Review: Belkin TuneTalk for iPod
by Magnus
Apple’s iPod is a device for listening to music and other types of digital audio, that much is clear. But pretty much since it was first launched many iPod owners have wanted to get digital audio into the audio, not just out of it. Unfortunately for them, Apple severely limited the recording functions in earlier iPods to 8KHz mono, making it almost useless as a mobile recording device. With the recent models of iPods that has changed and they are now much more capable. Now you can record in CD-quality at 44.1KHz, 16-bit and stereo, making possible for really high-quality mobile recordings. What’s needed though is a microphone and that’s where the Belkin TuneTalk for the iPod video comes in.
Link to iTunes
You attach the TuneTalk to the bottom of the iPod. It snaps in to the dock connection. On the TuneTalk is a Record button and pressing it launches the Voice Memo function on the iPod. It’s built into all 5th generation iPods and you don’t even need to install any drivers or other software. When recording the iPod will display a timer telling you how long you’ve been recording. After recording, when you connect the iPod to your Mac with iTunes, iTunes can transfer your voice memos to the Mac. From there you can convert them into MP3 or AAC format to save space or edit them with some application.
Mics
The internal omnidirectional microphones, although there are two of them, seem to have limited stereo functionality. That’s not surprising since they sit very close together. They do record true stereo though, but when listening closely to the recording they pick up pretty much the same sound, due to their close proximity. Also they seem to pick up the iPods hard drive noise at times. You can however connect an external microphone via the 3.5mm stereo connection. If you’re concerned with getting the best possible quality recording, you will do well with spending some money on an external microphone.
Automatic gain
On the bottom of the TuneTalk is an Autogain switch. You can set it to on and the TuneTalk will then automatically control the gain (audio level) of the recording, or you can set it to off and it will record exactly what it “hears” without making adjustments. It seems to be a bit of a hit and miss game whether you set Autogain to on or not. You have to experiment a bit since some situations call for it to be on, while in others the recording sounds better with Autogain off.
Limited recording formats
The main drawback with the TuneTalk that I can find is that it limits recording to WAV format. WAV is lossless, meaning it’s not compressed, so the full quality of the recording is intact, but the file size is also very large. Somewhere in the region of 10MB per minute of recording is needed. It would be nice to be able to pick some compressed formats for recording, including MP3.
Conclusion
The TuneTalk is a small but impressive product. Somewhat limited recording formats and extra drain on the iPods battery are among the drawbacks. It has excellent recording quality, especially with an external mic, and it’s easy to operate. The integration with iTunes makes it a delight to use, and I highly recommend the TuneTalk to anyone who needs to record audio with their iPod video. The TuneTalk sells for $70.