-down hatch, and the other not so obvious, but accessible after taking apart the unit.

since9 said:

Thus it behooves future purchasers to buy a recorder with digital upload capability.



That's a fine idea! If I were marketing the devices, I'd include dual chip recording technology, one obvious, under a screwed-down hatch, and the other not so obvious, but accessible after taking apart the unit.

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Perhaps a blue tooth transmission to a remote storage device on one's person. The storage device could be disguised as something mundane... a belt buckle?

SovereignAxe said:

Having some way to upload the sound data to your computer I think is a big must as well. Some recorders can only play back the sound.

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Your friendly Radio Shack will have what you need

My little digital recorders have mic in and headphone out ... RS has a jumper jack that plugs in from the headphone jack on the recorder to the mic in on the computer ... the one I got is only about 6" in wire length which suits my needs.

So, even cassette recorders with those two jacks can be digitized in a computer ...

georg jetson said:

Perhaps a blue tooth transmission to a remote storage device on one's person. The storage device could be disguised as something mundane... a belt buckle?

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You're thinking along the right lines, but that might get a little expensive. How about an iPhone or Android app that simultaneously transmits the stream to the cloud, where it can only be accessed by an anonymous username/password? For that matter, your phone can be the recorder. They can confiscate a recorder or your phone, but good luck hunting down and destroying that recording in the cloud, particularly if you and several friends engage in mutual file-sharing.

Your suggestions would devastate battery life. You'd only end up with about an hour or less of battery life from a full charge.

Posted using my HTC Evo

okboomer said:

Your friendly Radio Shack will have what you need

My little digital recorders have mic in and headphone out ... RS has a jumper jack that plugs in from the headphone jack on the recorder to the mic in on the computer ... the one I got is only about 6" in wire length which suits my needs.

So, even cassette recorders with those two jacks can be digitized in a computer ...

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yeah, that's how you convert vinyl to mp3, but why should you have to go through that trouble with modern technology? if you're going to spend the money on a digital recorder, you might as well get one with USB or a memory card.

SovereignAxe said:

yeah, that's how you convert vinyl to mp3, but why should you have to go through that trouble with modern technology? if you're going to spend the money on a digital recorder, you might as well get one with USB or a memory card.

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At the time I bought mine, the store didn't carry the ones with removable storage, but I needed/wanted them at that particular time more than I could wait to order them online.

As it is, the RS solution also makes my tape recorders viable now, too.

Jack House said:

Your suggestions would devastate battery life. You'd only end up with about an hour or less of battery life from a full charge.

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Ok. How about streaming the voice and storing the video? DVD-quality video requires nearly 7 times the bandwidth of CD-quality sound alone. Drop the sound to compressed mono sampled at 2,750 Hz and you're using less than 1/100th the bandwindth of video.

Well, I was not taking bandwidth into consideration. I was considering only the tax that wifi and Blue Tooth place on the battery. If you have either service running, it'll drain the battery pretty quickly, 4G does the same. The effect is multiplied when the device has too look for a signal or reconnect, something that will happen a lot with 4G and wifi.

The idea might work with a device dedicated to such concepts, but only if one only activates the device during a confrontation. This is better than nothing, but hardly ideal. A lot of people will either forget to activate the device or not be able to activate the device.

This is my concern, which is why I'm looking for a device with long battery life and high capacity. The situations in which I need to have a recorder present, I do not always have the ability to activate the recorder and sometimes it is simply too late to do so. So I need something that I can turn on when I leave the house and will still be running by the time I get home, often 12+ hours later. If necessary, I can only turn it on once I reach my destination, but then it would still need to remain active for atleast 9 hours.

this is what i use for OC you can see how my rig is set. also ill post a picture a modle number of the Voice recorder i use.

First off the recorder i use is aSony brand as i trust the products they make. ITS a IC Recorder it ran aprox $80 and has a slot for a larger micro SD card. It has 2gb of built in space which will recored a little over 22 hrs I even have a custom folder for while I OC

here is a few pictures

This is where a seperate digital audio recorder can be better than a cell phone that captures audio and video. Some states have laws about public audio/video recording without notification.

We had an incident with the neighbors in which I had a seperate audio recorder going while I video recorded them (sound off) in case I needed it for proof of who did what. When the police got there, they tried to make a big deal about me audio and video recording until the watch commander got there and I was able to show him that the audio was being recorded on a seperate device and the applicable state law. (I hate drug dealers living next door!)

You will most definitely need to check the applicable state laws to find out what limitations there are on audio, video, audio/video recording in public, semi-public, and private places.

I would suggest you consult an attorney before you spend big $$ on equipment that you may not be able to use.

Texas is a single party consent state for audio.

i actually had an incident with a LEO today and had forgoten my recorder. so it don't do you any good if you don't have it with you. what really irritated me most about this is i have been carrying it faithfully for months now. with nothing much more than casual conversations on it

i have a olympia 7000, 4 gigs of record space and 36 hour of run time. built in charger/usb outlet, also has twin mics and micro card slot so it can be upped to a 8 gig

one thing i am concerned about is how to keep it from being erased. maybe if someone didn't know what they were doing, they night not be able to

Jack House said:

Texas is a single party consent state for audio.

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So, do you know the statutes governing audio/video recording?

I don't know about video, but as I said, Texas is a single party consent state. I only need my own consent to record my conversations with another. I'm not interested in video, just need audio.

papa bear said:

i actually had an incident with a LEO today and had forgoten my recorder. so it don't do you any good if you don't have it with you. what really irritated me most about this is i have been carrying it faithfully for months now. with nothing much more than casual conversations on it

i have a olympia 7000, 4 gigs of record space and 36 hour of run time. built in charger/usb outlet, also has twin mics and micro card slot so it can be upped to a 8 gig

one thing i am concerned about is how to keep it from being erased. maybe if someone didn't know what they were doing, they night not be able to

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There are audio recorders that when you delete something, it does not actually delete it but rather marks it as deleted. So if you have an issue with say a LEO, who then confiscates your recorder and deletes your recording, there's still a good chance that you can recover the audio.