Has anyone had any experience with this?
http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-6342420-1304-20057222.html?tag=dir-pdov

http://www.unitech-na.com/pdf/dmr300.pdf

Personally, I have an Archos Jukebox, and I've learned a few things about what I want from a portable player. I was looking for something that could record, so the iPod was not an option, but the quality of Archos products is pathetic. I wish I had listened to Bruno

Oh well, some day they'll have the right product out there for me

The Rio 800 has a recorder.

But what are your requirements? It might behoove you to just purchase one of those pen-sized voice recorders (which I could swear I've seen at the office supply stores, but I can't find one now) and carry it in addition to your mp3 player.

I made this post about the RipFlash a few months ago. I know nothing about recordable MP3 devices, but it sounded unique at the time. I don't know if this helps.... but there it is.

Well those are good ideas. That Ripflash is interesting. I hadn't seen that one. Also, a simple voice recorder would be fine, but not for what I want to do.

For a while now, I'm still going to need to record events like school concerts and such. I've been using my Archos Jukebox Recorder for the past semester, and I've been less than impressed with it.

For one, the software sucks. Quite unintuitive and the most buggy peice of crap that I've ever used. The hardware is decent, but sometimes the screen goes out of shift, and I havve to restart the player to get it working again.

The main problem is that the Archos isn't actually good at recording. For some reason, they placed the line-in jack on the opposite side of the player from where the wire for that connection goes. So you've got this unshielded wire running across a hard disk. As you might imagine, you wind up with some extra churning and bubbling that doesn't usually show up in Holst. This is made even worse due to the fact that unlike the wonderful programmers at empeg, they didn't go to extra lengths to make sure the disk doesn't cache as often. It does so quite often. Kinda scary for a portable.

There is a solution for this, but it is, as many things are, costly. You see you really get the disk noise because you have to jack up the recording level to max in order to hear anything. Even then the pickup is so quiet the disk noise is far more prevelant than the thing you're trying to record. Basically, you need an amplifier. They sell ones for the Archos. For a measly $300 you get a mic and a little amp. Deal, huh? So for now, since I've been ideo taping these performances as well, I've been using the line-out on an old camcorder straight into the player. This wouldn't be so bad a solution if I didn't have all the extra setup hassles of another AC adapter, which is good to have in case the player craps out that day.


So here it is. I need:
-above average build quality
-good software
-large capacity
-internal amp (my portable MD recorder had one, why not these?)

That's about it. So far, looking at the recordable players out there, nothing matches my description. Now I'm basically looking for an iPod with recording capabilities and a built-in amp.

Oh, and believe me, it's a lot better for me to copy over an MP3 file than to re-record several hours of audio onto WAV on my computer.

Sorry for that long post

This was announced recently. Matches your specs, except we know nothing about quality, I'm sure.

Wow, somebody's been looking at the iPod ! Very similar in design, but USB 2.0 instead of firewire and the option to record.
Maybe this thing is the reason why apple was persuaded to make the iPod windows compatible, who knows ?

I wonder how much this thing (will) cost(s).

Ooooooooo.... That looks goood. Oooooo....

Voice navigation using VoiceNavTM technology
That sounds cool. I'm sure it's just simple things like "up" "down" "play" or something like that, but hey, if cell phones can do it pretty easily, why not MP3 players?

Playlist creation through user interface
I wonder, does this mean on the player or on your computer? I assume it means on the player, which is nice. Supposedly the Archos can do it, but documentation on how is poor and when you try it, it usually overloads the player and it has to be shut down, usually by removing the batteries.

FM tuner with 12 preset stations
Woah! I wonder if you can record it? Probably not, but it's worth dreaming

Some other things:
-I wonder if it also records in WMA
-I'm a bit concerned that the only way to record is via the built in mic. they never mention anything else about recording, and I only see a headphone jack on the top of the player, so I'm not sure how it works.
-unfortunately, I'm sure it doesn't have a built in amp, but if the rest of the player is as good as it looks, that's no big deal.
-stainless steel? That's a good indication that the quality will likely be pretty good.


That looks like an awesome player! Thanks Bitt!