Video iPod: a podcaster’s dream machine?
Prior to today, the only way to lift the artificial 8khz “ceiling” for recording on the iPod — beyond telephone quality) which some of us wanted to do for portable podcasting — was to install the iPodLinux Project operating system (which facilitated up to 44.1khz recording).
While it’s perfectly understandable that Apple artificially capped recording capability so as to appease the record companies — and now that they’ve got the power tipped in their favor they can do more — what I don’t understand is that they didn’t provide a microphone accessory (say, a USB powered condenser mike that plugged in to the dock connector) and gave Griffin a heads-up so that there’d be a way to use an iTrip with this device.
Obviously someone will make one if Apple doesn’t. At first glance I thought, “Oh geez, I just bought the M-Audio Microtrack for $400″ but realize now that its capabilities for field recording far surpass what I could achieve with the iPod…without lots of additional accessories.
So no….this is not a podcaster’s dream machine (video, audio, photos, and podcast recording all rolled in to one). It’s cool…but it’s just a handy, dandy playback device.
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About Steve Borsch
Strategist. Learner. Idea Guy. Salesman. Connector of Dots. Friend. Husband & Dad. CEO. Janitor. More here.
Connecting the Dots Podcast
Podcasting hit the mainstream in July of 2005 when Apple added podcast show support within iTunes. I'd seen this coming so started podcasting in May of 2005 and kept going until August of 2007. Unfortunately was never 'discovered' by national broadcasters, but made a delightfully large number of connections with people all over the world because of these shows. Click here to view the archive of my podcast posts.
I’ve always just plugged my lapel mics straight into the headphone jack.
Yep…but it is SO cool to be able to loop through. I did a soundseeing tour in San Francisco on Market street one evening. People undoubtedly thought I was listening to an mp3 player of some type and ignored me. What struck me was how well my hearing adjusted and I heard things I normally ignored (sounds of trolley cars squeaking; people talking; music coming out of store speakers and bars; some guy whistling).
So I’d hate to plug a microphone in to the headphone jack and miss out on setting levels, hearing what is being recorded, and so forth.