Zoom H2 now shipping

[soul&folk]

For $200 plus about $50 for a 4GB SD card, you can now record live in high quality (24 bit WAV format) for 4 hours straight or way more in mp3 format, and then upload via USB to your computer.

Has a line in, mic in if you want to use your own mics (and yes you can adjust the volume when you record), metronome for musicians, can record in 90 degree stereo, 120 degree, or even 360 for surround sound. This is the bomb!

I just got one and I'm quite pleased!! But they are very lightweight as compared to a solid rugged minidisc recorder.

Check it out and a lively discussion going on right here:

http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blo...rder_detai.html

I'm still keeping my minidisc recorder, but I wonder how often I'm going to be using it any more...

You can order it online from B&H, Sweetwater as well as J&R to name a few

Edited August 29, 2007 by soul&folk

[ozpeter]

Yeah, I think this one finally gets it right. But it depends exactly what your needs are - too big for really stealthy recording, or as a pocket player. As a one-piece recorder, or for use with the same kind of external mics that you've been using for MD, it look brilliant, and I don't doubt it will be a huge seller (backorders of 10,000 have been mentioned already). In fact, one wonders whether Sony's attitude to further MD production was influenced by the sight of this kind of thing coming over the horizon. Perhaps, for many markets where MD was king, this is the nail in the coffin. But I'll still be using my MDs for some purposes alongside this (when it reaches Australia...)

Some links to discussions elsewhere and the Zoom site, to save us going over the same ground:-

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,89082.0.html

http://www.videouniversity.com/forums/gfor...SC;mh=25;guest=

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/naturer...s/message/29879

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.m...cdc313b01e9940c

http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blo...rder_detai.html

http://rontech.blogspot.com/2007/07/first-...n-internet.html

http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...916#servsupport

Edited August 30, 2007 by ozpeter

[Strungup]

Damn , I was really hoping to be the first to review it , but mine hasnt gotten here yet , AND I AM IN JAPAN < what the heck man , oh well

[A440]

I'd love to see a photo of the H2 side-by-side with a Hi-MD recorder.

The NatureRecordists group said it flat out:

"I think the H2 could displace the Hi-MD minidisc recorder as the "budget" nature recording tool."

Edited August 30, 2007 by A440

[ozpeter]

I'd oblige with such a photo if the one I have on order gets delivered before anyone else posts a side-by-side. But I'm sure the H2 is significantly chunkier than an RH-1. Then again, an RH-1 with four mics attached to it wouldn't be as small as an RH-1 on its own!

I don't doubt that anyone who wants an H2 because it does what they want well, will find it has advantages over an RH-1. But anyone wanting for instance, digital input, as a prime requirement, will prefer the RH-1. Horses for courses. I guess for nature recording, having an attached mic without it picking up the mechanics of a disk drive is right away something handy.

Part of the attraction of the H2 is perhaps that they've got the feature set and ergonomics right for significantly sizable markets. Some previous such devices have suffered from the kind of "gotchas" that plagued many forms of portable MD, till Sony finally got it right with the RH-1 (apart from it still writing unwanted track marks in quiet music passages!). Zoom's own H4 seems to be good in principle but not so good in execution. (Odd that the H2 has 4 mics and the H4 has 2 mics... what were the marketing people thinking of?!).

For anyone who has already got something like an RH-1, in some applications the RH-1 might make a handy backup for an H2. It's always wise to have two lots of media being recorded. I can picture an H2 on top of a mic stand with a thin line-out to line-in cable to an RH-1 at the bottom.

It'll be interesting to see what proper tests and reviews reveal in due course concerning actual sound quality and specs. The H2 manual is curiously silent on those matters!