iPod An iPod that records?

I really like my 1G iPod. Someday it's gonna retire and I'll want to replace it.

Apple has done some good things with features and prices lately, but the one feature I really want is one they don't seem to want to do: I want an iPod that can record uncompressed or really high-quality compressed audio through stereo microphone inputs. I can imagine that Steve Jobs has to negotiate with record company execs to keep iTMS ahead of the pack, and he doesn't want to have to defend the ideal bootlegging tool.

GarageBand got me playing again, and now I'm in two bands. I want to record our rehearsals, and I don't want to have to drop $250+ on a separate device to do it.

Does anyone think a future Apple iPod will be able to do this? Does anyone know of any other MP3 players that will? Ones that work with Macs?

Thanks for any clues!


Crikey

I checked out the iTalk when it came out. It only supports 8KHz audio bandwidth, which is about the sound quality you get over a telephone line and nowhere near the quality I want. It's also monaural only; no stereo.

If someone manufactured a hard disk MP3 player that could record, I suspect it would sell. People are still buying Sony MiniDisc recorders for live music applications (MP3 players have largely replaced them for simple playback) and there are other devices out there for those who find the limitations of MiniDisc onerous (there isn't a good way to transfer MiniDisc recordings to a Mac in the digital domain -- you have to play them back as audio from the player and re-encode on the computer with some quality loss. Maybe because Sony owns a record company?). An iPod that could record with full quality would be a more attractive device than any of those.

Thanks for the tip, though, redeye_be!


Crikey