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iPod Accessories - Mic and Photo Storage are Here!

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Today, Apple released two accessories that were codeveloped with Belkin.

The Belkin Voice Recorder allows users to record and instantly review voice recordings, as well as sync these notes with their Mac or Windows PC. Voice recordings are stored in WAV format.

The Belkin Media Reader allows users to import, store and backup digital photos by providing an adapter which supports Compact Flash, Smart Media, Memory Stick, SD and MMC. The iPod will then sync with iPhoto, allowing users to keep their photos organized.

More details and ordering information available at http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2003/10/16/ipod-accessories-mic-and-photo-storage-are-here/
I think the mic is about as attactive as a tumor. I wish Apple had designed this. Or better yet, have it built in.
 
Photo reader is great

What a bonus for digital photographers who own iPods (me:D )!!!

I'm surprised only that they didn't develop this already, but anyway, it will be great on the next trip.
 
After updating to version 2.1 the voice record does not show up in the extras menu. Nor is it accessible in the diagnostic mode. There must be a requirement for the Belkin HW to be plugged in to enable the feature. I was hoping for a crude record method with the headphone speaker. :(
 
KLUDGE....KLUDGE....KLUDGE

These things should be built-in and not be appendages....
 
ugh! i was hoping that you would be able to use a regular mic for it. this sucks. are you sure that you cant record with a mic other than the belin/apple one?
 
I don't care how lame the voice recorder looks, i was about to spend £100 on a digital recorder from Olympus and now i don't have to.

I got my ADC membership today and i rang them and queitly (but jokingly) asked the guy if he was going to have a busy day on friday, he said yes. ;) I asked some questions with something else and said i would be back tomorrow purchasing whatever Apple was offering.

This is going to be great for lectures, a voice recorder AND a new 12" PB! Discounted as well!
 
this voice recorder (while kind of ugly) is the deciding point in my ipod purchase. I am in college, and the ability to record and burn to CD every lecture will be amazing. I will be able to listen to the lectures in my car or while walking around on campus. This is the greatest feature yet on the ipod. I just hope that the mic will pick up voices from 15 feet or so. Otherwise I guess i'll be sitting in the front of the class from now on. This event today was apple's trump card. I wish I had some money to buy stock with. Oh well, maybe next time.
 
Anyone know if the recorder lets you hook up to an external microphone or line-in? I do a lot of phone interviews for work, and would love to have a digital backup of my recordings of it, but if I can't hook it up to the mini-jack on my phone line tapper the way I do my existing tape recorder, it's less than useless to me.

Too bad... I thought that was gonna be a killer app.
 
god where's the speech activated browsing? grrrr! write apple emails!!! get us some speech browsing!!!
 
I know a lot of people were hoping for line-in or some way to connect an external microphone, but this is perfect for what I'd use it for, and for what most people will use it for - taking voice notes, recording lectures, stuff like that. The iPod isn't generally a pro tool - mostly just college and high school students using it - those are the markets they are going to design peripherals and accessories for.

Though both could DEFINITELY look nicer than they do.
 
Anyone else bummed the Flash Card reader is so big and takes batteries? I was hoping for a tiny addon that is powered by the iPod...
 
i asked this at the other thread, but probably worth repeating..?

is it just a reader or does it write as well?

i assume it's just a reader since it's not advertized as a read/writer...
 
Originally posted by ZildjianKX
Anyone else bummed the Flash Card reader is so big and takes batteries? I was hoping for a tiny addon that is powered by the iPod...
Click to expand...

oh... i really should read up on these, eh? :rolleyes:

batteries?? ugh, that sucks. yeah, like you said, it should be powered by the ipod.

no wonder it's so "huge" (relatively speaking...)

off topic: good thing 'tar has to be somewhat "earned"... this newbie sure is getting ahead of him/herself! :p
 
This is perfect

This is really good for me, because it will allow to record classes at my highschool, when I do interviews for the school paper, I'll be able to do it with my iPod, when I do photography, I'll be able to save it to my iPod... These accesories are just what I need. Its just too bad that it doesn't have line-in capabilities.
 
Future products...

Well...if Apple has now incorporated the "record" feature and that is available to 3rd party developers, I imagine it is likely that other add-ons will surface relatively soon, with features such as line in.

This is progress...
 
Re: Future products...

Originally posted by Timothy
Well...if Apple has now incorporated the "record" feature and that is available to 3rd party developers, I imagine it is likely that other add-ons will surface relatively soon, with features such as line in.

This is progress...
Click to expand...

good point... hopefully so.

btw, i really like the idea of being able to easily record and make cds of lectures. too bad i'm not in school anymore, but perhaps will come in handy a few years down the road...
 
Recording is great--but I'll probably wait for Apple to build it in. I hate extra "bits."

Still cool to have new options!

For flash reading, I like the reader I keep in my PBook's card slot!
 
$99 so you can store data on your ipod? sounds a little bit too much for me. it's basically a card reader, right? how about that mic for $49?
 
I'm hugely disappointed about the new iPod accessories. The key point here is that they aren't Apple products, so in my mind all of the rumors were wrong. Belkin's voice recorder is okay, but I think I'll have to pass on it and hope that someone else does a better job with the design and features (I want both line-in and microphone).

And as for the card reader (also Belkin's) I can only say this, it looks to be a complete hack job. I didn't think that Apple would introduce a card reader and as far as I can tell this product from Belkin falls far short of what I'd really like. This probably isn't Belkin's fault (entirely), as I've said before I don't think the iPod was designed with any form of a card reader in mind.

To name a few problems, the card reader attaches via a cable (seems like you'd often want three hands to use it), requires its own batteries (4xAAA's -- ugh), and since this is a third-party product heaven help you if it doesn't work to spec (i.e. Apple says it's Belkin's fault, Belkin says it's Apple's fault, etc.). I can just imagine how I'd feel if I shot 200MB of photos and then got home and found that they were either corrupted or missing entirely from the iPod. True, anyone (including Apple) could make a flawed product, but if it were an Apple product you'd have a single vendor to work through and I think you could trust that Apple would eventually make things right (or very close to). I suppose if the Belkin card reader worked flawlessly (a possibility, obviously too soon to completely dismiss this product) then it could also be an okay product. But, I'm not planning on rushing out to buy one.

Oh, I should be clear that I have nothing against Belkin. I've purchased several of their products and they've all worked well. It's just that I was hoping for some well integrated, Apple designed and produced products. As far as I can tell, neither of these products is what I'd call insanely great and I guess I was hoping for some real Apple magic.
 
Originally posted by noel4r
$99 so you can store data on your ipod? sounds a little bit too much for me. it's basically a card reader, right?
Click to expand...

One thing I can always expect from Apple, no matter how expensive I think an accessory is going to be, they always exceed my expectations and make it even more expensive... I'd buy the flash card reader if it was $50 and didn't take batteries.
 
now that recording is out, someone needs to trick the into thinking that the belkin is connected. it probably send a certain code to the iPod just like the remote, and then it thinks that it's attached, letting anyone use whatever mic they want.

also, it's a speaker, so i might wind up buying it for the reason that most portable speakers are 65 dollars. i know the quality won't be the same, but it might be good for some cases.
 
Looks like I might have to upg to a 3G ipod. The card reader is certainly a huge plus. `canon 10d uses mem cards big time. Does it support verified transfers?
 
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