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Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Hard Disk Noise (and Ugly)

Written by JF from Washington

Jul 27, 2006

This is one of three high quality audio recorders that are or soon will be available for the 5G iPod video: Belkin Tunetalk, Griffin iTalk Pro, and Xtrememac Micromemo. The best reviews, as always, are at iLounge.
The Belkin and the Griffin both have built-in stereo microphones. The stereo is useless and built-in means hard disk noise on the recording. Also the Belkin and Griffin lack speakers, and the Belkin has too many buttons and is just bug-eyed ugly.
The Belkin has two unique features. First, it can be used when the iPod is in a case (at least a Belkin case, and probably most others) – a big advantage. Second, the Belkin has a mini-USB port that can be used to charge, synchronize, or – most important – power the iPod while it is recording. This is critical for some users because, due to constant hard-disk usage, a 30 GB 5G iPod can only record 1.5 hours and a 60 GB model 3.5 hours of digital audio before the battery dies. On the other hand, for those of us are not going to carry around an AC adaptor anyway, this is a reason to be annoyed at Apple rather than to choose one iPod recorder over another. (Why couldn't they have kept a small-file, low-power recording option for those of us who just want to record lectures or conversation?)
(FYI, Apple has provided two voice recording quality options for the 5G iPod video: 'CD quality' at 1.4 mbps stereo and 'low quality' at 352 kbps mono – 5.5 times the bit-rate of an iTunes mono download.)
The Griffin is less ugly than the Belkin, but lacks the iPod-case feature and the mini-USB port, and like the Belkin has built-in stereo microphones (i.e., hard disk noise) and no speaker.
My choice is the Xtrememac Micromemo, both because it has a separate (detachable) mono microphone and because it has a speaker. The separate microphone means no hard disk noise on your recordings. (You can also attach better quality stereo microphones, as you can with the other two as well.) The speaker means that you can listen to recordings immediately without using headphones. Also, I would assume that you can use the speaker to listen to songs or podcasts as well as voice memo recordings – a whole new market for Xtrememac.
The main disadvantage of the Micromemo, aside from the lack of the Belkin's iPod-case feature and mini-USB port (and the fact that it's not for sale yet), is that the fools put an on/off button right in the middle of the speaker. This has to mean a lower-quality speaker – and anyway, why can't everything be controlled through the buttons on the iPod itself? (The ideal iPod voice recorder would have only a microphone input, a speaker, and a pass-through dock connector.) But for now, for me, it's the best choice.

448 of 555 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

great product, just a couple of nitpicks

Written by RJ from Waukesha

Aug 25, 2006

I found that the quality of the recording using the built-in mic was better than I'd expected and very clear, even at the low-quality setting. It's also very easy to use.

There were a couple of surprises, however. I wasn't expecting that external microphones (self-powered lapel mics) would record at only half the volume of the built-in mic, and the subtle background hiss reminds me of recording on cassette tape. Maybe this is simply not possible with any mic of this type, but it would be really nice to be able to monitor the recording through the earbuds and make any needed adjustments in mic settings or placement as needed, rather than having to play it back later and hope for the best.

Overall, though, for recording notes and podcasts, this is a great device, and never having to take my iPod out of its case to use it is a nice plus.

299 of 377 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Great for lectures!

Written by JV from Old Bridge

Sep 13, 2006

I've had this product for two weeks now and have recorded every lecture so far and I must say, I am very impressed with the sound quality. The professor can be way in the back of the classroom and this little thing picks up her voice quite nicely.

The only minor complaint I have is that when you playback, you can hear the hard drive spin up every 15 seconds or so, which may be unacceptable to musicians and such, but for lectures, It doesn't really bother me. You can also attach an external microphone to avoid this problem. Oh yeah, and it drains a full battery in about 2 1/2 hours. But I don't usually record for that long anyway.

I say, buy it. It's a little expensive but if you're a student, you get a little bit of a break from apple.com

112 of 123 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Excellent quality, but totally unacceptable HDD noise

Written by MN from El Cajon

Aug 2, 2006

Overall the Belkin TuneTalk Stereo records excellent sound. I use mine for linguistic analysis of spoken languages.

Unfortunately, about 20 seconds into recording, the iPod HDD starts spinning, and the whir and click of the HDD are picked up by the "excellent" microphone, and render this product unusable. It then starts and stops spinning about every 20 seconds (I use the 5G 30gb).

PROS: excellent sound, line in, small, stereo recording, external power capability, fits iPods in cases, comes with power cable and stand (although kinda tacky).
CONS: horrible HDD sound interference, no built-in speaker for playback - imo, 2 very big cons.

Conclusion: if you want to use this mic to record information, but don't care about quality, it will work. If you care about the actual sound of the recording you're taking, steer clear. I could even hear the HDD during a recording of me playing guitar. My question is, why bother recording 44kHz stereo wav files if you don't care about the sound quality?

The only solution I can see is to buy a male/female dock extension cable so that the mic can be on a cable separate from the iPod. As useful as such a cable would be to many people (e.g., docking iPod without having to remove it from case, putting accessories like FM transmitters in convenient places while maintaining access to iPod), none exists (www.sendstation.com claims to have one in the making). Hopefully waiting for this cable isn't anything like waiting for a mic for the 5Gs....

110 of 120 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Absolutely Perfect

Written by JA from Portland

Oct 19, 2006

I bought this device to record music sessions, and although it's advertised as a voice recorder it works very nicely for music even in large rooms, cafes, etc, although it doesn't pick up a guitar as well as an instrument mic (that's expected, though). Believe them when they say CD quality. I was astounded when I heard the playback, especially in vocals, and it picks up from a good distance.

On a fully charged video ipod, i could record about an hour and fifteen minutes worth of sound, sometimes stopping and starting again. I would say this item is perfect for:
Voice notes (lectures, voice-overs for video projects, interviews)
Music events (lessons, an ensemble group, live at a cafe)
Really anything you want to remember, playback, share with friends. Every recording goes straight to your itunes music library so it's really easy to convert to mp3 and send in emails.

This product is quality, useful, and fun! Smaller than it looks in the pictures, too. I'm really happy with it - don't hesitate!

105 of 124 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Impressive sound - it's about time!

Written by ND from Rexburg

Jul 22, 2006

It's about time this came around. I've been waiting a long time for a microphone for my 5G iPod.

I am a recording engineer, and I am very familiar with the performance of professional-grade microphones. No, I won't say that this little thing is comparable to them, but it sounds better than some condenser microphones I own that are twice as much money (which are pretty cheap for studio microphones).

I am very pleasantly surprised with the quality of this microphone. Granted, recording at 44.1 KHz at 16 bits in stereo is going to add a lot of life to recordings if you were used to the old recorder from Belkin that was for older iPods. It is a very pleasant surprise and will be used a great deal for field recording.

Be advised that it is limited to a recording time of one hour, which may negate the practicality of having it for those who record long lectures. That is the only down-side.

89 of 94 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

What's Everyones Problem? Lasts Long...

Written by AM from Los Angeles

Dec 14, 2006

I sing and have been waiting with baited breath for this product so I can record jam sessions, lessons etc. But I almost didn't buy it after reading the negative reviews about battery life. I was also worried about gobbling up storage space. So yesterday I ran an experiment. I charged up my 60 gig iPod and just ran the recorder until the battery ran out. It ran for almost 5 hours and recorded 3/4 of a gig of material Yeah! That's much more battery life and much less space than I feared.

Yes, there it does pick up the distinct hum of the hard drive as part of its room tone. But I can live with that for the convenience of a mic I'm sure to have with me all the time.

96 of 111 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Good Quality but doesn't last

Written by LB

Jan 3, 2009

I bought this to record my voice lessons and occasional lectures. At first, the sound quality was great and the recorder really did what it was supposed to do - record everything without scratches or static when I sang high frequencies. It picks up EVERYTHING. However, once in a while the device would say it was recording and when I would go and play the song on my ipod or on the computer nothing would be recorded. Also, the chip at the bottom fell out within a few months and I am not rough with my electronics at all. Eventually, it has pretty much stopped recording. It really is a shame because it is a very good product, but within less than a year it has pretty much become useless. I don't know if I'll buy another one, but I'm hard pressed to find any other voice recorder that had as good quality, despite the drawbacks.

Bottom line: Great quality, but there are definite drawbacks and be prepared to lose some of your recordings and get frustrated.

72 of 76 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Superb line-in stereo recorder

Written by MD from Edmonds

Mar 22, 2008

If you want to do line-in stereo recording, this is the device to buy. I tried the MicroMemo, which made good mono podcasting recordings, but failed miserably with stereo recording. This device is simply superb. On the low quality setting, the device mixes both channels into one mono channel and the volume is reduced; not all that great. On the high quality setting, however, my recordings were nearly lossless: both tracks were separated, they were loud and had great range. I purposely turned up the volume until the record light started blinking, indicating my input is clipping and the volume needs to be turned down. That little light is worth its weight in gold. I haven't tried this with a microphone, but I did notice the autogain increased the dB a fair amount.

For battery life, I ran mine until it ran out of space and the battery indicator read that it still had half its charge left (wow!). On my 2 gig nano 2G, it recorded 2 hours, 55 mins. and 9 seconds on the high quality setting. It split the file at the 2 hour, 12 minute mark and lost about 2 1/2 seconds of record time until it started the next file. I checked the recorded files and there were no hints of distortion or device sounds leaking into my recordings (as I've been used to with my 3G iPod 20 gig). I tried this device (for kicks) with my iPod 3G and my wife's nano 1G - neither worked, as expected. Oh well!

Overall, this is an excellent product that is a LOT less expensive then buying a professional field recorder.

95 of 123 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Musicians, don't buy it.

Written by GG from Nashville

Oct 18, 2006

The fact that you can plug in a charger is the big plus on this recorder, as both recorders I've tried (this and the Extrememac)sucked the life out of a fully charged battery FAST, but that's about it. Of course, the hard drive noise is well documented (and reason enough not to buy, if you care about the recording), but I actually had the device skipping - actually dropping beats out of the recording. Maybe a lemon? I tried it sitting on a piano during a rehearsal and tried both settings, with and without an external mic. It was just not worth it. Probably great for lectures (minus the skipping), but if you're a musician looking to record rehearsals or performances - get yourself a minidisc recorder. They still don't have anything comparable for an iPod. I returned both brands I tried.

91 of 116 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Belkin Audio Recorder - Simple and Effective

Written by CS from Wallingford

Apr 11, 2008

As an Internet marketer, I often give talks. I needed a foolproof way to record myself so that I could create new information products quickly and easily. So... with my 80 GB Gen 5 iPod, I snap in the Belkin TuneTalk Stereo, press the record button, and I'm recording CD quality sound.

When I talk, I plug in a simple lav mic into the bottom and can talk for a couple of hours.

And when it's time to edit, I connect my iPod, drag the file to my computer's hard drive, and open my editing software.

I tried others. Nothing comes close. The stereo build in mics, external mic connection, the USB plug-in for extra power, the CD (wav file) quality, and the ease of use make this a powerful tool for my business.

I highly recommend it!

102 of 139 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

I am amazed, this recorder is fantastic!

Written by JM

Aug 1, 2006

I am delighted with the outstanding performance of the Belkin TuneTalk Stereo: It is elegantly designed to coordinate with my black ipod video in a black leather case. The recorded sound quality is excellent in both high and low settings, with a clear and crisp natural tone. I have not detected any distracting hard drive noise. It is "feature rich", the feature I love is, being able to simultaneously charge and record at the same time, using the included USB cable with my IPod USB power adapter plugged into the wall, (no need to use my computer's USB port). Also, I have tried it with a small powered microphone - auto gain "on", the resulting recording was again, extremely crisp and clear. I also used the line in feature with my stereo, the results were the same excellent quality. The Belkin TuneTalk Stereo is a delight and very easy to use, it has enhanced the functionality of my Ipod Video. It is deserving of my "Five" stars.

70 of 81 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

The Best Mic

Written by DC from Marietta

Jun 8, 2008

I use this mic to record background sounds for iMovies ex. walking in the park, birds singing, and water rippling. I use it to record my chorus songs ( don't read music). I use it to record lectures. It is just like being there. The sound is incredible for the size and price. Easily attaches to my iPod and the iPod just knows what to do, RECORD.

I specifically like this particular mic because the acrylic spacer bar can be removed and now the mic can attach to my iPod without any need to remove the iPod from the protective case. Look around and you can find a case suitable for this.

If you need to have clear recordings at a low cost THIS is your mic.

68 of 79 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

great sound, frustrating skips and clicks!

Written by ED from Morristown

Nov 29, 2008

I bought this product so I could record my college voice lessons (it was a requirement for the class). After each lesson, I would go back to my room and move the recording from my ipod to my laptop and listen from itunes. At first I thought it was perfect- the sound was incredibly clear. Then in later weeks I started to notice several skips in each lesson recording (keep in mind each lesson only lasted half an hour!). More often than not, the TuneTalk would skip over the parts of my pieces I really needed to work on and wanted to record so I could study my technique. I can even remember one instance where my instructor said "What I'm about to tell you is extremely important..." and then it cut out. This was incredibly frustrating for me! I also agree with everyone else who said that the amazing recording quality is a double-edged sword because it records the hums and clicks that the ipod makes occasionally (took me a while to figure out what it was). In conclusion- fantastic recording quality, but you will probably have to suffer through lots of skipping and clicks from the ipod.

57 of 60 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Love IT

Written by AC from Seattle

Jan 17, 2008

I am using it to record my Flute playing for a flute studio class in a Music program that I am in and the sound quality is amazingly crystal clear. I am impressed. It is so convienient and also capable of charging at the same time.

LOVE IT

65 of 77 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Wonderful

Written by DS

Nov 12, 2007

Perfect sound, and very practical.

68 of 85 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Sounds Great

Written by JB from FORT PIERCE

Nov 24, 2006

As a Photojournalist I use it all the time while taking photo's on assignment for writing cutlines, Slide Show on the internet with my photo's. It makes you feel like you are thier with sound. The battery last three hours on a full charge. Have never hear the harddrive while recording and I use it with my iPod all the time.

63 of 80 people found this useful

Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones

Unbelievably Horrible Product!

Written by SD from Potomac

Nov 26, 2006

I bought this product from the local Apple Store but unfortunately I did not use it within the 14 days. So now I cannot return it to Apple. The product has all the problems listed in other reviews: heavy battery consumption, hissing sound of the drive etc. But what I experienced was even more serious. After I used this device on my 60GB iPod only once, my iPod started to freeze. My iTunes library started to malfunction. A second iPod that is linked to the same library started to freeze too. I could not update both these iPods. So I had to do the unthinkable. Both iPods were brought to the original factory setting. Voice Memos recorded with TuneTalk had to be removed from the library. I have never used the product again and both my iPods are working great once again. This product has a serious software issue and unless that is fixed it should not be sold.

64 of 84 people found this useful