As a working national producer/director/writer and a serious higher education person I have found Olympus makes great products and I have used them for nearly 7 years. I personally love the Zi8 and Zi6 mini HD cameras with external microphones and SD cards that allow me to expand. I love the Flip in low light but it doesn't have the audio port yet. Chris Heidelberg Ph.D. -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Mary K. Bryson Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 11:19 AM To: aoir list Subject: Re: [Air-L] recording and transcribing I have been using the Olympus DM and the more expensive, Olympus LS-11 http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1471 I love them both, and think the DM is just great -- mid-range Olympus digital recorders are available in Canada, typically very inexpensive, both at Staples and London Drugs. All models and accessories are on Amazon at v. good prices. I have significantly increased audio quality of interviews by using a very small, tabletop recorder tripod --- any camera store has these. The legs are about 6inches long, and so the whole tiny little tripod fits in the equipment bag. This brings the in-built microphone up to where it needs to be, which when sitting at a table, will bring it about one foot from the speakers. Olympus digital recorders come with Olympus' proprietary audio file management and editing software, Sonority, which I use all the time to edit audio files before they go to the transcriber, or to extract bits I want to keep as small audio objects. The $10- upgrade is well worth it. http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/21005_software_sonority_21962.htm And yes, it's all dual platform compatible. Cheers, Mary -- Dr. Mary K. Bryson, Professor and Director, Network of Centers and Institutes in Education (NCIE) & Center for Cross-Faculty Inquiry (CCFI), Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia Archive: http://ubc.academia.edu/MaryKBryson Current Research: http://www.queerhealth.ca CCFI: Innovation Works Here http://ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/
From: Barry Wellman <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:31:06 -0400 To: aoir list <air-l@aoir.org> Subject: [Air-L] recording and transcribing
After testing, we strongly preferred Olympus DM voice recorders to iPhone even with the external mike. Olympus comes with apps that make it more optimal, such as not recording silences (assuming you're an ethnomethodologist).
You can buy a quite cheap Olympus or spend a bit more money. IF you have the money, do it for clarity, apps. If it is your diss or major project, this is NOT where I would save money.
I got talked out of using external mikes this time, and feel it was a mistake. Mike would have helped clarity.
Clarity is really important for speed of transcription -- the real killer -- and for keeping whoever is transcribing (including yourself) happy.
For transcribing, you can buy footpedals or you can install freeware which provides short cut keys. (Please don't ask me for brand names because a collaborator installed all this.)
Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________
S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________
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