Freesound Forums

Hi there.

A few years ago I bought a OGG/MP3 player iRiver iHP-140, which can also record (in wav or mp3). Now, I'd like to do some field recording - for this website and to create samples, but my old player is broken - seems like i've got to change the HD.

So I was wondering : is it worth the repair cost (around $100), or should I look for something else to do my recordings ?

the way i see it:

The advantage of getting it repaired is that the iRiver enables drag and drop of sounds and recordings, so there are no more unnecessary conversions going on. however for that money you could buy a minidisc recorder and a microphone to do the job, or if you have a mic, a minidisc recorder for cheaper.

If your soundcard is pretty basic then the repair would probably be best, however if you'd rather not spend the $100 then the minidisc recorder option would be best

if you decide to go down the minidisc route there are many threads in this section about which one
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1373

I know that mike (acclivity) and Dobroide use iRiver H120s +RockBox software with external pre-amps for their recording. Mike said he actually uses a Sony MZ-N10 minidisc recorder as pre-amp. So you could buy a minidisc as a recorder, and if you want to go back to recording on a hard drive you could get your iRiver repaired and use the minidisc as a pre-amp. (although I'm not 100% sure what goes for the h120 also goes for other h100-series models...

I reckon if it was mine I would pay the $100 and get the H140 fixed - it's a useful flexible device. And I think it's just like the H120 but with a bigger drive, so the external mic pre-amp using say an MD unit would work, as it does for me.

thanks for the advices ! i've been looking around for second hand minidisc, and it's pretty expensive ! well, maybe i'm not looking at the right place, but anyway ... I think I will repair the iRiver.

Have you looked on ebay?

I would probably have it fixed. Assuming it doesn't come out to a price that you could replace the unit for. If its still $100, go for it. I recently switched to RockBox for my iHP120 and love it.
The only suggestions with using the iRiver is probably already common knowledge, but do not use the built in microphone. Its terrible and suffers from noice generated by the Harddrive. This is reduced somewhat in the RockBox replacement, but for me it hasn't really gone away.

I had to replace my hard drive about a year ago as well, but thankfully it was under extended warranty so they replaced the entire unit instead.
.

Hi,

I am using an Archos MP3/WAV/MPEG4 Player for recording connected to a RME Quadmic. It is a little bit unhandy because of the but good quality. Look here:

http://www.erdie.de/download/arm1.jpg
http://www.erdie.de/download/arm2.jpg

Last time i did the following recording with it, a choir of 8 people where I am participating:

http://www.erdie.de/download/ave-verum.mp3

There are no issues with noise etc ..

Greetings
Erdie

I don't understand where the microphone is in the setup you show there...

lonemonk
I don't understand where the microphone is in the setup you show there...

Of course, the microphones are external connected to the Quadmic with a cable. I don´t believe that it is possible to have high quality build-in mics in any device. All I have tested so far did not reach the quality you need for field recording.

Well, thats what I thought, but I just didn't see any mics plugged in, within the picture you showed. I was curious to know if there was something going on off-screen....