I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else. I know one or two people who post
here may have dealings in this sort of thing, hence asking -
pointers to more appropriate groups, or useful recommendations
and advice, will be much appreciated.


J.B.

hi jerry,
there is 2 options i would say, either micro cassette recorder
http://www.thedictationshop.com/standardmicro.html

or a recordable minidisc player sony ones are good
with an external mic up your sleeve
regards
bob




On 7 Sep 2004 13:19:07 -0000, Jerry Built
wrote:

I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else. I know one or two people who post
here may have dealings in this sort of thing, hence asking -
pointers to more appropriate groups, or useful recommendations
and advice, will be much appreciated.


J.B.

"Jerry Built" wrote in message
...
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else. I know one or two people who post
here may have dealings in this sort of thing, hence asking -
pointers to more appropriate groups, or useful recommendations
and advice, will be much appreciated.


J.B.


how about a usb stick that also acts as a voice recorder, they also tend to
play mp3s etc.

It should be possible to transfer the recording onto a PC.

do a search on ebay for

usb mp3
or
usb recorder
or
usb voice

128M go from about £25 up
256M from £35 upwards

--
-----
to reply, remove cavemen from below:

Jerry Built wrote:

I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else.

A someone else suggested, a Minidisc recorder with a stealth mic.
The original ones only do around 3 hours, but newer ones (with a 1gb
minidsc) can do over 8 hours in high quality - more at lower quality.

As stated, a lot of the MP3 players do record as well, I have one that
does, but I find the record quality is nowhere near that of my Minidisc
recorder.
Should be adequate for speech though - if that is the intention.

Lee
--
Email address is valid, but is unlikely to be read.

On 7 Sep 2004 13:19:07 -0000, Jerry Built
wrote:

I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.

Some of the best of these are now entirely solid state, recording in
MP3 format. Easy download to a PC. They act as MP3 players too.

Creative Labs do a decent one, and it uses pluggable memory so you can
expand it. Olympus probably make the best ones, especially for mic
quality (a serious difference), but they weren't as good as playback
devices.

"Jerry Built" wrote in message
...
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else. I know one or two people who post
here may have dealings in this sort of thing, hence asking -
pointers to more appropriate groups, or useful recommendations
and advice, will be much appreciated.


J.B.

An IRiver 20Gb HD mp3 player would be capable of upto 16 hours recording at
a time (that's the battery charge limit)
Only problem is they are expensive! -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...069507-8544646
When you are not recording, you can listen to your music collection or radio
though.

Dave

In article ,
Jerry Built wrote:
Looks a bit big to me.... how good is the microphone? I need to
record voices in a large room.

or a recordable minidisc player sony ones are good
with an external mic up your sleeve

Ooh-er, this isn't my technical forte. Would this give reasonable
sound quality?

The limiting factor is going to be the microphone and its position for
this sort of stealth recording - not so much the medium it's recorded in.

And in a large probably echoey room, you're not going to get good results
no matter what.

--
*I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Jerry Built wrote:
Looks a bit big to me.... how good is the microphone? I need to
record voices in a large room.

I'd also point out that if there are several people in the room, the
results will be even worse, as they will overlap one another somewhat.
Makes it almost impossible to understand.

If you watch any 'fly on the wall' progs, you'll find the bits they use
avoid this.

--
*If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message ...

The limiting factor is going to be the microphone and its position for
this sort of stealth recording - not so much the medium it's recorded in.

And in a large probably echoey room, you're not going to get good results
no matter what.


The cheapest way to improve the audio quality in a poor acoustic is to
get the microphone as close as possible to the source of the wanted
sound.

As Dave Plowman suggested, you probably won't get results that are
much better than borderline intelligible, you would be very fortunate
indeed to get reasonable quality results. Much depends on what you are
recording and what you intend to do with the recording.

Richer Sounds often sell cheap factory refurbished Minidisk recorders.
I got a Sharp one a couple of months ago for around £45 and I would
imagine that it might well suit your purposes.

It does have modes where you can record at a lower quality for much
longer durations, it's tiny and it runs off a single AA battery for
ages.

In message , burbeck
writes
hi jerry,
there is 2 options i would say, either micro cassette recorder
http://www.thedictationshop.com/standardmicro.html

How 20th century


or a recordable minidisc player sony ones are good
with an external mic up your sleeve
regards
bob

Moving recording media ?


--
geoff

In message , Jerry Built
writes
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else. I know one or two people who post
here may have dealings in this sort of thing, hence asking -
pointers to more appropriate groups, or useful recommendations
and advice, will be much appreciated.

I have an Olympus digital recorder, it records 2 1/2 hours of speech and
the contents can be downloaded to a PC or conventional media.
It's smaller than a tape based dictaphone

Or a recording MP3 stick with 128 / 256 megs memory

What do you want to record?

What sound quality do you require?

How small does it have to be?

Do you want to connect it to a microphone ?


--
geoff

In message , Jerry Built
writes
Jerry Built wrote:
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else.

burbeck wrote:
there is 2 options i would say, either micro cassette recorder
http://www.thedictationshop.com/standardmicro.html

Looks a bit big to me.... how good is the microphone? I need to
record voices in a large room.

or a recordable minidisc player sony ones are good
with an external mic up your sleeve

Ooh-er, this isn't my technical forte. Would this give reasonable
sound quality?


dnh wrote:
how about a usb stick that also acts as a voice recorder, they
also tend to play mp3s etc. It should be possible to transfer
the recording onto a PC.
=20
do a search on ebay for usb mp3 or usb recorder or usb voice
=20
128M go from about =A325 up
256M from =A335 upwards

Well, they're cheap - would they do the job? - I've been thinking
of something along the lines of:

http://tinyurl.com/68ql7


£230 and 8 hours ?

Are you taping the MiL ?

both are way beyond your original spec



--
geoff

raden wrote:
Jerry Built wrote:
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being
noticed. It should be able to record for several hours,
with reasonable quality, and it should be easy to
transfer the recording made off it onto something else.
I've been thinking of something along the lines of:

http://tinyurl.com/68ql7

=20
=A3230 and 8 hours ? Are you taping the MiL ?
=20
both are way beyond your original spec

The 8 hours is rather longer than I need, yes. The voice-
activated recording, possibility of easy connection to the
telephone line and to a p.c. is very attractive, and the
blurb says "crystal clear recording". The price tag is a
downside, but I've got to have something like this, and
soon. Any comments on the piece of kit in the above tinyurl,
or knowledge of anything similar, or hints on where to ask?
This matter is pressing, and if anyone can make further
suggerstions......


J.B.

"Jerry Built" wrote in message
...
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else. I know one or two people who post
here may have dealings in this sort of thing, hence asking -
pointers to more appropriate groups, or useful recommendations
and advice, will be much appreciated.


J.B.

I have a 256mb memory stick/MP3 player. It measures about 9 x 3 x 2 cm and
it is totally silent while recording. Quality is very good when you speak
directly at it. It will still pick up a voice about 20 feet away but
obviously its not as clear and might sound a bit jumbled if a lot of people
were talking at once. There is no separate microphone but you could stick
the whole thing in a shirt pocket. Bare in mind that it will record
obtrusive rustling noises if it moves about in your pocket though. I would
suggest this would be ok to record conversations you were having with
another person but if you wanted to record a whole group of people it would
be better to conceal in the room somewhere. You can transfer the file via
usb to play on the computer or as it comes with a standard stereo headphone
socket it shouldn't be a problem to connect it up to a cassette recorder or
whatever.
Nodge

"Jerry Built" wrote
| Looks a bit big to me.... how good is the microphone? I need
| to record voices in a large room.

Do you have access to the room beforehand? Could you position a wireless
microphone more favourably? It would either have to be retrieved afterwards
or left behind (and its subsequent finding would be evidence that recording
has occurred). You could use a a pen, credit card or calculator transmitter,
with a larger receiver/recorder in a briefcase or outside the room.

http://www.lorraine.co.uk/home.asp
Portable transmitting systems are ideal for impromptu meetings or
negotiations in locations outside your control. These devices can either
accompany you into a room or be left behind to transmit conversations to a
remote location.
UX-CARD Our most popular transmitter is the same size as a credit card
and a mere 4mm thick. It can be easily accommodated in a jacket or shirt
pocket, amongst working papers or perhaps a diary. Battery life - 20 hours
of continuous use. Use with the UXR 2 or UXR 4 receivers.
UXR-4 RECORDER This is a high gain, heavy-duty receiver/recorder. In auto
mode the system will automatically switch-on and record when it senses a
transmitter in use. The UXR 4 receiver/recorder offers an audio facility for
listening live and an external aerial facility so the system can be
concealed in a motor vehicle.

Owain

In article ,
Jerry Built wrote:
The voice- activated recording, possibility of easy connection to the
telephone line and to a p.c. is very attractive, and the blurb says
"crystal clear recording". The price tag is a downside, but I've got to
have something like this, and soon. Any comments on the piece of kit in
the above tinyurl, or knowledge of anything similar, or hints on where
to ask? This matter is pressing, and if anyone can make further
suggerstions......

The 'crystal clear' recording might well be so under ideal conditions. But
a concealed system about your person to do secretive stuff ain't ideal
conditions.

Haven't you ever seen those 'fly on the wall' TV progs? And the bits they
actually show you are the bits that worked...

--
*Born free - taxed to death *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Jerry Built wrote in message ...
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being noticed.
It should be able to record for several hours, with reasonable
quality, and it should be easy to transfer the recording made
off it onto something else. I know one or two people who post
here may have dealings in this sort of thing, hence asking -
pointers to more appropriate groups, or useful recommendations
and advice, will be much appreciated.


J.B.

Try www.advancedmp3players.co.uk

You should be able to buy a small mp3player that has direct encoding
from the inbuilt microphone - people use them for lectures etc. you
can typically record near CD quality for multiple hours. you can also
use external microphones.

I use a Creative Jukebox 20Gb to record my Jazz sextet rehearsals - I
use a small pocket battery preamp and sony condensor mic - v good
results.

There's a whole internet culture devoted to "stealth" concert
recording - a google search will reveal all...

John

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote
| The 'crystal clear' recording might well be so under ideal conditions.
| But a concealed system about your person to do secretive stuff ain't
| ideal conditions.
| Haven't you ever seen those 'fly on the wall' TV progs? And the
| bits they actually show you are the bits that worked...

And even then they in-vision subtitle it most of the time.

Owain

On 7 Sep 2004 14:44:42 -0000, Jerry Built
wrote:


Looks a bit big to me.... how good is the microphone? I need to
record voices in a large room.

As others have said your chances of doing this successfully with a
body worn microphone are close to zero. The brain is extremely good
at filtering things you don't want to hear when you are in a room but
nowhere near as good when you are listening to a recording. You will
also get all sorts of odd reflections (conference call and meeting
recording microphones are mounted on big flat plates to reduce them)
and other noises. If you are trying to record one person next to you
or talking directly to you you might get away with it. If you are
trying to record a group discussion around a large table or even
worse rows of seating then the best you can hope for is fragments of
speech.

Also be aware that most recorders are deliberately designed to be
very easy to switch off so how you carry it can be rather important.


--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/

Jerry Built wrote:
raden wrote:
Jerry Built wrote:
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being
noticed. It should be able to record for several hours,
with reasonable quality, and it should be easy to
transfer the recording made off it onto something else.
I've been thinking of something along the lines of:
snmjip
The 8 hours is rather longer than I need, yes. The voice-
activated recording, possibility of easy connection to the
telephone line and to a p.c. is very attractive, and the
blurb says "crystal clear recording". The price tag is a
downside, but I've got to have something like this, and
soon. Any comments on the piece of kit in the above tinyurl,
or knowledge of anything similar, or hints on where to ask?
This matter is pressing, and if anyone can make further
suggerstions......

The iRiver IFP-395.
512M memory, will do voice recording at 96K for some 12 hours.
The inbuilt microphone is small, and will give adequate results for
recording your own voice and someone you are speaking to in a quiet enviroment.
For better results, you'r looking at attaching a couple of external mics.
This is all easy to conceal, (the IFP is some 80*25*25mm), if you'r
wearing more than a bikini.

In article ,
Owain wrote:
| The 'crystal clear' recording might well be so under ideal conditions.
| But a concealed system about your person to do secretive stuff ain't
| ideal conditions.
| Haven't you ever seen those 'fly on the wall' TV progs? And the
| bits they actually show you are the bits that worked...

And even then they in-vision subtitle it most of the time.

Yup.

Directional microphones that can help reject unwanted sounds - be they
other voices or indeed 'acoustic' - are large and *very* expensive. Like
the best part of a grand for the industry standard. And even with one of
those, to get decent quality speech it needs to be quite close. With the
average omni that most of these type of machines use, you're on a hiding
to nothing.

A good example is the sort of personal mics you'll see on newsreaders,
etc. Not bad quality when close, as they are when worn, but have you heard
what they sound like when they've fallen off etc and are only a few feet
away? Near unintelligible. In a reasonably quiet studio.

--
*If you don't pay your exorcist you get repossessed.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , Jerry Built
writes
raden wrote:
Jerry Built wrote:
I need a voice recorder that I can carry without being
noticed. It should be able to record for several hours,
with reasonable quality, and it should be easy to
transfer the recording made off it onto something else.
I've been thinking of something along the lines of:

http://tinyurl.com/68ql7

=20
=A3230 and 8 hours ? Are you taping the MiL ?
=20
both are way beyond your original spec

The 8 hours is rather longer than I need, yes. The voice-
activated recording, possibility of easy connection to the
telephone line and to a p.c. is very attractive, and the
blurb says "crystal clear recording". The price tag is a
downside, but I've got to have something like this, and
soon. Any comments on the piece of kit in the above tinyurl,
or knowledge of anything similar, or hints on where to ask?
This matter is pressing, and if anyone can make further
suggerstions......

Well, without having a better idea of exactly what you're trying to do,
it's difficult to pitch at the right level

--
geoff

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article ,
Jerry Built wrote:
The voice- activated recording, possibility of easy connection to the
telephone line and to a p.c. is very attractive, and the blurb says
"crystal clear recording". The price tag is a downside, but I've got to
have something like this, and soon. Any comments on the piece of kit in
the above tinyurl, or knowledge of anything similar, or hints on where
to ask? This matter is pressing, and if anyone can make further
suggerstions......

The 'crystal clear' recording might well be so under ideal conditions. But
a concealed system about your person to do secretive stuff ain't ideal
conditions.

Haven't you ever seen those 'fly on the wall' TV progs? And the bits they
actually show you are the bits that worked...

Well, when I went to the HSE discussion on gas safety on behalf of this
NG a couple of years ago, I took a simple pocket dictaphone with me,
everything came out clearly and I had no problem analysing it later on

--
geoff

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote
| A good example is the sort of personal mics you'll see on
| newsreaders, etc. Not bad quality when close, as they are
| when worn, but have you heard what they sound like when
| they've fallen off etc and are only a few feet away?

Yes, QVC had one with a loose clip a couple of weeks ago :-)

Owain

In article ,
raden wrote:
Haven't you ever seen those 'fly on the wall' TV progs? And the bits
they actually show you are the bits that worked...

Well, when I went to the HSE discussion on gas safety on behalf of this
NG a couple of years ago, I took a simple pocket dictaphone with me,
everything came out clearly and I had no problem analysing it later on

But I assume you put the machine in a reasonable place - like on a table?
A table can act as a ground plane and help a mic quite a bit. Difficult to
do if you want to keep it concealed, though.

--
*Learn from your parents' mistakes - use birth control.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
Jerry Built wrote:
The voice- activated recording, possibility of easy connection
to the telephone line and to a p.c. is very attractive, and the
blurb says "crystal clear recording". The price tag is a
downside, but I've got to have something like this, and soon.
Any comments on the piece of kit in the above tinyurl, or
knowledge of anything similar, or hints on where to ask? This
matter is pressing, and if anyone can make further suggestions..

The 'crystal clear' recording might well be so under ideal
conditions. But a concealed system about your person to do
secretive stuff ain't ideal conditions.

I'd thought about taping the thing into a wooly sock or somesuch
so it wouldn't rustle about in a pocket so much.

I'll need (mainly) to record 1:1 conversations, possibly in a
room, or outside (normal speaking distance), or on the 'phone....

Haven't you ever seen those 'fly on the wall' TV progs? And the
bits they actually show you are the bits that worked...

No, sorry, I saw your earlier article - but I don't know what
those programmes are. I was going to reply but got distracted.


J.B.

In article ,
Jerry Built wrote:
The 'crystal clear' recording might well be so under ideal
conditions. But a concealed system about your person to do
secretive stuff ain't ideal conditions.

I'd thought about taping the thing into a wooly sock or somesuch
so it wouldn't rustle about in a pocket so much.

Which will remove even more of the high frequencies needed for clarity.

I'll need (mainly) to record 1:1 conversations, possibly in a
room, or outside (normal speaking distance),

Ah. If they are 1:1 and you are close, that stands a better chance of
working. Try and position the mic on yourself as far as possible away from
your own voice - this will equalise the levels a bit. On one wrist can be
a good place. But do some experimenting before.

or on the 'phone....

Maplin sell a lead for this which plugs into the phone socket. YS78 at
9.99.

Haven't you ever seen those 'fly on the wall' TV progs? And the
bits they actually show you are the bits that worked...

No, sorry, I saw your earlier article - but I don't know what
those programmes are. I was going to reply but got distracted.

You've managed to avoid such a prog? Lucky man.

--
*If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.