I'm shopping for a small/tiny audio recorder, the kind for recording in a class, interviews, etc... not really music, just voice. Per usual, a lot of these write their audio files in some Windows format, e.g., WMA. As a confirmed Linux guy, I'd want to offload the audio files in some format that Linux can read/play natively. I've read a sketchy suggestion that there's a Linux app or utility to do a translation from WMA, <http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/127583>, but I always like to keep things as simple as possible and so would much prefer avoiding the hassle and possible failure of conversion apps and Windows-format crap generally. Secondly, connecting to my laptop... I've got a sound card, but it doesn't have LineIn, just mike and headphone jacks; neither of these is good for input, but... Many audio recorders these days connect with USB (which I've got), so that's the most likely connection path. Given these parameters, does anyone have good experiences with a really small audio recorder and offloading and then playing its sound files on Linux? Thanks much. -- Anything is easy if you know how to do it.
On Tue, 2011-04-12 at 18:12 -0400, ken wrote:> I'm shopping for a small/tiny audio recorder, the kind for recording in > a class, interviews, etc... not really music, just voice. Per usual, a > lot of these write their audio files in some Windows format, e.g., WMA. > As a confirmed Linux guy, I'd want to offload the audio files in some > format that Linux can read/play natively. I've read a sketchy > suggestion that there's a Linux app or utility to do a translation from > WMA, <http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/127583>, but I always like to > keep things as simple as possible and so would much prefer avoiding the > hassle and possible failure of conversion apps and Windows-format crap > generally. > > Secondly, connecting to my laptop... I've got a sound card, but it > doesn't have LineIn, just mike and headphone jacks; neither of these is > good for input, but... Many audio recorders these days connect with USB > (which I've got), so that's the most likely connection path. > > Given these parameters, does anyone have good experiences with a really > small audio recorder and offloading and then playing its sound files on > Linux? > > > Thanks much. > >Sony ICD-PX820. Records in mp3 format, connects with usb. Sweet. Cheers, B.J. Tue Apr 12 21:05:03 EDT 2011, RHEL 6, Linux 2.6.32-71.24.1.el6.x86_64 x86_64
Hi Ken, If yer stuck with WMA, mplayer will convert to WAV format using `mplayer filename.WMA -ao pcm:waveheader` which will create a fixed name file, audiodump.wav which then can be encoded MP3 using lame or other encoder. My wife had a problem with her recorder in that it *only* created WMA. A bash script kicks off to convert the WMA -> WAV -> mp3. She is happy (and so am I). Peace, Allan ken wrote:> I'm shopping for a small/tiny audio recorder, the kind for recording in > a class, interviews, etc... not really music, just voice. Per usual, a > lot of these write their audio files in some Windows format, e.g., WMA. > As a confirmed Linux guy, I'd want to offload the audio files in some > format that Linux can read/play natively. I've read a sketchy > suggestion that there's a Linux app or utility to do a translation from > WMA, <http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/127583>, but I always like to > keep things as simple as possible and so would much prefer avoiding the > hassle and possible failure of conversion apps and Windows-format crap > generally. > > Secondly, connecting to my laptop... I've got a sound card, but it > doesn't have LineIn, just mike and headphone jacks; neither of these is > good for input, but... Many audio recorders these days connect with USB > (which I've got), so that's the most likely connection path. > > Given these parameters, does anyone have good experiences with a really > small audio recorder and offloading and then playing its sound files on > Linux? > > > Thanks much. > >
On 04/12/11 3:12 PM, ken wrote:> I'm shopping for a small/tiny audio recorder, the kind for recording in > a class, interviews, etc...my wife has a little Olympus voice recorder, it supports recording in several qualities of .mp3 files, but there's lots of software on lunix that will play .wma, like VLC. her pocket recorder looks like a flash card when its plugged in via USB, and has folders A, B, C, D (that you can select before recording) and then numbered files in each folder. runs a gazillion hours on a couple AAA batts. and was quite cheap. btw, for other applications... you can get a patch cord that will convert 'line' audio outputs to 'mic' level inputs, its just got a few resistors in it to reduce the signal 100:1. these are often called an 'attenuator cord'. on the other hand, the mic inputs on most laptops are mediochre sound quality at best.
ken wrote:> As a confirmed Linux guy, I'd want to offload the audio files in some > format that Linux can read/play natively. I've read a sketchy > suggestion that there's a Linux app or utility to do a translation from > WMA, <http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/127583>, but I always like to > keep things as simple as possible and so would much prefer avoiding the > hassle and possible failure of conversion apps and Windows-format crap > generally.To those that replied with WMV/MP3 formats: Please READ the post CAREFULLY before you jump the gun. NATIVE Linux format is for example .ogg, because Fedora/RHEL and few other distributions only use *OSS* codecs. MP3 and WMV are proprietary codecs, so they are not natively supported on LInux. Many players can play FLAC Vorbis/OGG, but I can not see any that can record in FLAC or Vorbis. Please visit http://wiki.xiph.org/PortablePlayers and to see what can fit your needs. Also, try googling with: "vorbis" +portable +voice +recorder -software and try to find detailed info or write to manufacturers. You could also google for Vorbis encoding chips/processor and see who makes them and who buys them. I think that is the most important feature for portable encoder/recorder. MP3 encoder chips already exist for a long time. Ljubomir
You might look into a SanDisk Sansa Clip+. (I don't own one, but I know someone who does.) This: - supports playback of Ogg files (amongst other things) [1,2,3]. - can record audio (although I believe this may be in WAV format [2,4]) - has USB, can behave as a mass storage device, so works fine with Linux - has a microSD card reader. - is the size of a matchbox I've read a suggestion [4] that Rockbox [5] might be installed as a way to allow the device to record in MP3 format [6,7]. One caveat: European versions have their volume limited, due to EU health and safety rules. However, this can be circumvented by resetting the firmware and choosing another locality, possibly modulo some loss of FM radio functionality. 1. http://www.sandisk.com/products/sansa-music-and-video-players/sandisk-sansa-clipplus-mp3-player 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDisk_Sansa 3. http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-917677.html 4. http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/Site-suggestions-Product-feature/Voice-and-FM-Recording-format/m-p/103928#M1001 5. http://www.rockbox.org/ 5. http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaClip#Clip_43_variants 6. http://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus/rockbox-buildch10.html#x13-14800010
On 4/12/2011 5:12 PM, ken wrote:> I'm shopping for a small/tiny audio recorder, the kind for recording in > a class, interviews, etc... not really music, just voice. Per usual, a > lot of these write their audio files in some Windows format, e.g., WMA. > As a confirmed Linux guy, I'd want to offload the audio files in some > format that Linux can read/play natively. I've read a sketchy > suggestion that there's a Linux app or utility to do a translation from > WMA,<http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/127583>, but I always like to > keep things as simple as possible and so would much prefer avoiding the > hassle and possible failure of conversion apps and Windows-format crap > generally. > > Secondly, connecting to my laptop... I've got a sound card, but it > doesn't have LineIn, just mike and headphone jacks; neither of these is > good for input, but... Many audio recorders these days connect with USB > (which I've got), so that's the most likely connection path. > > Given these parameters, does anyone have good experiences with a really > small audio recorder and offloading and then playing its sound files on > Linux?Android phones have an app called 'voice recorder' (and probably others) that might be good enough to avoid carrying another device. The one on my phone stores an .asf file. I don't have a linux box with audio enabled but I think mplayer is supposed to handled that. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com