Re: [Harp-L] Zoom H4 Portable 24-Bit WAV/MP3 Recorder & Player

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

randy singer wrote:
<i am thinking of retiring my mp3 recorder.
<
<is the zoom recommended?  or simply the best for the low price?
<Especially for mac?

I love mine.  Apparently, everyone else on this list who owns one loves 
it too.  And I haven't read a review in any of the recording mags that 
isn't highly positive.

I can't think of much that I would want a portable recording device to 
do that the H4 doesn't do very, very well.  It sounds great, it's easy 
to operate, it's small, it's lightweight, yada yada.  I paid $300 for 
mine, and I'd pay it again if I had to.

Caveats:
I was initially worried about durability--it's made of plastic.  But I 
spent $15 for a padded hip holster for a portable digital camera, and I 
haven't had a problem.  Also, the H4 does NOT function as a continuous 
mp3 player--you have to select and start a piece to play it.  So it does 
not replace your iPod.  It can function as a USB audio interface, but 
the latency is too high for it to be really usable for overdub recording 
(although the quality of the audio it transmits via USB seems fine). 
It's faster to transfer files from the H4 to your computer using an SD 
card reader than using the USB cable.

None of these caveats is very important to me.

Use the money you save from the discount that dealer is offering to buy 
a 2 Gbyte secure digital card, which will give you more than 4 hours of 
continuous recording time in 24-bit 44.1 kHz mode (over 19 hours in 320 
kbps mp3 mode).  I also recommend rechargeable AA batteries if you plan 
to do a lot of battery-powered recording.

--
Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com
Latest mp3s always at http://broadjam.com/rhunter