[Help]Audio Recorder for Lectures

[mnabhi]

Hi,

I am trying to look for a decent audio recorder I can use to record lectures. I am not too fussy about price aslong as it is less than £100. The main thing I need is clarity from a distance, incase I cant get a seat in the front row.

Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks

[vinnyT]

I don't think distance will be a problem, most teachers/professors are fine about leaving recorders on their front desk, just make sure nobody nicks it.

[mnabhi]

Thanks for the reply. Yea thats the thing i was worried about. In a lecture of about 300 students, there is a possibility it will dissapear into thin air.

[Biscuit]

I always used to use my phone, its not perfect but it works well enough. I was always in quite a small lecture theater though so it wasn't too much of an issue picking up the speech.

With regards to taking notes in lectures, if you are going to be using a laptop or tablet, I can recommend using software called evernote. It is free and can be used on near enough any popular mobile device on the planet or even standard web browsers. There is also a lot of programs which seem to be integrating into it now allowing you to expand its capabilities.
It does come with recording function so if you device has bluetooth you could possibly pair it with an inexpensive bluetooth microphone? I dont know if this is possible or exists though, just throwing ideas out there

[shaithis]

When I saw the Livescribe I always wished I had one for lectures!

Might be worth investigating and it's within the budget.

[Biscuit]

When I saw the Livescribe I always wished I had one for lectures!

Might be worth investigating and it's within the budget.

Livescribe can also link into Evernote

Link

[mnabhi]

I always used to use my phone, its not perfect but it works well enough. I was always in quite a small lecture theater though so it wasn't too much of an issue picking up the speech.

With regards to taking notes in lectures, if you are going to be using a laptop or tablet, I can recommend using software called evernote. It is free and can be used on near enough any popular mobile device on the planet or even standard web browsers. There is also a lot of programs which seem to be integrating into it now allowing you to expand its capabilities.
It does come with recording function so if you device has bluetooth you could possibly pair it with an inexpensive bluetooth microphone? I dont know if this is possible or exists though, just throwing ideas out there

That is genious!
Will try this out as soon as i get a cheap headset from ebay.

With regards to Livescribe, I found this after a brief googling.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Livescribe-A...6971260&sr=1-2
is it a decent deal? the 4gb and 8gb models are stupidly high priced.

and thanks allot for the input guys

[Biscuit]

Let us know how you get on with evernote, i dont know how i lived without it! Seems liek the best you will do on livescribe for the price... seems expensive though.

[mnabhi]

It is a bit expensive, no doubt about that. But in the end if it will help me get a better degree than a £100 ontop of the 30k loan is nothing.
Now I just need to overcome the fear of taking my elitebook into uni. xD

[dave87]

I used an Olympus digital voice recorder when I was at Uni, simple enough and worked at the front as well as it did in the auditorium (when the speaker used the amplification system was noticably clearer if recording from the seat in the lecture theatre).

From memory it wasn't too expensive, and had the added benefit of being able to store the lectures on the computer afterwards (they were recorded as MP3s) so I could listen back if I had any issues/points to recover.

[mnabhi]

I used an Olympus digital voice recorder when I was at Uni, simple enough and worked at the front as well as it did in the auditorium (when the speaker used the amplification system was noticably clearer if recording from the seat in the lecture theatre).

From memory it wasn't too expensive, and had the added benefit of being able to store the lectures on the computer afterwards (they were recorded as MP3s) so I could listen back if I had any issues/points to recover.

Hi, there seems to be allot of different models out there, could you please specify a specific one if possible?

[dave87]

The one I have has been discontinued, this seems to be the closest replacement - OLYMPUS VN-8500PC

[mnabhi]

Thanks dave, I will look into this a bit further and post back on my findings

[purdz]

Been meaning to give evernote another go after I signed up ages ago. Will sign back in.

Never really found to much use for it, what have you all found it useful for?

[art vandelay]

I'd recommend the Samson Go Mic - it's around £50 and is a very capable USB mic. I use it for recording voice overs on video tutorials but it is popular for recording lectures too.

[Biscuit]

Been meaning to give evernote another go after I signed up ages ago. Will sign back in.

Never really found to much use for it, what have you all found it useful for?

Sorry mate i missed this till the thread was revived. To clarify the relevance of these notes my profession is a broadcast systems engineer so i work on long projects where we install facilities for companies/corporations such as the BBC or ITV.

I have used it for:
- keeping my expenses receipts together (means i don't have to carry crap loads of receipts around)
- notes for problems i may encounter in the future
- To do/Snags lists
- meeting and training notes for colleagues who miss those events
- Passwords for low security risk websites or files which are used regularly
- Random configuration notes for components in a system i regularly dip in and out of

To be honest i signed up for it a long time before i really got to grips with how useful it really is. I really got into it recently due to getting a tablet. Its a bit of a curve; not learning how to use it but learning how to adapt yourself to it. Everyone has their own productivity methods so it can be quite tricky but i can honestly say im glad i made that transition, so much so im thinking of buying the premium service