When I was in Las Vegas, I spent a little time with Paul Colligan. Paul is an expert in Affiliate marketing. But recently he has began beating the drum for podcasting.
Now admittedly, I have been slow to come to the podcasting table. However, after spending some time with Paul and Declan Dunn in Las Vegas, the light has turned on above my head. Ding!
In order to podcast properly, it is a good idea to use a recording device that makes the task easy. Paul was using a Edirol R-1 WAVE/MP3 Digital Recorder. I instantly fell in love with this device which is roughly 3"x4" in size, and I ordered one online from The Sound Professionals so that it would arrive by the time I returned from my trip.
My device has arrived and I LOVE it!
The Edirol has stereo mics built in, so while sitting across from the person you are interviewing, you can actually record the audio as left/right channels. It runs on batteries or DC power supply. To start recording, simply turn on the unit, press the record button once to set your audio levels and again to begin recording. It is a tapeless device and records all audio on a compact flash memory card. The Edirol ships with a 64MB card, allowing up to 45 minutes of audio. I purchased a 1 GB card which expands the podcasting opportunities to eleven hours and then some! The card can easily be taken out of the device and placed in a card reader so the audio may be transferred to a computer where it can be uploaded to the Internet. It's that simple.
I have started playing with the unit and am absolutely blown away at the audio quality. While it defaults to MP3, you can also record in .WAV format for more lossless recording. Honestly, I don't think anyone but the most trained ear could tell the difference between the two formats.
The R-1 also has built in editing functions, though I have yet to try these. It seems much easier to transfer the audio to a computer and then edit with Sound Forge or some other audio editing program.
I plan on taking the Edirol with me to all future conferences, so don't be surprised if I come up to you asking for an interview. You may just get podcasted.
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
June 28, 2006 11:28 AM
I recently bought the R-1 for recording professors teaching classes. The unit is placed on the podium right in front of the teacher. It's set to record at 64kbps mp3. My problems are 1) The volume of the final file is very low. 2) There seems to be no way to record a mono file at 32kbps. I spend a lot of time in Adobe Audtion fixing the files before I post them on the media server for download. I need a recorder that wil record a decent level in mono at 32kbps.