Ok, I'm looking to buy an MP3 player which has also voice recording capability, in ADPCM format. It's called the Moveman SSP-100, and uses Compact Flash cards up to 1 gig, I plan to buy a 128 mb card with it. I'm going to use it exclusively for voice recording, as I need the thing to record all my college sessions. I'm planning after having recorded my sessions to convert them into MP3 files to archive them on CD-R so I can listen to them as often as I want on my mp3 player. I plan on archiving them in mono and at an high bitrate to keep most of the sound quality. My question is: which settings should I use with FhG of LAME to keep most of the quality at the optimal bitrate? I don't know ADPCM much, so how much time should I be able to record on a 128mb Compact Flash card? I'm open on trying another codec which I could only read on my PC if I could keep the sound quality on a lower size. But if it's necessary to keep a good clean quality, size isn't that important.

I plan to buy the thing because it would be nice not to be forced to record manually over my sound card's line-in input for so long and transfer the files directly. I also looked at the IC Recorders, do they record with the ADPCM codec too?

Thanks!

if you find someone who compiles lame linked with libsndfile for reading, then you could use lame to encode ADPCM to MP3.

IIRC, LameDropXPd (available at RareWares) has libsndfile included.

Ok thanks, I'll get that and try to encode a few samples...

I read that it has a limit for recording length/size (ie, NOT the entire CF card, but smaller), and so you have to split your recordings up. I don't know if this would affect you or not. Check out this review of two similar CF players, this one and the Diva Player. You might just like the Diva better. BTW, the Diva supposedly does NOT limit the recording length/size.

http://www.epinions.com/content_80557411972

This player should do the trick for me. I got a few ADPCM voice samples and encoded them at a very low bitrate, and it sounded pretty fine. Thanks for you help.

I'm glad it will work, I don't have enough experience with ADPCM to know what quality it produces on average, so good deal if it is acceptable! I know this is probably beating a dead horse, but I did find a third CF player that is comparable to this and the Diva that people might find interesting. Here's a link: http://www.edigital-store.com/mp3-players-mxp-100.html

No offense, but I would avoid that e.Digital player like the plague. It's needlessly big and heavy for a flash player, uses a proprietary Li-ion battery, and requires the use of notoriously buggy transfer software to move files. For voice recording, the Diva is a much better choice (IMO).

Yeah, and this company seems to sell its products only on it's website, see that flag under my nick? It means I'd get some heavy customs. I know our dollar is higher than before, but it would be lots of trouble. I'd like to buy from a canadian website, and of all the products mentioned only the Moveman seems to be available, plus it's cheap. Thanks anyway.

I own a SSP-100 and I am posting some words of caution.

The ADPCM format the player records to is completely proprietary and cannot be read by anything I've tried (Linux/Windows): Cool Edit Pro 2, Sound Forge 6, Winamp, etc.

After discovering this, I was forced to re-record audio via line-out to my PC once I get home. (Yes, that defeats the point of digital recording)

That said, I'd be very happy if someone could prove me wrong

As far as lengthy recording goes, I am recording 3+ hour sessions on it without a problem. I have an 80MB CF card in it and 3 hours takes about 45MB of it.

Playing back your recordings on the unit works OK, but if you FF/Rewind in the recording, it usually gets confused and the time on the display no longer corresponds to the actual position in the track.

Another word of caution for long recordings:
The recorder appears to write raw data to the card, and only creates a filesystem entry (file) once you hit stop. Once you do hit stop, it seeks all the way from start to finish of the file and then makes said entry. On a 3 hour recording this tends to take 15 minutes. During this time, the unit is frozen (saying "Saving...") to the point that it's too busy to shut off the backliight.
The warning is that if the player shuts off for any reason during this time, the entire recording will be lost. This includes empty batteries or even too much pressure on some areas of the case.

This also means that if you just leave the player recording, it will record until it either fills the card or runs out of power. In the former case, it might be ok but if the battery runs out first, the recording is lost entirely.


Finally, the unit emits a very high pitched noise whenever it's in operation. When backlight is on, this noise in unbearably loud... once off, the noise is still annoying. Interesting thing is, if you twist/bend the case a little, the noise varies in intensity, and you can usually find a quiet position. Twisting it too much usually causes it to shut off....

Finally, as an mp3 player the only merit this thing has is indeed sound quality, which is decent. Since there is absolutely no ID3 support, and filename usually cuts off at 6~1.3 format, you're pretty much guessing about what you're playing. Also it only plays root directory entries - no directory support.

Some newer players can directly encode to mp3 for example the iRiver IFP-3xx series. However, it only has a fixed built-in memory of 128, 256 or 512 MB, which can not be upgraded. This babies are not cheap though.
iRiver product info page
If you insist on use CF cards take a look at the Frontierlabs Nex series or the Diva player.

Akom thank you for your warning, I was just about to buy it, glad I didn't!

I think I'll go with the IRivers, much better and much cooler!