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Audio Recording on New iPods

Posted by pudge on from the we-are-listening dept.

Vertig0gitreV writes "Over at iPodding they are reporting that in the Diagnostic Mode of the new new iPods (released on the 28th of May) there are two options for audio recording: mono through the headphone jack, and a stereo line-in through the docking port via the yet-to-be-announced line-in adaptor."

7 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. New Input mode by slowtech · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have been looking into using the iPod as a PDA (read only, of course), and I am really excited about this. With this feature you can either take audio notes on the run, or, if there is enough processor power for voice recognition, enter information into the Calendar / Address Book, etc.

    There is also a third option, which would be neat, to record the audio onto the iPod disk, and then have your Mac transcribe the audio when the iPod hooks up. This could be a work around if the iPod does not have the computing capacity for taking voice input.

    This would be so like Apple - they know we are all getting just a little sick of Graffitti and scribbling tiny marks on a tiny screen. Voice recognition / recording would make the iPod a PDA with a unique and convenient interface.

    --
    "Well it's not Victory - but then it's not Death either."
    1. Re:New Input mode by Genevish · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Apple has recently been awarded patents relating to improved speech recognition. Could this be the next "insanely great thing"?

      http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/03/200303020 15 701.shtml

      -Scott

  2. iPod at the practice session.. by naelurec · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This could be VERY cool. Assuming that the input can work as a line in, I could see hooking up a nice set of mics to a mixer, run it into the ipod and use it as a very quick and easy recording setup for band practices. Download the resulting MP3/WAV files and email them out to band members. :) (or perhaps come up with some funky script that would de-hiss the recording, compress it slightly, etc)

  3. Voice recognition? by jcsehak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If they've got line (or mic) in, how much further can voice recognition be? Imagine an AUI (Aural User Interface):

    "iPod, play Pink Floyd, album Dark Side of the Moon."

    Might be a nice alternative to the scroll wheel, cool as it is.

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:Voice recognition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As a non-iPod related side note, I've got this working with iTunes and my iMac (and its built-in mic). With the help of this Applescript and a Keyspan Digital Media Remote I can control iTunes by voice across the room, almost exactly as your example there is set up.

      But, to be honest, I don't know if a system similar to OS X's built-in voice recognition could be used with an iPod, at least conveniently. At least, with the Applescript linked above, on my 800MHz G4 it takes about three to five seconds to load the names of 128 artists to recognize. It would take significantly longer to do so on the iPod. (I guess the names could be held in RAM to make it quicker.)

  4. Wonder how they avoid spinning the disk. by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They'll have to buffer audio in the 32MB RAM, compress it, and when the RAM fills up, spin the HD and write it down. If they've got decent MP3(AAC?) encoding hardware on it, then they might not need to buffer the incoming audio at all, in which case I imagine they could avoid spinning the disk more often than once every twenty minutes or so.

    If they pull that off, you could get hours and hours and hours of recording time on a single charge. Er... but idunno about the power requirements of a decent mic. This might not be everything a bootlegger dreamed of, but close to it. They'll probably still need to carry around some kind of power source to drive their mic. Any audio folks out there to illuminate the issue?

    --

    There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  5. It has been in hardware from the start by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It has been in hardware (processor) from the first iPods, however, this 3rd generation iPod finally has the hardware connection and initial rudamentary software connection to take advantage of it. I think that coupled with the notes feature, which has also been refered to as "museum mode," and the "experiments in education," Apple is preparing the iPod for more vertical markets.

    It'll be interesting to see what iPodding finds when they conduct the take-apart. I imagine that this one will be far more optimized since it is significantly smaller than the first two generations and uses specialized connections. The design process of the last one was designed to take advantage of "off the shelf" components.