more on the Micromemo for the iPod

[Richard Wakefield]

ok here's my first review on the Micromemo+MemoMic (compared to the iRiver+giant squid), used at a wedding on Saturday..and it's not all good i'm afraid

for starters, i couldn't get the giant squid to work, as a line-in or mic input..shame, but half-expected... so i bought another lapel mic (the Memomic)

took all of 1 second to hook the groom up and start recording before the ceremony (much more convenient than the iriver).

now the bad news:
i took the ipod back from the groom after 1 hour, and went to press 'stop and save'...then the ipod froze up...panic...pressed lots of buttons...still frozen...couldn't even reset or turn off the damn thing

so basically, had to wait till i got home to sort it all out.
the .wav file was there, but after 26 mins it was corrupt. DOH!!
(i luckily wasn't tearing my hair out, coz the first 26 mins was really commendable audio, and the most crucial vows)

so MAYBE it was my fault that during the saving process i pressed the ipod's buttons...OR it HAD frozen up, in which case i need to do some more trial runs of this thing!

has anyone else had this problem??? how long should it take to save 1 hours worth of audio???

cheers

***n.b. ok, in the last minute i've just found this on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/XtremeMac-IPV-...ews/B000FNC2IK
(read the bottom review...his conked out after 27 mins...hmmm, strange coincidence)
i'll be running more tests on this, otherwise putting it back on ebay :)

[Peter Jefferson]

i dont understand why people are so cheap when it comes to audio.. i really dont..

i mean my SennK6 and ME64 cost me about 1200 AUD.. my wireless G1 and G2 cost me around teh same amount and my buttplug transmitter cost about 500 bux

i understand people are on budgets, but when you consider how much money can be made, and how much money is being charged, an investment in GOOD PROFESSIONAL equipment will save alot of headaches and heartache

I really dont understand why poeple dont invest in wireless equipment which can be monitored as requried.

Call me stuck up, but i honestly feel that people are compromising their clients and their work in general byu using inferior equipment

[Steven Davis]

Hey Peter, not being snippy, but I would imagine that there are people such as myself who use irivers as backups in conjunction with a quality wireless system. For instance, I run a total of three mics between the groom and minister, two being irivers, and one being a G2100 system. Soon, I'll dump one of the irivers for another G2 system.

I had audio from 9 sources this weekend and two of them failed. But because I was so redundant, I'm in really good shape.

I would imagine that Richard's thoughts are like most of us, wireless can be a crapshoot depending on the venue.

Again Peter, not being snippy.

[Peter Jefferson]

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

Hey Peter, not being snippy, but I would imagine that there are people such as myself who use irivers as backups in conjunction with a quality wireless system. For instance, I run a total of three mics between the groom and minister, two being irivers, and one being a G2100 system. Soon, I'll dump one of the irivers for another G2 system.

I had audio from 9 sources this weekend and two of them failed. But because I was so redundant, I'm in really good shape.

I would imagine that Richard's thoughts are like most of us, wireless can be a crapshoot depending on the venue.

Again Peter, not being snippy.

well this is my point u see..
Redundant audio always helps, having something like this is fine.. but more and more im seeing people using iriver solutions and nothing else.. more like an alternative.
Dont get me wrong, they work fine, and im not dissing the use of them.. what im concerned about is the "no brainer" mentality of audio in general within this industry

In your case your uising it along with decent audio equipment which can be monitored on the fly.. as for 9 sources of audio, i assume youre uising a mixer? If so, i certainly hope your clients are paying for this.

like i said there is nothing wrong with using these recorders.. tis no differnt to using a minidisc recorder as we used to in the good ol days before mp3... , but it seems that the lack of formal training in regard to audio shines through when people start to focus on alternative means of recording

[Steven Davis]

Hehe, paid for the extra audio. Well, I ran 4 cameras at this wedding. I almost always run an extra camera as a backup. When I said 9 sources of audio, this includes the shotgun sources as well as the ambient mics on the front cameras.

As for charging for extra audio, the market is so tight here, people will pay for extra cameras only if they can really see the benefit. That in and of itself is the trickiest part of the sell. We actually make it very affordable for them to add an extra camera, even then, most times video is at the bottom of thier budget, and usually they only have fumes to pay for it.

I agree as well Peter, if you have a 3k to 5k camera, why sell yourself short on the audio.

[Richard Wakefield]

i use it purely as a backup Peter, infact i don't really need it on top of my 2 other audio recorders, it's just peace of mind and a simple little cost-effective product that i can use without ever worrying about mixers/interference etc. end of story :)

so then, going back to the thread...has anyone else got similar experience of this micromemo problem?

i've written an email to XtremeMac to see what they think...i'll post their reply when i get it.

[Rick Steele]

My kids have iPod Nanos and they freeze up all the time. The only solution is to just let them set until the battery runs dry or reset them thereby losing everything of course. But they don't record with them.

I agree that next to your cams, the biggest investment should be a decent, reliable audio system desgined for the job. I cringed when I bought my first wireless system but never looked back.

[Richard Wakefield]

i've used my video ipod at least twice a day for almost 2 years and it's only frozen twice, (once with the micromemo)

as i said, i'll keep testing it...if it was something i did (i.e. button bashing during the save process), and it works fine normally, then this is a GREAT system - the audio is incredibly clear, and it takes a couple of seconds to setup, with zero monitoring required.

[Rick Steele]

and it takes a couple of seconds to setup, with zero monitoring required.

The iRivers are the same way -just press record, slide the "hold" switch and you're done.

And I've never heard "zero monitoring" made to sound like a feature before :)

[Cole McDonald]

Although, if you're a solo shooter, having audio that you can just know is being recorded is a really nice feature...all the time you spend monitoring the audio is time you can't spend monitoring the camera.

I don't know Richard's staffing situation on a shoot, but there are lots of solo wedding shooters in this area who just count on the audio magically happening in their camera. An ipod in a pocket is high production value compared to these...and people pay for them!

Of course, these are also some of the reason that wedding video is considered as a last cost in the scheme of things...it'll be lack luster and poorly framed anyway, so how could you possibly charge that much for it. I don't have a witty analogy for this one, not enough coffee yet. Make one up for yourself, I like to use cars alot for my analogies.

[Richard Wakefield]

Rick, i know i'm being OTT picky but to me the iriver has over-fiddly extensive menus, press and hold buttons, fiddly program to convert the audio into an mp3s...

with the micromemo, it's one button to record, then one sync to itunes = done!

'zero monitoring'..hey that's a cool phrase, i might patent it :)

[Rick Steele]

Originally Posted by Richard Wakefield

Rick, i know i'm being OTT picky but to me the iriver has over-fiddly extensive menus, press and hold buttons, fiddly program to convert the audio into an mp3s...

Well, I'll give you that. The iRiver's menus are so cryptic a lot of people just gave up and sent them back. I bought 2 "used" units from somebody for these reasons alone.

But most of us don't use them for anything else. It's typically a one time set up and they retain those settings until you change them again.

It's all moot anyway because iRivers are fast becoming history and I applaud what you and others do to find alternative recording gizmos. This is what gave us the iRiver in the first place.

I'm eagerly awaiting some feedback on the Zoom H2 coming in July.

[Grant Harrington]

Originally Posted by Richard Wakefield

i use it purely as a backup Peter, infact i don't really need it on top of my 2 other audio recorders, it's just peace of mind and a simple little cost-effective product that i can use without ever worrying about mixers/interference etc. end of story :)

so then, going back to the thread...has anyone else got similar experience of this micromemo problem?

I'm using it with an 80 GB iPod Video and have had no problems. I use it fully charged before each event.

As far as the budget comment, there are some of us who are doing weddings as a secondary form of income, so are not necessarily financially prepared to make the investment in expensive audio. My clients see and hear what they get BEFORE they book me so there are no surprises. I just upgraded to a new VX2100 from using two TRV840, D8 and on camera audio. For me (and other's hopefully), the MicroMemo is an inexpensive addition to the workflow. I've had so many weddings were I couldn't hear the vows, but neither could anyone in the church. Now I can capture that.

It's not even an issue of 'have' and 'have-not', I could invest in the high-end equipment, but am getting great results with the equipment I have and don't need to invest in the hardware for the limited amount I do. I'm just trying to say that although this board is full of very talented professionals who rely on video for their main source of income, there are others who aren't and have to work with what works for them.

And I'm the only one who does the filming, one fixed camera and me behind the main camera, so not much time left for monitoring a mixing board.

I completely agree with Peter, you have to spend money to make money, but please don't imply that you can't make money without all the fancy gear. :-)

Grant

[Peter Jefferson]

"I completely agree with Peter, you have to spend money to make money, but please don't imply that you can't make money without all the fancy gear. :-)"

i never would.. hell, ive taken so many shortcuts, it isnt funny, but still, it al came down to the compromise vs the cost vs end result