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Belkin iPod Mic and Media Reader FAQs

Frequently Asked?

I'm sorry, but this is really bothering me- the accesories were just announced a half-week ago- how can there be any frequently asked questions?

You can only talk to so many people in 3 days.
 
Originally posted by reyesmac
The iPod = iMac

What they need is a Powermac or Pro version of the iPod with all the features the pro's are looking for.

A ProPod or PowerPod.
Click to expand...

Yeah.

And we also need the PowerTunes Music Store for uncompressed 5.1 audio.

I meant this as a joke, but it turned into a good idea.
 
Vs. PalmPilots (of course)

yes, it's disappointing as a mic, BUT...

It allows input of INFORMATION into the iPod while on the go. Without this the use of a calendar or contacts list is a bit problematic. I can't put an appointment into my calendar, or a note, or even someone's phone number with my iPod alone, I still have to have pencil and paper handy, but if it has a microphone, I can speak/record this stuff in. (though it's gotta later be transferred into the calendar/addressbook) This is why it was a requested feature.

This allows the iPod to attempt to compete (er... just be in the race...) with PalmPilots etc. and how much 'hi-tech-sexier' than with a pointer-pen?
;-)

Might even convince a few parents out there that an iPod could aid in an education beyond its jukeboxness. ;-)

As in the iDictaphone post- I bet voice recognition software is somewhere out there in the future. . .
 
Re: Frequently Asked?

Originally posted by theevilmonkey
I'm sorry, but this is really bothering me- the accesories were just announced a half-week ago- how can there be any frequently asked questions?

You can only talk to so many people in 3 days.
Click to expand...

If you want to be technical it's "Questions we think people will ask us", FAQ is the usual term for things like this.

What an odd thing to be bothered by...;)
 
i notice that everyone is REALLY pissed off about the crappy mic... rightly so, but no one is talking about the other iPod accesory...

i think that the memory card reader is an awesome idea. i work with digital photography and this saves me a bundle on flash cards.
 
Originally posted by abdul
lectures? 24" thats 60cm. what do you expect me to do stand right next to the lecturer. damn its not even 1metre distance. thats totally crap.i dont know what type of lectures steve went to (if he went to uni) but its physically impossible to be within 1 metre of the lecturer.
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Put the recorder on the lectern, with the permission of the speaker of course. That's the only way record a lecture, anyway -- unless all you want to hear on the recording is the sound of the audience shuffling their feet and scratching their backsides.

This device is what it is. Now that the recording cat is out of the bag, somebody will probably come up with a stereo setup for the iPod. It'll probably cost more then $49.00.
 
Re: Vs. PalmPilots (of course)

Originally posted by paulwesley
yes, it's disappointing as a mic, BUT...

It allows input of INFORMATION into the iPod while on the go. Without this the use of a calendar or contacts list is a bit problematic. I can't put an appointment into my calendar, or a note, or even someone's phone number with my iPod alone, I still have to have pencil and paper handy, but if it has a microphone, I can speak/record this stuff in. (though it's gotta later be transferred into the calendar/addressbook) This is why it was a requested feature.
Click to expand...

Good point. I'm often torn between hauling along my Visor or iPod. The Visor usually wins because I can not only consult my calendar but add to it.
 
AA batteries

Originally posted by gwuMACaddict
i notice that everyone is REALLY pissed off about the crappy mic... rightly so, but no one is talking about the other iPod accesory...

i think that the memory card reader is an awesome idea. i work with digital photography and this saves me a bundle on flash cards.
Click to expand...

I agree that it is a good idea, but to have it rely on external batteries is BS.
If I could bring a cell phone, iPod, and camera on a long trip, and use the iPod to store pictures until I got back, that would be GREAT.
To add 4 AA batteries is silly, one of the best features of the iPod is the rechargebale battery.
This close, but not worth $100. For that I will just bring my laptop.
 
Re: Re: Frequently Asked?

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
If you want to be technical it's "Questions we think people will ask us", FAQ is the usual term for things like this.

What an odd thing to be bothered by...;)
Click to expand...

Maybe they should have called it, "the soon to be frequently asked questions," or, "questions we'd asked frequently ourselves if we weren't selling the bloody thing," or "questions the people in our marketing department frequently asked the people in engineering."

Truth in advertising. It can be done!
 
well recording has been built into the 3rd gen ipods and now software updates make it a reality. We just need a better mic for the ipod. im sure there will be other companies that will make better mics pretty soon.

Tyler
 
Man, the iPod is starting to really get outclassed:

http://reviews.cnet.com/iRiver_iHP_120/4505-6490_7-30571493.html?tag=cnetfd.ldgif

Supports analog and digital line-in, built in microphone, and a microphone input as well for external an external one. Add a higher resolution screen, 10 more hours of battery life, and an FM tuner... and a $50 cheaper price tag than the 20 gig iPod... sigh. And mac compatibility coming.

Before I get flamed, I do own a 40 gig iPod, and I do think the two Belkin products that just came out kinda suck.
 
Originally posted by ZildjianKX
Man, the iPod is starting to really get outclassed:

http://reviews.cnet.com/iRiver_iHP_120/4505-6490_7-30571493.html?tag=cnetfd.ldgif

Supports analog and digital line-in, built in microphone, and a microphone input as well for external an external one. Add a higher resolution screen, 10 more hours of battery life, and an FM tuner... and a $50 cheaper price tag than the 20 gig iPod... sigh. And mac compatibility coming.

Before I get flamed, I do own a 40 gig iPod, and I do think the two Belkin products that just came out kinda suck.
Click to expand...

Outclassed? Did you look at that thing? The review sounds "damned with faint praise."
 
i have a solution to this whole microphone/line in issue. here is what the Belkin product does:

it records sound, and it then transmits that data into a form that the ipod can understand, through the proprietary ipod connector.

i suggest that someone makes a universal adapter. one end with a traditional line in (so that all microphones will work), and the other end with a connector to the iPod. this will let you choose which microphone you want.
 
Doing only voice recording is probably due to technical limitations of the current iPod models. Quality audio compression requires much more CPU power than does decoding. The low-power ARM CPU in the iPod probably doesn't have the horsepower to encode music-quality audio (16-bit+ stereo at 44.1kHz+); and the low-power hard disk probably can't guarantee the sustained write bandwidth to stream in full raw aiff.
 
Originally posted by ZildjianKX
Man, the iPod is starting to really get outclassed:

http://reviews.cnet.com/iRiver_iHP_120/4505-6490_7-30571493.html?tag=cnetfd.ldgif

Supports analog and digital line-in, built in microphone, and a microphone input as well for external an external one. Add a higher resolution screen, 10 more hours of battery life, and an FM tuner... and a $50 cheaper price tag than the 20 gig iPod... sigh. And mac compatibility coming.

Before I get flamed, I do own a 40 gig iPod, and I do think the two Belkin products that just came out kinda suck.
Click to expand...

This product looks very poor compared to the iPod, esp. concerning the navigation system vs. the iPod scrollwheel
 
Originally posted by firewood
Doing only voice recording is probably due to technical limitations of the current iPod models. Quality audio compression requires much more CPU power than does decoding. The low-power ARM CPU in the iPod probably doesn't have the horsepower to encode music-quality audio (16-bit+ stereo at 44.1kHz+); and the low-power hard disk probably can't guarantee the sustained write bandwidth to stream in full raw aiff.
Click to expand...

It's recording WAV files, which are just raw waveforms, so no compression is necessary. All it's doing is taking the samples and saving them to disk and maybe adding a file header...

44.1kHz, 16bit stereo is less than 180kB/sec. I'm sure the hard drive can handle at least 10-20MB/sec.

The problem might be that this is only about 6sec per MB of cache. I can't remember how big the iPod cache is, but it might be a battery life issue. Seems they could let the user trade off between quality and run time though...

If I remember correctly, people had found a "record" option in the test mode which let them record through the headphone adapter. If that's true, the samplers are in the iPod, not the mike. I don't know where they've set the input anti-alias filter. It's possible the analog input is limited to 8kHz, which makes this a limitation of the iPod itself (until they put the samplers in the mike).

I'm not really sure if Belkin can be blamed for the record rate, though they might have been able to design it better for spatial range.

I'm still disappointed in the result regardless of where the limitation lies-- I was hoping for a much less limited capability.
 
Yeah, both of these accessories are really cool in theory, but way overpriced, and poorly implemented in practice (even if it because of limitations in the iPod).

$50 buys you a microphone that can ONLY be used for recording your own voice, only in low quality audio, and with no line-in? Lame.

The media reader thing is much cooler, but still could have been better implemented. No Memory Stick Pro or xD support? I’d still buy one if I go on vacation again, but it could have been better (and $100 is obviously a rip-off, even if it’s worth it versus buying $50-100 memory cards).

Hopefully we'll see versions of both products that are better implemented. I hope they can do an adaptor that records up to 44khz 16-bit audio through ANY microphone.
 
Originally posted by hayesk
Does everyone really think that a microphone will drop off to nothing at 24.x inches? The mic is "tuned" for that, that's all. Wait for a review. They will obviously try it out at various distances.

I'll bet all of those personal cassette recorders have the same kind of mics. Yet, they are used for lectures all the time.

Wait and see before complaining.
Click to expand...
Actually, um yea, microphones really can be made to drop off at that distance. My shure sm-57 has much less range than my c-1000 s. The "tuning" is really how the mic is manufactured and designed. There is not really any way to get around it (unless you replace the mic :) ;) :) :D )

Oh yea, I tried using another mic, and it seems like the capabilities (line in enabling) are controlled by the remote jack. I don't think that the belkin mic has a line out (but maybe it does i could be wrong), so why does it need the remote plug? That is my theory, but i just couldn't get it to work. Someone else should try it out.
 
I received the microphone and card reader on Friday.

I tried the mic in a lecture but i think i was probably more than 25 feet back and there was definitely a lot of ambient noise (it was sitting next to my PowerBook so you could hear the hard drive spin up and me typing :) ). I'll try again tomorrow in Calc 2.

The card reader works well but is a little slow.

Check macteens.com soon for a full review of both, including sample recordings and benchmarks of the card reader.
 
Originally posted by gwuMACaddict
i think that the memory card reader is an awesome idea. i work with digital photography and this saves me a bundle on flash cards.
Click to expand...

Awesome if you own any other type of flash card other than Memory Stick Pro.

Damn you Belkin.
 
to me, this is exactly what I've been hoping for since the first iPod hit the market.

Now whenever I get a song idea I can just hum it in my iPod.

Now here's what Apple should do next: Make an iCal compatible calendar application to ipod, where you just scroll to the desired day, click, scroll to the time and dictate whatever it is you have on that date. Since the mic has a speaker as well, it could alarm you with a sound file of your choice.

thanks, Belkin. (Even though I cannot get your FM transmitter to work in most cars.)
 
Originally posted by painimies
to me, this is exactly what I've been hoping for since the first iPod hit the market.

Now whenever I get a song idea I can just hum it in my iPod.
Click to expand...

Let me know how it works for this.

The FAQ says the mike rolls off at 500Hz-- almost an octave above Middle C. Surely it would pick up something though-- at least the overtones...
 
Originally posted by painimies

Now here's what Apple should do next: Make an iCal compatible calendar application to ipod, where you just scroll to the desired day, click, scroll to the time and dictate whatever it is you have on that date. Since the mic has a speaker as well, it could alarm you with a sound file of your choice.
Click to expand...

a very fine idea. there is a lot of untapped potential in the ipod. this is a good example of realizing that potential. a grainy sounding dictaphone is not a good example of realizing that potential. hence, upset (or confused) ipod owners.
 
The docking iPods apparently use the Wolfson Microelectronics WM8731L ADC/DAC chip which is capable of very high quality audio recording. If offers a mono microphone input and stereo line inputs.

It's almost certain that the Belkin unit is using the mono microphone input and there have been rumors that the stereo line inputs are available via the docking connector. Thus, if the iPod hardware actually provides connections and support for all of the audio inputs then it should be possible to use the iPod as a very high quality audio recording device.

I think the only issue may be the power consumption that would result from running the hard disk constantly (or almost) to record the incoming audio. What I'd like to see is a small docking device that would connect to the bottom of the iPod and then contain a thin rechargeable battery compartment that would extend up over the back of the iPod. It would have stereo line-in, microphone input, and a standard Firewire connection that could be used to recharge both the iPod and the battery in the docking device. The battery in the docking device could also be used to extend the iPod's playback time and it would also compensate for the larger power usage when recording audio. So, this one device would be both a rechargeable battery pack for the iPod and a high-quality audio input device.

The only remaining issue is how would you securely attach this device to the iPod. That's something that Apple seemed to have forgotten about, since I don't think that the docking connector has enough mechanical strength to support such a connection (on its own). Perhaps such a device could use a friction type clamp that would squeeze the sides of the iPod, not very elegant, but again I think Apple wasn't thinking much about peripheral support when it designed the 3G iPod.
 
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