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Belkin debuts Universal Microphone Adapter for iPod

updated 01:05 pm EST, Mon March 1, 2004

Belkin Microphone Adapter

today announced the Belkin Universal Microphone Adapter, which connects to your iPod and to any audio microphone with a 3.5mm plug. It attaches to the iPod with remote/headphone connector, records 16-bit audio at 8KHz, includes a real-time recording-level LED indicator, can adjust microphone sensitivity using a 3-level gain switch, and works wtih iPod software version 2.1 or later. It will begin shipping on March 17 in North America for $40.

by MacNN Staff

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03/01, 01:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
External mic...8KHz?

Make sure you get a really expensive microphone for recording that almost telephone quality audio...

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03/01, 01:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
Plenty good for voice…

This looks like a good thing to use for voice notes.

I wonder if it works with the iPod mini? If so, this will be great for my girlfriend's birthday: an iPod mini (green) and one of these recorder thingies.

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03/01, 01:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
8Khz

I wonder if that was a typo? Should it have read 48Khz?
I found nothing about this on the Belkin site.

-CJ

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03/01, 01:31pm | report spam | close Reply |
OOOF!

So, what's the top ADVANTAGE of this listed on the Belkin site?

NOT compatible with the iPod mini.

Nuts.

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03/01, 01:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
every damn time...

belkin announces a product they never mention anything on their own website. why?

okay, so what format does it record in? stereo capability? 8khz?

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03/01, 02:29pm | report spam | close Reply |
1, 2, 3, edit...

This looks like a ripe thing to use for voice notes.

I wonder if it works with the ripe iPod mini? If so, this will be great for my ripe girlfriend's birthday: a ripe iPod mini (green) and one of these ripe recorder thingies.

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03/01, 03:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
low quality cuz

apple obviously dosent want you to be able to directly recort audio at high quality, as it may lead to piracy and they are trying to do everything they can to not make the ipod a piracy conduit. If it ever became one, the iTMS would die a horrible death once the riaa got pissed enough.

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03/01, 04:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
My thoughts......

This thing is just RIPE for taking notes in college classes.

Or better yet for people doing interviews or other areas where an audio recorder would be useful.

I believe the 8 khz they are referring to is 8 khz is the top end of the
frequency response not the sampling rate - this would be acceptable
for voice dictation - probably 16-bits at 22 khz sampling rate is my
guess.

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03/01, 04:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
quality

there's battling piracy and then there's a $30 microcassette recorder is better quality. Piracy is a big issue if it's easy. Live recording isn't. You dl a song off kazaa or the like, you get a exact duplicate, provided the transfer doesn't error out. Analog recording like this device allows means you have to record in real time, relevel, trim, tag, and even then you (probably) only have one channel of audio.

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03/01, 04:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
recording music?

recording music with 8khz audio? you might as well go to the grocery store with a battery powered cassette recorder and record the muzak and kazaa the h*** out of it.

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03/01, 04:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
APPLE limits quality

The audio quality is limited by Apple, not Belkin. I think this sucks. The iPod could be the ultimate tool in live audio recording if it could record stereo 16-bit 44.1KHz AIFF audio, but Apple refuses. Most other recorders can record at this quality (usually WAV) but those units otherwise suck in comparison to the iPod.

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03/01, 05:33pm | report spam | close Reply |
Battery limits quality

It's well possible that Apple limits the recording quality to acquiesce to the wishes of the recording industry, but let's not discount limitations in the iPod's technology. A reviewer at www.macteens.com noted that his iPod was able to record about an hour of audio using the original Belkin microphone attachment. After that the battery ran out.

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03/01, 05:33pm | report spam | close Reply |
Battery limits quality

It's well possible that Apple limits the recording quality to acquiesce to the wishes of the recording industry, but let's not discount limitations in the iPod's technology. A reviewer at www.macteens.com noted that his iPod was able to record about an hour of audio using the original Belkin microphone attachment. After that the battery ran out.

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03/01, 06:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
Recording industry? Maybe

I kind of doubt that the recording industry has anything to do with this. Isn't it more likely that the iPod just can't handle recording at that quality?

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03/01, 07:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
thank you belkin

Thanks for releasing a crappy (yet more expensive) version of this product, and then coming out with a better implementation a few months later.

Next time, can the c*** and make your customers wait a bit for the better rev. This way we're not so pissed off at an otherwise solid company.

-chump

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03/01, 07:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
Vox populi

It's for voice notes; 8kHz/16-bit is perfect for that. Most telephone voice sampling is done in what amounts to standard old .au format, which is about equivalent or a little lower in quality (8-12 bit log sampling instead of 16-bit linear PCM). It'll sound fine and give an insane length of recording time (much longer than the iPod battery will be able to power even a conservative mic).

What makes you think the remote jack on the iPod could handle higher quality anyway? Where, for that matter, do you imagine a stereo signal would enter? This isn't a Firewire device.

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03/01, 09:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
no

>>The audio quality is limited by Apple, not Belkin

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03/01, 11:36pm | report spam | close Reply |
stereo recording

What exactly could anyone want or need to record at high-end stereo with an iPod? Oooh, maybe bootlegging some concert that would sound horrible anyway due to the fact most concerts are overly loud and lousy accoustics and the like.

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03/02, 03:26am | report spam | close Reply |
How about A/V use?

If the iPod could record quality audio, it would be an amazing tool for audio/video sound techs..

for those that don't know... audio for TV and movies isn't recorded though the mic on the camera, but through real Mics into a nice recorder. Usually MiniDisc for independent work, for quality and cost.

A good mic, and an iPod would be great, except for this c***.

But I still think it's the Mp3 encoding on the fly that the iPod can't handle.. fine give us straight AIFF in then. We can encode at home. OR better yet, a choice for AIFF, or Mp3. That way it works for notes, and can be played back right away.

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03/02, 11:00am | report spam | close Reply |
8khz only

I am pretty sure it's the max sample. Someone gave me the mic for christmas, the quality is quite low, and it gets blown out frequently. This new one seems to have gain control, so that is good, but the sample rate needs to be better. Lets hope apple updates the software.... or some egg heads hack it to record at least 44khz.

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Belkin debuts Universal Microphone Adapter for iPod

updated 01:05 pm EST, Mon March 1, 2004

Belkin Microphone Adapter

External mic...8KHz?

Plenty good for voice…

8Khz

OOOF!

every damn time...

1, 2, 3, edit...

low quality cuz

My thoughts......

quality

recording music?

APPLE limits quality

Battery limits quality

Battery limits quality

Recording industry? Maybe

thank you belkin

Vox populi

no

stereo recording

How about A/V use?

8khz only

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Belkin debuts Universal Microphone Adapter for iPod

updated 01:05 pm EST, Mon March 1, 2004

Belkin Microphone Adapter

Related Articles

Recent Articles

External mic...8KHz?

Plenty good for voice…

8Khz

OOOF!

every damn time...

1, 2, 3, edit...

low quality cuz

My thoughts......

quality

recording music?

APPLE limits quality

Battery limits quality

Battery limits quality

Recording industry? Maybe

thank you belkin

Vox populi

no

stereo recording

How about A/V use?

8khz only

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

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