Portable digital recorders: Buying Guide

Best portable digital recorders for various uses. Some of these recorders are suited for casual (voice) recording, whereas some options offer better sound quality overall.

Portable Digital Audio Recorders: Buying Guide

Introduction to Digital Audio Recorders

As the name suggests, this is a device used to record audio, but unlike other equipment these are compact and portable. There’s a lot of variety out there, and so its important to choose one that is adequate for your needs, the more important factor being the quality of the built-in microphone. Besides, you also have to consider the battery life, and whether it offers adequate storage for your recorded files.

• Students, journalists, and other non-musicians will find it particularly useful, to record unplanned events, take notes, meeting minutes, and to record any ideas.
• Whereas non-musicians may be happy with a decent audio recording, musicians will definitely expect a better vocal recording.

So depending on the use, you’ll have to pick one that comes with the adequate mic quality.

Why Use Digital Audio Recorder?
There are several other reasons as well (non-music related) where you may want to use a digital voice recorder.

And these devices are only getting better by the day. These are becoming smaller in size and some of them can record for 144 continuous hours, before requiring a recharge. Almost All of this functions with just a couple of ‘AAA’ batteries.

These also come with features like FM stereo, shows date and time, and have built-in flash memory.

Just use this along with a lapel microphone, USB connector cable and stereo headphones, and you get everything required for awesome digital recording.

Here are some more benefits of using these:

1. Quick and inexpensive way to record audio, interviews, lectures, and even music
2. Musicians can use these to record songs, ideas. Recording quality is good to be used as demo or for rehearsals
3. File size size is smaller so you can easily share on the web, easy to share the songs with family members on CD
4. Easy to practice with the recorded song or if you wish to make improvements to your songs.
5. Multiple speeds for playing back the recordings.

These also come with a bundled software that helps you to organize the recorded audio files. It helps you to organize, play, and download the various files.

Voice vs Digital Recorders

While both are similar in functionality, basic Voice Recorders record audio through low-quality microphones, and create smaller sized audio files.

The better portable Digital Recorders, on the other hand, usually have better quality built-in microphones, they allow you to record in high-resolution files types. The better ones also have the ability to accept from other sound sources (such as external microphones or line-level signals). These are typically used by musicians.

Some recorders come with dual microphone assembly that delivers outstanding stereo sound quality, perfect for the serious recording enthusiast. These are also perfect for recording music lessons, practice session, and band rehearsals.

All these Digital Recorder devices can easily be plugged into a computer to transfer the recorded audio files.

A basic voice recorder is used other professionals such as journalists, doctors, lawyers and even students. And if you intend to share the device with your colleagues or business associates, go in for a digital recorder that allows individual user IDs. These devices can be used to take notes in the classroom or for recording the minutes of meetings & conferences at work.

Musicians and songwriters can opt for the more advanced digital audio recorders. Though setting up your own music studio does help in the long run, these are great for recording musical ideas when on the go. Digital Voice Recorders can be used in several ways, and once you have perfected your song you can get it recorded in a real studio to create a professional quality mix.

Voice Recorder: Types & Features

Long back, you had to use a micro cassette recorder, in case you wanted to record something. But the problem was that it recorded on tapes, and they generally had lower storage capacities. It meant you had to carry a bunch of tapes. Over time, the technology became obsolete, as storing, transferring and retrieving the data was cumbersome.

Besides, this device was originally developed for forgetful people, so that they could make a note of important things and then just refer to it when required. It wouldn’t be of any use if they forgot to carry the tapes as well 🙂

While you still get analog voice recorders, where the recording is done on magnetic tapes, these are not very popular options. These require micro cassette recording media, and the sound quality is just about okay (if you’re going to use it for music). And because these are cheaper these suit those who’re on a budget.

Digital Voice Recorders
These use modern technology, are convenient to use, are compact in size and the recordings can be uploaded and kept on other digital storage, such as computers. These offer better sound quality but can be expensive.

This can be used by anybody who wants a better quality recording – Students, Authors, Reporters, Musicians, and others.

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• Best basic voice recorders for recording lectures, interviews
• Best digital audio recorders for sound professionals

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Here are some useful features of these devices:

• Compact and portable design
• Integrated stereo mics and speakers (no need of additional equipment)
• Headphone jack to connect earphones and listen without disturbing others
• Repeat Function
• Choose between stereo or mono recording
• Record in WAV or MP3 formats
• Some models also allow the audio to be recorded at rates up to 24-bit/96kHz for top-quality results
• Files can be stored in internal flash memory, or stored on external pen drives

If you are a musician, you’ll find the standard 3.5mm mic and line inputs useful, as it lets you connect a variety of microphones, instruments, and other audio sources (including Earphones).

Factors to Consider when Buying

So what sort of voice recorder should you go for?

• The best ones for recording lectures/meetings are those:
• That can record without capturing a lot of background noise.
• Should be easy to use
• should have a good battery life
• Should be easy to take backups (move content to computer or other storage devices)
• The audio doesn’t necessarily have to be of the very best quality
• It should be affordable

Price Range
The price depends on several factors such as:

• Digital or tapes
• Recording capacity
• Batter life
• Ability to attach external microphones or line-in devices
• What are the included multi-tracking software
• Attachable stands
• On-board track layering, and more

Based on these factors, you have the following options:

1. Cheap digital voice recorders
2. Mid-range recorders
3. Pro-level digital audio recorders

Popular Brands
Here are the top brands that make a wide range of digital recorders.

Zoom . Tascam . Boss . Olympus . Roland

More Recording Options (Digital Recorders: Categories)

Today, you don’t really need expensive multi-track recorders, processors, and tons of cables to create good music. Though they might still be used in the big studios, it is now possible to create good music using your computer or multi-tracker Digital Recorder. The computer and/or the digital multi-tracker have replaced several equipment and functions.

Today, it’s more about software, minimum hardware, and its the age of the portable studio. Almost everything happens inside your computer or the multi-tracker.

These days people use computers, audio interface and digital audio workstations (DAW software) to record music, and these setups definitely have a lot to offer in terms of features and convenience.

However, there are some drawbacks too, such as:

• Most of these setups are expensive
• You may really not need hem for your requirement

The good thing is that there are simple recording options as well. Not only are they cheaper, the size of these recorders are also much smaller (some can even fit in your pocket).

Portable Digital Audio Recorders
These portable audio recorders have better built-in mics and as a result record better sound quality overall. Use it for recording music ideas, music practice session, music lessons, and so on. Best portable audio recorders

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Basic Voice Recorders
Here are some more basic audio recorders, useful for generic use (recording lectures, meetings, podcasting, etc). Best voice recorders

Multi-track Digital Recorders
These are self-contained digital multi-track recorders, with rhythm generator, built-in pro effects and more. Best for recording music, when you’re too lazy to use the computer for recording. Best multitrack recorders

How to Connect Digital Voice Recorder to Your Computer?

Here’s how to upload the recorded content from a voice recorder on to your computer.

Over time, your digital audio recorder will have lot of important recordings and it makes sense to move them to another storage area, such as the computer.

This way you have a backup and you can free up your space on the recorder to record more things.

Its indeed possible to transfer all your recorder files to your computer, to be archived for later use, and its not at all difficult to do so.

So how do you connect Digital Voice Recorder to Your Computer?

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Connect the recorder to your computer (using the USB link cable that is included in the package)
2. Turn on your digital voice recorder.
3. Once its ON, you can access the recorder in you computer’s “My Computer” section.
4. To access the content of the recorder, just double-click the icon that appears for this external hard drive.
5. Now you can drag/copy/move the files you need from your digital voice recorder folders onto your own desktop/laptop computers folders.

That’s all you need to do!

Here’s a video that shows How to Transfer Audio from a Recorder to Computer.

Here’s another video that shows how to transfer analog tape or digital audio to your computer, without the use of a USB cable (works great for transferring uncompressed EVP files — for paranormal investigators). You can even use this technique to transfer your old tapes to the new digital format.