Why in the hell don't mp3 players have mic ports?

[mercanucaribe]

:|

I want to use an mp3 player to record lectures, but they all have crappy mics and no mic ports. Come on! A port is cheaper than a built in mic, and you can use as powerful or as cheap a microphone as you want, AND connect to a line level input.

People who would benefit from this small improvement:
Students
Reporters
Whistle blowers
White House interns
People illegally recording concerts

 

[axelfox]

$$

 

[jdini76]

what kind of MP3 player do you have? There is a microphone for the Ipod.

 

[mercanucaribe]

I don't have one yet. Doesn't the iPod's mic suck anyway? Not like you can attach any mic you want to it. Besides, iPods are overpriced and of poor quality.

 

[jdini76]

Its good enough for lectures. And hey, its a mic on an MP3 player. Beggers can't be choosers.

 

[Lonyo]

Bahaha.
iRiver HDD players have both a mic AND a mic port (line-in). (iH1xx series at least).

 

[mercanucaribe]

Oh wow.. The iRivers do have a powered mic port. I do believe I will buy one of those. Too bad they are only 6gb.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Oh wow.. The iRivers do have a powered mic port. I do believe I will buy one of those. Too bad they are only 6gb.

There is a 20gig version, if you're thinking about H10 series. Keep in mind that line-in port on H10 works only when the player is in the optional cradle.

 

[aplefka]

Are people really thinking that 6gb is small? I thought most MP3 players only did 128-192 MP3s, so that's still quite a few songs.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Oh wow.. The iRivers do have a powered mic port. I do believe I will buy one of those. Too bad they are only 6gb.

There is a 20gig version, if you're thinking about H10 series. Keep in mind that line-in port on H10 works only when the player is in the optional cradle.

What! That sucks.

 

[0roo0roo]

why not stereo mic ports too?

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: aplefka
Are people really thinking that 6gb is small? I thought most MP3 players only did 128-192 MP3s, so that's still quite a few songs.

The only reason I'd want more is to back up stuff from the geography computer lab. GIS datasets get pretty damn big.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
:|

I want to use an mp3 player to record lectures, but they all have crappy mics and no mic ports. Come on! A port is cheaper than a built in mic, and you can use as powerful or as cheap a microphone as you want, AND connect to a line level input.

People who would benefit from this small improvement:
Students
Reporters
Whistle blowers
White House interns
People illegally recording concerts

Rio Carbons have them built in.. so do some research.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
why not stereo mic ports too?

yeah, for recording those "lectures" at clubs and arenas...

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
:|

I want to use an mp3 player to record lectures, but they all have crappy mics and no mic ports. Come on! A port is cheaper than a built in mic, and you can use as powerful or as cheap a microphone as you want, AND connect to a line level input.

People who would benefit from this small improvement:
Students
Reporters
Whistle blowers
White House interns
People illegally recording concerts

Rio Carbons have them built in.. so do some research.

Rio Carbon has a line in, not mic.

 

[CStan]

What's the difference between a line in and mic port? I've heard samples with a mic that attaches through the line in that were pretty good.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: aplefka
Are people really thinking that 6gb is small? I thought most MP3 players only did 128-192 MP3s, so that's still quite a few songs.

they can play higher bitrates. some people rip at 320kbs cbr or just really high vbr..theres lossless...and many people only like to encode their music once. most people use 128-192, but its not the limit.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: CStan
What's the difference between a line in and mic port? I've heard samples with a mic that attaches through the line in that were pretty good.

Mic ports are powered. All the microphone does is vary the resistance. A line in port requires a powered input. There are mics that have batteries to provide a line signal but according to my research the only good ones are very expensive.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
why not stereo mic ports too?

yeah, for recording those "lectures" at clubs and arenas...

concert b00tleg!!!

 

[mercanucaribe]

Also, why aren't all mp3 players drag and drop? I can't think of a single reason to require special software.

 

[So]

Mic ports == MP3 encoding hardware == MUCH more horsepower intensive to encode mp3's than decode them, and unless you already have a more powerful CPU, why would you select a more expensive chip w/ encoding HW for a feature that >90% of the population wont even notice is missing?

 

[Heisenberg]

My Muvo N200 has both a built in mic and a line-in (although I guess not a powered mic) port. It does on-the-fly mp3 encoding too.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: So
Mic ports == MP3 encoding hardware == MUCH more horsepower intensive to encode mp3's than decode them, and unless you already have a more powerful CPU, why would you select a more expensive chip w/ encoding HW for a feature that >90% of the population wont even notice is missing?

Didn't you read my post? Tell me how putting a mic port uses more horsepower to encode than using a built in mic or optional mic accessory ike the iPod has.

 

[DaWhim]

idiotic rant...

PDA is your answer. :roll:

my pda does mp3, voice record, video record, wifi, etc.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: CStan
What's the difference between a line in and mic port? I've heard samples with a mic that attaches through the line in that were pretty good.

Mic ports are powered. All the microphone does is vary the resistance. A line in port requires a powered input. There are mics that have batteries to provide a line signal but according to my research the only good ones are very expensive.

The iRiver H1xx at the very least come with a Mic in the package (the player, headphones, remote and mic), so I assume the line in/mic port they have can use a microphone.
As I have used the line in with the small, non-powered mic, I assume the port on the iRiver finctions as a powered mic port.