At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is just wrapping up today, Belkin released a new product called The Podcast Studio.
In essence, you plug an iPod into the gadget and hit Record. It has a built-in mic, but also comes with 1/4″ and XLR jacks (!) for pro-audio needs. The device also has gain controls, a low-pass filter, and a built-in compressor/limiter. It records in uncompressed WAV file format.
Here’s what the main control panel looks like.
It will be available in the U.S. in June for $100 and is compatible with the 5G iPod video as well as the 3G nano.
|
Email This Post |
| Production Gear |
What does this have to do with the CBC?
I love it and I want it!!!
This may come as a surprise to you, Allan, but some CBC Radio employees require recording devices to do their jobs.
Holy sh*t!…
On the surface this seems far superior to the Marantz units we’re now using. If the performance is as claimed then I can definitely see us using this. It seems much more well-baked than Marantz at what; 1/3 the cost?…
Very cool, even to a non-broadcaster but podcast fan. In olden times, I was always miffed that ipod-recording accessories recorded in wav format, but the capacities that ipods come with these days make it a non-issue.
Be cautious. In my experience 5G iPods recording in full 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo often skip egregiously unless you take care to erase the disk or otherwise defragment it first. They perform better recording at 22.05 kHz mono.Also, Belkin announced a mixing board recorder for the iPod at last year’s CES, but have still to ship it reliably, so I’d wait to see if this thing is real and try it out first. Something like the Zoom H2 or H4, or the newer Sony and Marantz mid-range recorders, might still be a better idea, especially once you figure in the iPod’s cost into the equation.