Voice recorders

[avinash]

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Okay, its about time i get myself one of these..

If you have one it would be great if you could tell me your experience with it, i need one for lectures..

 

[priyanka]

I'd like to know about the same too...

 

[UCLAstudent]

I got two for when I'm gone on interviews. I give them to a friend in my classes, and she records the lectures for me. The classes that I do this for all have lecture slides that students print out before class, so that makes it easier to follow along. I need to record the lectures, though, because professors go into more depth than what is on the lecture slides.

Problems:

*for every hour of lecture, it takes me about three hours to decipher the tape. The quality isn't so great (and I have a good recorder), but it might be because my classes are all 100+ people. Still, even when the recorder is toward the front of the classroom, it is difficult to understand the tape.

*because I have the option of rewinding the tape, I end up writing down much more than I would if I were actually in class, pressed for time and trying to keep up with the professor. This makes it a bit overwhelming when I'm studying for exams, as I tend to (unnecessarily) write down the smallest details that are mentioned when listening to the tape.

Nonetheless, recording lectures saved me last quarter since I missed ~10 days of school.

 

[avinash]

I got two for when I'm gone on interviews. I give them to a friend in my classes, and she records the lectures for me. The classes that I do this for all have lecture slides that students print out before class, so that makes it easier to follow along. I need to record the lectures, though, because professors go into more depth than what is on the lecture slides.

Problems:

*for every hour of lecture, it takes me about three hours to decipher the tape. The quality isn't so great (and I have a good recorder), but it might be because my classes are all 100+ people. Still, even when the recorder is toward the front of the classroom, it is difficult to understand the tape.

*because I have the option of rewinding the tape, I end up writing down much more than I would if I were actually in class, pressed for time and trying to keep up with the professor. This makes it a bit overwhelming when I'm studying for exams, as I tend to (unnecessarily) write down the smallest details that are mentioned when listening to the tape.

Nonetheless, recording lectures saved me last quarter since I missed ~10 days of school.

it would be great if you could specify the recorder model, thanks

 

[captbadass]

Okay, its about time i get myself one of these..

If you have one it would be great if you could tell me your experience with it, i need one for lectures..

dont be THAT guy.

 

[MWillie]

dont be THAT guy.

Yeah, I hate guys like that, why don't they just pay attention during lecture.

 

[wendywellesley]

Yeah, I hate guys like that, why don't they just pay attention during lecture.

when you need to get As, you will do anything possible. i record all my lecutres so i can transcribe them later. i sit in the front row, pay attention and ask questions. i love my recorder but it's on the pricy side. it comes with a program you download on to your computer, you store all the information there so you don't deal with tapes. I have a sony ICD-ST10 series recorder. i highly recommend it since i'm able to record 5 hours of lecture time (on the flip side to that, it eats up batteries).

oh, am i'm acing all my classes 🙂

 

[MWillie]

when you need to get As, you will do anything possible. i record all my lecutres so i can transcribe them later. i sit in the front row, pay attention and ask questions. i love my recorder but it's on the pricy side. it comes with a program you download on to your computer, you store all the information there so you don't deal with tapes. I have a sony ICD-ST10 series recorder. i highly recommend it since i'm able to record 5 hours of lecture time (on the flip side to that, it eats up batteries).

oh, am i'm acing all my classes 🙂

That's hardcore, I just use a 2 dollar note book and I get my fair share of A's.

 

[dr_pepper]

Your time would be much better spent reading through the text than re-listening to the lectures, in my opinion.

 

[wendywellesley]

Your time would be much better spent reading through the text than re-listening to the lectures, in my opinion.

what ever works for you. the classes i'm taking are lecture heavy on the exams. i enjoy re-listening, reading the text can get real boring real fast.

 

[avinash]

Yeah, I hate guys like that, why don't they just pay attention during lecture.

umm dont get the wrong impression, but i DO go to LECTURE and i DO pay ATTENETION to what is going on and i DO take notes. But i sometimes fall behind and cant take down all the important points....so dont assume that i am lazy and dont pay attention please..

 

[avinash]

when you need to get As, you will do anything possible. i record all my lecutres so i can transcribe them later. i sit in the front row, pay attention and ask questions. i love my recorder but it's on the pricy side. it comes with a program you download on to your computer, you store all the information there so you don't deal with tapes. I have a sony ICD-ST10 series recorder. i highly recommend it since i'm able to record 5 hours of lecture time (on the flip side to that, it eats up batteries).

oh, am i'm acing all my classes 🙂

would it be decent recording quality if you sit say 4-5 rows back from the front on the auditorium? or do u need to be at the front?

 

[wendywellesley]

would it be decent recording quality if you sit say 4-5 rows back from the front on the auditorium? or do u need to be at the front?

it depends what setting you are on. if its LP (long player) then you are better off sitting in the front (which is part of the reason why i sit in the front). but if you have a day where you only have one class in the morning and you have time to transfer the material on to the compu. then go to the next class, you can use standard mode which will give you good quality sound if you sit in the middle of the lecture hall.

 

[avinash]

it depends what setting you are on. if its LP (long player) then you are better off sitting in the front (which is part of the reason why i sit in the front). but if you have a day where you only have one class in the morning and you have time to transfer the material on to the compu. then go to the next class, you can use standard mode which will give you good quality sound if you sit in the middle of the lecture hall.

wow in the middle, thats pretty darn good i think.

is this it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009N6VQ/102-0096927-7826511?v=glance

 

[wendywellesley]

wow in the middle, thats pretty darn good i think.

is this it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009N6VQ/102-0096927-7826511?v=glance

yeah, that's the one. i remember once last year in biochem i came late and had to sit in the back row of a 200 seat lecture hall. i used standard play and i was able to get all that was said.

 

[NYGirl12]

i record lectures myself! i agree with the above poster..for every hour of class, it usually takes me more than 2 hours to transcribe the recordings because I write down everything...it's kinda time consuming. But it's really paying off 🙂

Do you guys have any experience with the Dragon software? The one that converts the recording into text...Is it good/worth it?

 

[Code Brown]

I use the Creative Labs NOMAD MP3 player. 128 MB of memory (~9 hours of voice recording) for around $80. The great thing about it is that it's plug and play, working on all plug and play computers, and it doubles as a portable USB drive. The sound is good to about 6-7 rows deep. After that, you lose it if your prof is quiet.

 

[45408]

That's hardcore, I just use a 2 dollar note book and I get my fair share of A's.

No kidding. I opted for the slightly more expensive $8 notebook though. 😉 I like having multi-subject notebooks. I fit all four semesters of gen chem and organic chem in one notebook. 😱

 

[wxl31]

i used a recorder my last semester in school (got plenty of A's w/o it before). not sure why i started. i think i was having some problems with a class. anyway, i found it fun to relisten to lectures (i'm a big nerd) and each time found that i did miss one thing here or there. at my school, all of the exam is taken from lecture, so it was better for me to relisten to lectures shortly after class vs. reading text from book.

 

[virilep]

some people in the big lecture class i was in put the voice recorder on the table in the front so it basically recorded without all the sneezing and talking of the people around u... and if u wanna talk too ;-). but i know a lot of med schools have a system in the class where they rotate the recording and transcribing and they post it on the net. it's pretty helpful i hear and i'm sure that the med students that do it get its use. i guess if you're an undergrad u might as well get used to it. but then again, the 5-star notebook can be just as handy. whatever floats your boat!

for me, the professor is much more important than the book. the professor writes the test (for most classes) so he'll tell you want he thinks is important (or she).

 

[45408]

Yeah, MCW has a co-op system of transcribing all the notes and putting them in your mailbox by the next day or something like that.

 

[youngin]

I originally had a recorder which apparently picked things up really well but it was so hard to hear with the voices sounding so faint. However, I used mp3 gain, free i think, and now all of my recordings sound perfect. Perhaps that will help.

BTW when you look for a recorder (assuming ur getting a digital one since those are cheaper), make sure that it can record quite a bit because you don't want to always have to transfer files to your computer. And make sure you can buy one that can transfer or else you'd lose it pretty fast (mistake i made at first).

 

[avinash]

i have a ipod... and there is a voice recorder for that but im not sure how good it is, recording time wouldnt be an issue since i have like 17 gigs left...

 

[hooniedee]

I have an IRiver mp3 palyer and it has really clear voice recording capabilities and a better range than most regular recorders. Mine is 256mb so I can record up to 12 hrs of lectures. I listen to it on the player and then I can save it on my computer. With this I can even burn it in music cds and listen in the car. Best thing is I don't have to bother with buying tapes or rewinding/fastforwarding searching for where things are.

Your Ipod should definately be able to do the same. Test it out and you might not even need to buy a recorder. For me the regular recorders were a waste of time. I had one and when I got my mp3 player never touched it again.

 

[avinash]

If you have some money to spend and know what mp3s are get an MP3 Player. Seriously it will be the best investment.

It has really clear voice recording capabilities and a better range than most regular recorders. Mine is 256mb so I can record up to 12 hrs of lectures. I listen to it on the player and then I can save it on my computer. With this I can even burn it in music cds and listen in the car. Best thing is I don't have to bother with buying tapes or rewinding/fastforwarding.

Here's a good Samsung one on Dell's website :

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?TabPage=overview&sku=A0423145&c=us&l=en&cs=19

Good luck to you.

haha i just posted above this already saying that i have the ipod but i dont know if the belkin voice recorder is good...

 

[hooniedee]

oops i edited above but you were too fast