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Topic: Portable Mp3 Player
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Kelsey Black
Film Handler
Posts: 58
From: Pima, Arizona, USA
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted 03-17-2002 12:35 AM
I am the proud owner of a Creative Nomad Jukebox 20Gb. (overseas it's known as the DAP) It has a 20 Gb laptop hard drive (you can upgrade it to a 40, or whatever comes out that fits the 9.5mm space) it has headphone, and 2 line outs (you can configure them to be front/rear, parallel, or just one line out) and it has a line level stereo record at up to 16bit/48khz sampling rate uncompressed or you can record as MP3, but why would you want to if you have 20 gig?
Personally, if given the option, I prefer to go uncompressed, lossless as long as storage is not an isuue, and anything you do with a minidisc is going to be compressed with Sony's ATRAC scheme.
With this, you can playback WMA, MP3 or WAV formats, and it's flash upgradeable for other formats as Creative releases them (MP3pro and Ogg Vorbis have had quite some interest, I don't know where things are with the support as of writing...) And, you can use it to store any regular file, not just audio files, it's like having a 20Gig floppy with USB interface.
OTOH, (on the other hand) it does use batteries, AA NI-MH, but it also functions as a smart charger. a set of 4 fully charged 1800 mah batteries will go from full to dead in around 6 hours, so I keep 3 sets and the charger. It is heavier and bulkier than minidisc, or flash memory MP3 players, but it's only about the size of a portable CD player. And, as it comes from the factory and the EQ set flat, it lacks bass slightly from ~175 on down, but if you're both BOLD and DARING, you can change a small SMD capacitor inside it and get both more volume and nice bass without having to play with it's DSP EQ.
And the last thing i have to complain about it is that the one I have only has a USB interface, but if when I got mine I had known that Creative would be coming out with a new version that has firewire as well as USB ports, then I would have waited... but the thing still rocks.
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Kelsey Black
Film Handler
Posts: 58
From: Pima, Arizona, USA
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted 03-17-2002 10:28 PM
No, the Nomad Jukebox doesn't have balanced, or mic level inputs. just stereo line-level rec input via a 1/8" mini.
Personally, I haven't used it to record anything yet, I haven't done audio production since I worked at the local radio station almost a year ago, and I don't go to concerts very often, so I haven't had the chance to make any bootlegs with it either.
IMO, leaving the record input as line level is a good thing, as the preamps in most consumer equipment sucks. It's better to leave the preamp section to the end user so that they can set the cost/quality scales as they wish.
For more info on the Nomad Jukebox, go to the Nomad website
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John Schulien
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 206
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-18-2002 01:21 PM
I would only recommend DAT for live field recording. Both the tapes and mechanisms are just too fragile for casual use. I record a lot of live music, and standard practice is to make the field recording on DAT, then use a digital cable to upload the data to my PC, where I can edit it, insert track markers, and burn the music onto CDR. The DAT tape gets played once, then goes straight into the archive, where, assuming I don't damage or lose the CDR, it will probably never be played again. Another upside to recording on DAT is that the tapes run 2 hours with no tape flip. In a live recording situation, you can tell the DAT tapers -- they're the ones sitting, with little smiles on their faces, watching the MD owners twitching their fingers, hoping that the band will end the song before the disc runs out, and pause long enough to change the cartridge.
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another thing is that a MD walkman will set you back about as much as a MP3 player, plus you have the option of recording and much longer playtime and quality. I dont know of any MP3 devices that can record.
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