I've used my Zoom H2 for several years now- I love mine. I used to record with a Sony Minidisc with good cardioid mics. The H2 is much easier and the resulting CDs I make with it are far superior and far easier to create than my minidisc because it doesn't have to go through the audio port of the computer first- no analog step means much less noise, and you don't have to wait 2 hours for a 2 hour recording to transfer to the PC. It typically takes 2-3 minutes to transfer from the sd memory chip to the computer.
Negatives- it's a little flimsy. The plastic door to the memory slot will fall off in time. Doesn't hurt anything but doesn't look quite as nice without the cover. The plastic finish can be easily scratched. Also, I think the H2 only comes with 512 or 1 gig of memory (SD). You'll want to upgrade that to at least 2 gigs to cover a 2 hour performance at full cd-quality. Zoom also makes a lower-priced, smaller and longer battery-powered H1. However, the H1 can't be used as a USB microphone- something I've recently experimenting with for multi-track recording through Audacity. The H4n appears to be better built and may have better mics, but it only has 2 built-in mics as opposed to the H2's 4. You can add 2 external mics to the H4n if you want to do the surround sound thing. There are many other digital recorders on the market as well- here is a link to a forum that discusses them in-depth: http://taperssection.com/index.php/board,11.0.html Good luck! John Wunderlin > So most people seem to be raving about the Zoom H2. Does anyone have > anything bad to say about it? > > I have a minidisk which has all but given up the ghost, in addition to > which, I am finding it increasingly difficult to get blank disks, and so I > need to find something to replace it. > > So far, you've convinced me that the Zoom H2 is the way to go. Would > someone like to try to persuade me otherwise or are these things as good as > the Sony minidisk (albeit an old one)? > _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
