Frank,
 I am replying on-list as this is a subject that may be of interest to many here, now that the breeding season is upon us. 

It's been some years since I purchased any recording eqpt. for birdsong, but when I did I went to Radio Shack and bought a digital voice recorder. It's a tiny unit, way smaller than the old casette player it replaced (you can tell how far back I go!), and actually records very well. I bought an inexpensive unit (under $60 if I recall) and it records better than many of the more expensive units, at least for bird songs. Some of the higher priced models don't (or didn't when I bought mine) record some of the higher frequencies, which is what many of the warblers sing in. I don't know how you will know which unit records better than to actually try them out, but some online research might help. The one I bought could record say an Ovenbird, then with just the touch of a button play it back to draw the bird out. I once got great looks at a Mourning Warbler this way. And it weighs next to nothing and is very good on batteries too.

More recently, for play-back only, I've been using an Ipod with a small set of portable speakers (again, an inexpensive pair from Radio Shack). I have the Stokes CD loaded on it. This is what we've used here in the yard to sucessfully lure out the grasshopper Sparrows.


I don't know what's "hot" for recording gear these days, but these two items still work for me.

Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD





-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Marenghi <>
To: 
Sent: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 1:11 pm
Subject: [MDOSPREY] RFI: Good but affordable playback and recording gear


 
t seems the days of carrying a boombox around on one's shoulder are gone. At 
ong last! But seriously, I was hoping to get some feedback on what types of 
evices folks prefer using for songbird playback. I am also interested in what 
eople use for recording bird song in the field. I was hoping for something that 
as small, self contained (does not require external speakers), effective (loud 
nough), and durable, yet affordable. Ideally, it would be one unit that can 
oth play and record with decent quality. I know there are some very 
ophisticated recording systems and software out there but that's not what I'm 
oing for at this point. I fear I may be asking for too much. My girlfriend has 
n iPhone and that actually meets most of these criteria (although it has 
ecording ability, it doesn't seem to pick up ambient sound very well) I really 
idn't want to get an iPhone just to play bird song once in a while. 

lease reply off-list.

hanks a lot,

rank Marenghi
nnapolis, MD


                     
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