Audio Recording Using an iPod
This tutorial will teach you how to record audio using an iPod and how to download the voice recordings to your computer.
Equipment
iPod itself can not record audio. You need to have a special device that enables iPod to record audio and a microphone. The recommended recording tool is iTalk by Griffin (see Griffin website). You can use any microphone with a 3.5mm jack to connect to the iTalk.
Audio Recording
- Fully charge the iPod battery and make sure there is enough memory space for your recording (1 hour of recording takes about 160 MB).
- Connect the iTalk module and a microphone to your iPod.
- You can start recording now just by pressing the iTalk button on the iTalk device. When you wish to stop the recording, just press the button again.
- Your recording is saved to you iPod. To access the recordings, go to Extras - Voice Memos in your iPod menu. You can play or delete your recordings.
Downloading the files to a computer
The feature of iPods is that they would sync in iTunes with only one particular computer. If you want to access
your recordings on a different computer, you must not use iTunes but another procedure. The following text will
explain both ways.
Note: iPod formatted for Macintosh will only work with Macintosh, the same applies for Windows.
- Connect your iPod to the computer using a cable.
- iTunes should start and sync with your iPod. If it does not automatically, press Sync button manually.
- Your recordings are now in your playlists and they are called "Voice memos".
Warning: Be very careful when following this procedure. The data on your iPod could be deleted if you hit any wrong button.
- Connect your iPod to a computer using a cable.
- iTunes starts and the following dialog appears:
- Hit Cancel. This is a very important step. If you hit Erase and sync, your data would be deleted.
- In the left column, click on your iPod's name to see the screen as in the following picture.
- Now, in iTunes, make sure that "Enable disk use" is checked (see the picture).
- If not: click on "Enable disk use" to check it. It should ask you if you really want to enable this option. Hit OK. On the bottom right corner, click Apply.
- Minimize iTunes.
- Your iPod now appears as another drive. You can use any file browser to access the files on it.
- Open your file browser - Finder on Mac and Windows Explorer on Windows.
- In the list of your hard drives, your iPod should appear. Go to "Recordings" folder and copy your recordings on your hard drive.
- To disconnect iPod, go back to iTunes and click on "Eject" icon next to your iPod name.
Edit your recordings and convert your files to mp3
The files recorded with iPod are saved in WAVE format. This format has very high quality but takes a lot of memory space. To publish it, you need to convert it to mp3 format.
Converting your files to mp3 without editingFollow our Converting Audio File Formats - wav or aif to mp3 Tutorial.
Converting your files to mp3 with editingIf you need to edit your recordings, you may edit the file and convert it to mp3 using Audacity. Follow our Audacity Tutorial to learn how to work with the program.