actually you can do just that, you can put another microphone of your choice into the iTalk thingy, you just need the right adapter for the small plug, which is not a problem at all.
to be honest, the iTalk sound quality is pretty poor, but connect a condenser microphone and it will sound cool.

the only big disadvantage about recording voice memos with an iPOD is, that you cannot change the format in which it records, only wave is possible, that compressed in iTUNES to apple loss less format saves you about 1/5 of data, which is not much. 1mb = 1 min of recording.
bernhard (link) – 24 February 2005 – 01:03

The thing should have a proper line in and mic in, preferably a way to adjust recording volume, record to mp3 or wav. Optical in/out would be a plus, the older iRiver models have that.
Caroline (link) – 24 February 2005 – 08:42

Connect your iPod to your digital cameras, great. But they don’t support the RAW format. And that sucks, I never shoot JPEG. So what’s the big deal?
George (link) – 24 February 2005 – 10:31

Hadn’t thought of that yet. Jeez, more proof these iPods are just underdeveloped.
Caroline (link) – 24 February 2005 – 10:56

Spot on Caroline – they are under developed. I think that’s the point though.

I’ve got a draft post about this… might be time to dust it down?
Gordon (link) – 24 February 2005 – 12:30

Yikes! I think I’ll go run and hide my iPod.

Apple does many stupid things in the name of keeping things simple for the average joe – like sticking to a one button mouse in 2005.
ichris (link) – 24 February 2005 – 15:30

Heh, you don’t have to hide them. I’d love to try one for a while – I want to see how the integration with iTunes works, how it feels to work with. I really want to like them, but I’m a user that needs a little more to be able to justify a purchase.
Caroline (link) – 24 February 2005 – 15:57

What they do have is a card reader for your iPod. Or rather: Belkin has it. I have one and it works great. Eats the cardreader’s batteries, though. And your iPod’s.
George (link) – 24 February 2005 – 17:21

From what I heard, you’ll need (yet) another accessory on the iPod Photo to unload photos from your camera onto it.
Lars – 24 February 2005 – 21:43

Yeah, you need a ‘connector’. I hope it’s just a little cable, not some weird contraption.
Caroline (link) – 24 February 2005 – 22:16

It seems you can make a linux ipod from your ipod, BUT my 4th gen U2 ipod (which i won last week) is not yet supported. All 1st, 2nd & 3rd gen ipod can be a hard dik recording device, with standard mics in Wav format.

With 20 gigs on board, and a good mike, in 48 kHz, this should be enough for ultimate U2 concert recording.

Security never belives an ipod can record anything.
eric (link) – 24 February 2005 – 22:38

You wouldn’t have any control over recording levels, though I believe soundprofessionals.com make gadgets to do just that.
Caroline (link) – 24 February 2005 – 23:00

All of that, PLUS it doesn’t do gapless playback, it doesn’t store the mp3’s ‘straight’ but in mangled directories, the bass response isn’t on par, EQ only works without distorting if you use subtractive modes (ie reduce bass or treble, not boost it).

Still, iPod bashing is a bit yesterday. The fact that it’s crippled beyond belief is well established since 2002 or so, and complaining on other people’s behalf ain’t what you were taught to do, now is it :-)

(yes, I am part of the Borg, I own one. Yes, I will buy something better when it comes along – my hopes are on a near-future much higher capacity version of the Rio Karma)
Giorgio – 25 February 2005 – 11:17

I’m reacting on the latest product upgrades. How is that ‘yesterday’?
Caroline (link) – 25 February 2005 – 11:43

iPod recording addons were introduced somewhere in 2003. Quality was crap then, still is (barring perhaps linux hacks – it’s, again, a software crippleware thing).
Giorgio – 25 February 2005 – 12:46

I had cassette recorders as well, but I thought the iTalk is significant because it’s tapeless and totally automated with iTunes.

Sure, I could have taped a lecture on a micro-cassette, but archiving that or sharing it with a friend was a bit of a pain. With an iTalk you could you setup a lecture section on a shared music server, posting an entire semester’s worth of lectures of any and all to download and reference.

Recording, downloading, and sharing audio is super simple with the iTalk. No mess with tapes.
Matt Haughey (link) – 02 March 2005 – 17:18

Matt, I think the difference is that I used to swap tapes with hundreds of people all over the world, so I never regarded it as difficult. I spent most of my college days with my cassette decks and recorder. I experience digital recording as less reliable – the files are on my HD, I lose them or the HD crashes. I burn to CD, but can’t seem to file them properly. I also care less about the digital files. I still have my thousands of cassettes and DATS and can find every recording I ever made, despite my bad organising and filing. And I would never lose them or throw them away. I sold one part of my collection once and regretted it bitterly. Now when I lose an mp3, I don’t care much (part of that is growing older and not hanging onto stuff as much).
Caroline (link) – 02 March 2005 – 17:47

you old luddites are a-dor-able! ;)
as a musician who hearts their MD long time, i also use the italk/ipod for my uni lectures, as i have been for about a year – the sheer ease of use as opposed to the MD is a dream. straight home and into itunes – bam! there’s all that good stuff i missed while i was napping. the audio quailty is not outstanding, but it serves it’s purpose well. it’s being hyped on at hte mo’, as lazy journalists see “FAD” and think they have discovered the lightbulb.