What are the differences between Digital and Micro Tape voice recorders?
May 19th, 2010
Is one better than the other? I am going to use it to record my teacher in a regular sized high school classroom.
I would like to know what would best suit my needs. It would be nice to be able to put the recordings on my ipod if I use a digital recorder but my main concern is quality.
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A digital recorder doesn’t use tape cassettes, it stores the information digitally.
Neither type is noted for audio fidelity. Their advantages are size and convenience.
Both types will use compression to get a sensibly constant recording level. The disadvantage is that during speech pauses the background noise rises, sometimes very noticeably. Some t.v. news teams use these small recorders and you can hear the background noise rising most annoyingly.
You would find this effect much more noticeable if you make you recordings towards the back of the room where the teacher’s voice is weaker.
However, you may find this acceptable as it will be for recording lectures and the like.
Any decent stockist of these machines should let you try on out in the store so you can assess the quality for yourself.
Some of them are appalling!