Belkin’s nifty iPod recorder — finally

iTalk Pro

Seems like its been since, oh, forever, that I’ve been looking for a voice recorder to attach to my fifth-generation iPod but its only been a year. When last we checked in on the wait in March, there were two contenders: XtremeMac’s MicroMemo (which looked cool but was kind of pricey) and Griffin Technology’s iTalk Pro (which had simplicity and value on its side).

So I happened to be in an Apple store recently and got to see both products up close, or at least as close as possible through all the plastic packaging. I have to say that the MicroMemo looked frail and the detachable microphone made me nervous — too easy to lose. The iTalk looked a lot simpler to operate — plug in, press big red button and that’s it. Both products also have an input jack to connect another mic or a phone line or whatever. Finally, the iTalk was about $50, or $10 less than the MicroMemo. That sealed the deal.

Since coming home from the store and losing its many layers of plastic wrap, the iTalk has been working without a hitch. Plug it in and go. It created a new entry under the “Extras” menu labled “Voice Memos” where all of its recordings are stored on the iPod. Back on the mothership, it created a simple playlist of the same name.


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5 responses to “Belkin’s nifty iPod recorder — finally”

  1. Dave Villeneuve Avatar
    Dave Villeneuve

    What’s the battery life when using this? In other words, how long can you record on a full charge?

  2. Aaron Pressman Avatar

    Dave,
    The longest recording I have made is about an hour and a half and there was still substantial charge left. I have read that you can make about 3 hours of recordings on a fully-charged battery, see this Mobile Tech Review article, for example.
    -Aaron

  3. shree Avatar

    Hi Aaron, great review!

    I heard about the Ipod recording a soft humming sound of the hard drive turning on and off. Have you had that problem while recording on the Ipod?

    thanks

    shree

  4. Aaron Pressman Avatar

    Shree,
    I don’t detect anything like that in my recordings but I’m not doing fine audio work, just recording people I’m interviewing for articles. The hard drive is typically off during recording, in my recollection.
    -Aaron

  5. fjbnheipsssf

    fjbnheipsssf…

    Anyway, you should do your best ;)…

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