Using an iPod as a voice recorder - September 16th, 2005
The bunniman has been doing this podcast thing ad using a Griffin iTalk to record it. I read somewhere that this was the best of the Belkin / Griffin solutions. Let me tell you, the audio quality is absultely shithouse! If you’ve subscribed to the Bunnicast you know what i mean. I’ve recently learned that the iPod is in fact capable of recording at up to 96khz, but Apple lock down that function in their firmware to only allow devices to record at 8khz. This is apparently to stop people from taking their iPods to concerts and recording bootlegs.
So yesterday i installed iPod Linux on my iPod as it allows the iPod to record at its full potential. The Bunniman tried to use the iTalk this morning to record using the linux method but alas, even though the iTalk works as a microphone when using the Apple software, it seems to confuse linux. Alas, nothing got recorded but some pops and clicks.
iPod Linux was AMAZINGLY easy to install i might add. You can download a mac installer from the link above, it gives you a full GUI to use and installs linux on you iPod in one click. It’s nuts. It comes complete with games and tech demos and dual boots back into the apple software very easily. The only problems i had were thast upon initial installation, the contrast was set to a level that made it completely unreadable, but listening to the clicks and following the menu screenshots on the iPod Linux site helped me find the contrast settting to adjust it. The other problem i had was whenever i went into the Music Library it would crash and i’d have to restart the iPod. I’m not sure if this was because i didn’t have any music on that partition or if it was just a bit buggy, but i wasn’t planning on using Linux to play Music anyway. I must admit, it would have been cool if it could have read my music from iTunes though. I spose you can’t haqve everything you want.
Recording with a standard microphone plugged in however, works a treat. The quality is much improved and this is definately the preferred method of audio recording using an iPod. It’s a shame, as the iTalk is a very compact and useful device and would have been perfect if it worked like a standard mic in linux. It doubles as a tiny speaker which really isn’t very loud and almost impossible to hear properly, but it’s still cool.
Oh well, i spose i’m going to have to get my sponsor to invest in a compact mic for The Bunniman. The end.