Belkin TuneTalk Stereo for iPod 5G, 5.5G (Black) by Belkin
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Digital camera reviews of Belkin TuneTalk Stereo for iPod 5G, 5.5G (Black)
Digital camera Review: Great application- needs some support
Summary: 4 Stars
I find recording lectures easy and the quality satisfactory. I'm pleased in general. I like that it uploads to iTunes automatically.
My criticism is that the stand is poorly crafted, flimsy and not well thought out. I don't trust it will stand up. A second problem with the stand is that if you want to have A/C power the adapter plugs into the bottom of the unit, making the stand useless. When I queried Belkin's tech support they had no sympathy and suggested that I lay it down while recording. For lectures this is not a good solution for me. I want the microphone pointed at the speaker, not the ceiling. Good product, needs a better stand.
Digital camera Review: Great as long as you don't try to use the hold button!
Summary: 4 Stars
I was looking for a product to record notes in class. After reading reiviews on various products and talking to friends about their experiences, this is the product I decided to purchase. Sound quality is great. The battery life varies depending on the ipod that you are attaching the recorder to. The only complaint I have is if you try to use the hold button on your ipod, the screen will freeze. The only way to get it to work again is to reboot the ipod or let the battery drain until it's completely dead. It took my third time using the product to realize the hold button was the source of the problem. Otherwise great product and I recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably priced recorder that is compact and easy to use.Digital camera Review: Great but not by itself
Summary: 4 Stars
First I have to say that the sound quality of recording is tremendous. Second I have to say that the internal mic can pickup sound from across the room with great clarity.
Now for the bad news. If you are using a standard iPod video it uses the internal hard drive alot and the very sensitive mic picks up the sound of the spinning hard drive with great clarity. This makes for very annoying sound. So the external mic is only useful for taking short spoken notes for yourself. If you are using the nano this should not be a problem.
The other problem is that with all that hard drive use, recording eats batteries fast. On my iPod video it can drain a fully charged battery in about 20 minutes. So if you want to use this for podcasting, get an external mic and something to charge it from an AC outlet while recording.
Digital camera Review: Great for high-quality sound recording
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used the TuneTalk with my video iPod for about 3 years.
I manage a volunteer effort to record audio and video of high school concerts including concert band, orchestra, and choir. The overall goal is to feed archives, provide students a chance to self-critique, and to raise funds for the school music program through recording sales.
We use the video iPod plus TuneTalk as a backup, recording analog stereo line-level output from our primary recorder through a distribution amp. Our approach is to turn it on roughly 10 minutes before the first downbeat, and turn it off at the end of the concert. It is basically a fire and forget approach.
The iPod is powered through the TuneTalk power pass-through, from a Belkin power strip with USB power output.
The complaints about intermittent recording are usually a result of recording on an iPod that is nearly full. In that condition, the iPod OS eventually chooses to defrag, and that defrag effort can disrupt recording.
To avoid that defrag problem, we remove recordings from the video iPod after transfer to a computer for editing. Basically the iPod is never more than 50% full when we start recording. A reasonable estimate of iPod disk space needed is 1 GB per hour of recording.
The recording sampling size and rate is CD quality to a lossless stereo WAV file.
Aside from backing up our primary digital recorder, the iPod is also a convenient way to hand a copy to the teachers for use in class during the next school day.
The distribution amp also feeds stereo audio at line level to a digital camcorder through roughly 80 feet of stereo cable. Occasionally that feed fails, and the iPod WAV file becomes the replacement audio track for the video DVD product.
I do not use the built-in mics on the Tune Talk. So I cannot comment on those. Reports indicate that the mics pick up iPod disk motor noise.
Digital camera Review: Great for memos
Summary: 5 Stars
This item is for memos and recording conversations in fairly quiet environments with great quality. Even with a bit of noise in the recording, the voice is clear as a bell. Great quality sound! I found my voice memo recorder for my video iPod!