iRiver IFP 899 review
Review by Michael Oster, F7 Sound and Vision.
Time to discuss an interesting audio device that I've been getting a lot of use from lately, the iRiver IFP 899. This thing is a podcaster's dream come true, an extremely portable mp3 player/recorder that runs for around 40 hours on a single AA battery. It's a "flash" device - solid state memory - which the 899 has 1 gig of (others in the 89x series have less and sell for less). It's got an internal microphone that will work in a pinch and it can record from external microphone and line sources. It's also got an FM tuner and the ability to record from that as well. Transfer of files via USB (cable included) is quick and painless to my Powerbook OS 10.3.x and the included iRiver software that does this works faithfully. What's more, you can grab one of these for around $199 at Best Buy. A similar unit, the IFP 799 is available from many other sources and differs only in cosmetics from what I understand.
It's wonderful to be able to carry a recorder with me that delivers decent quality in a "podcast ready" mp3 format. And the mp3s can easily be imported into my editing program of choice, Pro Tools. It's very small and lightweight and can easily be "forgotten that it's there". You get several recording resolutions to choose from, both mono and stereo, and always in compressed mp3 format. My choice is always the highest setting: stereo 320 kbps, mp3. At that setting, I can get slightly over 7 hours of total recording time before I fill the available memory space. That's a hell of a lot of recording time!
There are 2 ways that I record to my 899. The first, and now less used, was to connect my Soundprofessionals "headphone microphones" (that's a stereo pair of condenser mics placed in the shell of a headphone set) to the "line in" of the iRiver. You have to set the menu to the "EXT MIC" recording option in the "LINE IN" subheading, but that's no big deal. Recording quality is pretty damn good for a setup like this, comparable to minidisc with the same microphones. The biggest plus about this setup is that in addition to being extremely portable and lightweight, it's also very stealthy. People don't know you're recording, which is good for getting natural ambiances. But, remember that it's illegal to specifically record someone without their permission in some states.
Lately, my preferred recording setup for the 899 has been to record LINE IN from a Grace Design Lunatec V2 preamps and an Audio Technica 825 stereo mic on a boom. This is kind of overkill for an mp3 device, but the sound quality jumps up quite a bit. Still recording at 320 kbps, stereo, mp3 and the Grace Lunatec has RCA outs that can go into the iRiver's 1/8" jack with an inexpensive cable. Sound quality exceeds minidisc and the only 'bottleneck' is in the mp3 compression. In one of my earlier blog entries "An Unfair Audio Comparison", I talk about recording with this setup. I find that now, I'm using this a lot more to get decent sound quality and good portability.
Wishlist for the iRiver 899: ability to record uncompressed 24 bit WAV audio. That'll never happen - especially at a sub-$200 price point, and I can't blame the iRiver folks for not giving the 7xx and 8xx series that ability.... But it would be nice. Hey, the Edirol R-1 can do that! It's less than $450 without an audio-friendly capacity CF card, but that's another story.
Bottom line is if you're into podcasting, field recording and random audio gathering, there's plenty of reasons why the iRiver IFP 7xx's and 8xx's are selling so damn fast. Mine has faithfully worked for months on end and even been accidentally dropped a few times. Oh, and they make a great "backup" audio recorder in the event your DAT or laptop fails in the field.
M
Tags: michael oster | iRiver IFP 899 | Audio Technica 825 | Soundprofessionals | Grace Design Lunatec V2 | DAT | mp3 | podcast | F7 Sound and Vision
Time to discuss an interesting audio device that I've been getting a lot of use from lately, the iRiver IFP 899. This thing is a podcaster's dream come true, an extremely portable mp3 player/recorder that runs for around 40 hours on a single AA battery. It's a "flash" device - solid state memory - which the 899 has 1 gig of (others in the 89x series have less and sell for less). It's got an internal microphone that will work in a pinch and it can record from external microphone and line sources. It's also got an FM tuner and the ability to record from that as well. Transfer of files via USB (cable included) is quick and painless to my Powerbook OS 10.3.x and the included iRiver software that does this works faithfully. What's more, you can grab one of these for around $199 at Best Buy. A similar unit, the IFP 799 is available from many other sources and differs only in cosmetics from what I understand.
It's wonderful to be able to carry a recorder with me that delivers decent quality in a "podcast ready" mp3 format. And the mp3s can easily be imported into my editing program of choice, Pro Tools. It's very small and lightweight and can easily be "forgotten that it's there". You get several recording resolutions to choose from, both mono and stereo, and always in compressed mp3 format. My choice is always the highest setting: stereo 320 kbps, mp3. At that setting, I can get slightly over 7 hours of total recording time before I fill the available memory space. That's a hell of a lot of recording time!
There are 2 ways that I record to my 899. The first, and now less used, was to connect my Soundprofessionals "headphone microphones" (that's a stereo pair of condenser mics placed in the shell of a headphone set) to the "line in" of the iRiver. You have to set the menu to the "EXT MIC" recording option in the "LINE IN" subheading, but that's no big deal. Recording quality is pretty damn good for a setup like this, comparable to minidisc with the same microphones. The biggest plus about this setup is that in addition to being extremely portable and lightweight, it's also very stealthy. People don't know you're recording, which is good for getting natural ambiances. But, remember that it's illegal to specifically record someone without their permission in some states.
Lately, my preferred recording setup for the 899 has been to record LINE IN from a Grace Design Lunatec V2 preamps and an Audio Technica 825 stereo mic on a boom. This is kind of overkill for an mp3 device, but the sound quality jumps up quite a bit. Still recording at 320 kbps, stereo, mp3 and the Grace Lunatec has RCA outs that can go into the iRiver's 1/8" jack with an inexpensive cable. Sound quality exceeds minidisc and the only 'bottleneck' is in the mp3 compression. In one of my earlier blog entries "An Unfair Audio Comparison", I talk about recording with this setup. I find that now, I'm using this a lot more to get decent sound quality and good portability.
Wishlist for the iRiver 899: ability to record uncompressed 24 bit WAV audio. That'll never happen - especially at a sub-$200 price point, and I can't blame the iRiver folks for not giving the 7xx and 8xx series that ability.... But it would be nice. Hey, the Edirol R-1 can do that! It's less than $450 without an audio-friendly capacity CF card, but that's another story.
Bottom line is if you're into podcasting, field recording and random audio gathering, there's plenty of reasons why the iRiver IFP 7xx's and 8xx's are selling so damn fast. Mine has faithfully worked for months on end and even been accidentally dropped a few times. Oh, and they make a great "backup" audio recorder in the event your DAT or laptop fails in the field.
M
Tags: michael oster | iRiver IFP 899 | Audio Technica 825 | Soundprofessionals | Grace Design Lunatec V2 | DAT | mp3 | podcast | F7 Sound and Vision
posted by F7sound at
9:52 AM
3 Comments:
How do you manage to record through line-in at 320 kbps? Using the new IFP-8XXT.HEX firmware (dated 7 Nov 2005), i can only get up to 96 kbps.
By
dpb, at 9:55 PM
I have an older version of firmware. I think you'll have to "downgrade" to an earlier version. You're right though, the newer versions won't let you record at the higher bitrate.
By
F7sound, at 3:50 PM
You mention that this iRiver can't manage uncompressed 24 bit WAV audio.
Below are some of the standards for archive quality from two Australian archives. Can it handle any of these? Thanks in advance.
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies:
-BWF file at minimum of 48khz, 24bit
-uncompressed WAV file @ 48khz or 24bit
-uncompressed AIFF file @ 48khz, or 24bit
-MP3 at 128kb/sec or higher
Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources:
-DAT, .WAV (16bit 48khz, or as close to the archival standard of 24bit, 96Khz as possible)
By
Perez, at 5:22 AM
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