Re: [Harp-L] M-Audio MicroTrack Question

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim, 

I'm having exactly the same problem with my MicroTrack.  I got mine 
just over a year ago, and used it intermittently to record gigs.  I 
generally got about three to four hours out of it, turning the power 
off during band breaks.  Last month (December 07) I tried to record 
first at a Christmas party, and then a few days later at a gig.  In 
both cases I got between 45 minutes and an hour before the recorder 
died, batteries exhausted.  I don't have all the specifics of the 
recording setup, except to say that I also had the backlight turned 
off and output volume down.  I haven't tried contacting M-Audio yet, 
but will probably do that soon.  

This is a pretty big negative in the design, IMHO.  This device 
should be made with a replacable lithium ion rechargable battery, 
like a digital camera, that can be replaced in the field.  In fact, 
my new Ricoh digital camera will also run on AAA batteries, in a 
pinch.  Now THAT's a well-designed piece of gear.  

-tim


Jim Greenwald wrote:
> I know there are a number of list members who use the original 
> MicroTrack 24/96 recorder, and am hoping one of you can help me, 
> since I haven't been able to get through to M-Audio's support 
> dept. these last couple of days.
> I've had this unit a couple of years and can't recall how much 
> recording time per charge I originally got, but currently i'm 
> getting less than an hour of recording on a full charge. This is 
> with firmware 1.4.6, no backlight, monitoring off, output volume 
> down, 16-bit 44.1 KHz wav, and using solid compact flash memory 
> (not a microdrive). Seems kind of short <g> and don't know if I 
> should send it in for a battery replacement. 
> Can anybody report how much time they get per battery charge at 
> these conditions?