I realized that the voice recording is only on WAV format.
The problem is that I recorded a 1:30 min file and it took almost 300 mb!!!
I dont understand how Sandisk said 15 hours of recordings!!
What can I do?
Message Edited by zZZZZZZ on 03-28-2008 12:46 PM
Once you’ve made the recording, either transfer it elsewhere (such as to your computer) and/or convert it to a compressed or less-capacious format. dbpoweramp Music Converter (freeware) will convert very easily; its MP3/Helix engine/format does not require a license fee after the initial trial period (and dbpoweramp has many other formats you can convert to, both lossy and lossless, many of which likewise do not require a license fee–that includes WMA).
Do the math, zZZZZ- it comes out pretty close…
On another note: I noticed that the Clip’s mic doesn’t like loud noises…I was recording my dog “singing” T’other day…and when she’d bark, it was terribly distorted on the Clip.
Has anyone tried the Clip’s voice recorder at a college lecture or presentation? I’m wondering if the Clip can replace those dedicated voice recorders in these situations where the speaker is further away.
Yes, I have tried it with the speaker far from the microphone. The AGC circuit of the Clip cranks the sensitivity up, and you’ll be amazed at how sensitive it is! There’s no background noise or hiss, and the high sampling rate ensures a clear recording.
Bob 
Wow–amazing, for this tiny thing.
@neutron_bob wrote:
Yes, I have tried it with the speaker far from the microphone. The AGC circuit of the Clip cranks the sensitivity up, and you’ll be amazed at how sensitive it is! There’s no background noise or hiss, and the high sampling rate ensures a clear recording.
Bob
Cool! I’ll have to try it out :smileyvery-happy:
@neutron_bob wrote:
Yes, I have tried it with the speaker far from the microphone. The AGC circuit of the Clip cranks the sensitivity up, and you’ll be amazed at how sensitive it is! There’s no background noise or hiss, and the high sampling rate ensures a clear recording.
Bob
Have you looked at the recording with an audio edit program?
I use my 2 GB Clip to make audio recordings for lectures that I give. When I first got it, I used it to record a teaching in parallel with an older Lexar MP3 player (LDP-600) to compare them. The Lexar records in WMA stereo format and is as clear and clean as can be. The Clip records in WAV and had an annoying spike every so often on the recording.
A firmware upgrade to 29a fixed the spike problem, and when listening it sounds clean, but under Goldwave, there is a repetitive noise signal that shows on the waveform. Using the noise filtering by clipboard feature of Goldwave, I can remove this anomaly, but it shouldn’t be there in the first place. The noise is generated by the Clip as the two MP3 players are recording lying side-by-side - a couple inches apart.
I have resorted to using the Clip lately, not because of superior recording ability, but due to battery life issues with the antiquated Lexar. Too bad Lexar was purchased by someone who disbanded the MP3 player line. They were great. They just had some quirky user interface and I couldn’t get any firmware fixes. I found out too late they were already being sold when I discovered the first problems with the player.
All told, the Sansa is a much better unit, but the voice recording is the weakest feature. I would prefer the WMA or MP3 format for recording, and the noise issue is annoying. It did improve with the latest firmware, but more work needs done.
CyberRon…
That is great that you analyzed the recordings in GoldWave! (I use CoolEdit myself.)
Can you please tell me the specifics of the voice recording files? You’ve said it’s .wav format.
1.) Is it a stereo or mono file?
2.) What’s the sample frequency? (the standard 44.1 kHz or something else?)
3.) How many bits per sample? (16 bits like a CD, or something else?)
Also, how much battery life do you get when making a voice recording?
By the way, does the Clip record from the internal FM tuner? Someone told me “yes” but there is absolutely no mention of this function in the .pdf manual.
If it *does* record from the tuner, can you please tell me the file details for those recordings, also, as they might be different from the voice recordings?
THANKS A MILLION!
@greg_m wrote:
Can you please tell me the specifics of the voice recording files? You’ve said it’s .wav format.
1.) Is it a stereo or mono file?
2.) What’s the sample frequency? (the standard 44.1 kHz or something else?)
3.) How many bits per sample? (16 bits like a CD, or something else?)
Also, how much battery life do you get when making a voice recording?
By the way, does the Clip record from the internal FM tuner? Someone told me “yes” but there is absolutely no mention of this function in the .pdf manual.
I checked one of my files just now using a slightly older version of Goldwave (5.20 I think). Here is what it reported:
Wave PCM signed 16 bit, 24000 Hz, 384 kbps, mono
As to battery life, a fully charged unit will record for 2 full hours (my longest recording) and show about 80% power based on the bar. I did not check the actual percentage having just learned of that feature.
I don’t fret about battery life as long as I can record that long. My old MP3 player would be down to about 25% in the same time (but with much better recording). Battery life was never a big thing with it getting about 5 hours or so on a charge.
I usually don’t let the Clip get below about 80%. I listen about half an hour at a time, two to three times a day for a couple days and then charge it while at my desk. It lasts plenty long for my purposes. Not real technical on this, but it doesn’t concern me.
As for recording FM it’s supposed to do that, and if you look at your Sansa as a drive, and look under the Record folder, you will see both an FM and a Voice folder. That should prove that it has the capability. However I have never even used the FM receiver on the Clip, or for that matter on my old MP3 player. I purchased the Clip simply to play MP3 files and do voice recordings. It suits me for my purposes.
@cyberron wrote:
I use my 2 GB Clip to make audio recordings for lectures that I give. When I first got it, I used it to record a teaching in parallel with an older Lexar MP3 player (LDP-600) to compare them. The Lexar records in WMA stereo format and is as clear and clean as can be. The Clip records in WAV and had an annoying spike every so often on the recording.
As a fellow instructor, I was wondering:
(1) What do you teach? 
(2) Do you distribute/upload your lectures, and if so, how? (And does that influence attendance?)
-Matt
Ron, thanks for posting the technical info about the voice recording file format. That sample rate should be adequate (just barely) for voice, and 16 bits sample size is great. It’s disappointing to hear that the audio quality is not great.
I’m shopping for a recorder that a friend, who is a Ukrainian instructor, can use to record and archive lectures. But my friend doesn’t have the experience to clean up the audio files, and I don’t want to get roped into that chore. So perhaps some other recorder would be a better choice. (I tried one of the cheaper/smaller Sansas, and it recorder with only 8 bits/sample, so the fidelity was not even suitable for voice.)
I just Googled Lexar and find very few recorders, none of them the model you tried. Guess I’ll keep looking.
Thanks again for all the info you posted, I really appreciate it!
Greg
@greg_m wrote:
Ron, thanks for posting the technical info about the voice recording file format. That sample rate should be adequate (just barely) for voice, and 16 bits sample size is great. It’s disappointing to hear that the audio quality is not great.
I’m shopping for a recorder that a friend, who is a Ukrainian instructor, can use to record and archive lectures. But my friend doesn’t have the experience to clean up the audio files, and I don’t want to get roped into that chore. So perhaps some other recorder would be a better choice. (I tried one of the cheaper/smaller Sansas, and it recorder with only 8 bits/sample, so the fidelity was not even suitable for voice.)
I just Googled Lexar and find very few recorders, none of them the model you tried. Guess I’ll keep looking.
Thanks again for all the info you posted, I really appreciate it!
Greg
Greg,
Even though I found some traces of a low level noise on the audio recording it was not audible. The quality of voice recording is good enough for voice, though I’m somewhat of a perfectionist and purist. I intend to continue to use the Clip for audio recording because of its size, battery life,and ease of connection to my PC.
I don’t want to claim that the Clip is not suited to the task - it absolutely is. It doesn’t compare to the Lexar, but then Lexar is out of the MP3 business and I was never able to get any updates on firmware. This is the hope that I have that the noise issue (however low) can be fixed.
Hope this helps.
CyberRon
@sansamatt wrote:
@cyberron wrote:
I use my 2 GB Clip to make audio recordings for lectures that I give. When I first got it, I used it to record a teaching in parallel with an older Lexar MP3 player (LDP-600) to compare them. The Lexar records in WMA stereo format and is as clear and clean as can be. The Clip records in WAV and had an annoying spike every so often on the recording.
As a fellow instructor, I was wondering:
(1) What do you teach?
(2) Do you distribute/upload your lectures, and if so, how? (And does that influence attendance?)
-Matt
I teach home bible studies and occasionally Sunday school and Sunday sermons. I keep a library to lend out to those that come to our bible studies, and will be putting a recent teaching on the 70 Weeks of Daniel on the church website.
I don’t teach professionally or on tour, but just mainly for my own edification and learning. If you teach, then you know that what you share is only about one tenth of the material you use in preparation. So my primary student is myself.
Ron
Hi
I mainly use my MP3 player for voice recording and am currently looking to purchase and new one and am thinking seriously about the 2Gb clip. I would like to know how many MB are taken up with, say, a 1hr recording. I ultimately want to know how many hours recording I can get on the 2gb, as I dont like the chorse of downloading!
Thanks for your help
Dan
@philosopherdan wrote:
Hi
I mainly use my MP3 player for voice recording and am currently looking to purchase and new one and am thinking seriously about the 2Gb clip. I would like to know how many MB are taken up with, say, a 1hr recording. I ultimately want to know how many hours recording I can get on the 2gb, as I dont like the chorse of downloading!
Thanks for your help
Dan
My last two recordings were as follows:
@46 min 2 seconds @ 126 MB
@521:42 @ 144 MB
Hope this helps.
Ron
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