Reciprocity

[twilight33]

I emailed my new family contact a picture of my great-granduncle that I assumed he already had, but it was the only good thing I had immediately available to offer him for sharing my great-great grandfather's obituary.

He responded with absolute astonishment and gratitude, as he had never seen a single picture of his namesake before.

This is hammering home the concept that I need to digitize everything I have in order to easily participate in the reciprocal process of miscellaneous/priceless genealogy information.

As part of this, I may have finally found the cost justification to jump into the 21st century with a large capacity mp3 player only if it has a voice recorder function. No trendy iPod for me. I must have media files of my almost-100-years-old relative talking about various family members to burn & stash in a safe deposit box as well as share with her immediate family and future contacts.

Comments

Uhm...

[tim-wright.livejournal.com]

Large capacity mp3 player = iPod.

If you want to record get the inexpensive microphone attachment. For a few dollars more get the adapter for your digital camera that will allow you to clear out your camera's memory card and download all your pictures to the iPod while you're on the road. Then, of course, there's the fact that you can plug the iPod into any TV (or digital projector) with RCA inputs and give a slideshow.

So, uhm, other than a certain eltist snobbery, why was it you didn't want an iPod? ;)

Re: Uhm...

[northwardbound.livejournal.com]

Yup, there is a microphone attachment for the iPod, and while I haven't used it, I've heard good things :) For the capacity, you can't beat the iPod. Well....you can, but the pods are much better as far as durability goes.

Ahhh, assimilation ;)

Re: Uhm...

[twilight33]

Not happening, but nice try ;)

$$$

[twilight33]

See the 8GB Zen Micro I'm eyeing for $220 over here (viva free shipping & no sales tax).

30 is overkill for what I need, synching with Outlook is very appealing, and I could care less about video. No mike/FM attachments = less things for Kieran to seek & destroy. Since I'm obviously not in the iTunes clique, the lack of compatibility there doesn't bother me in the slightest ;)

Re: $$$

[tim-wright.livejournal.com]

You will be surprised how quickly 8Gb will fill up, especially with sound and image files.

And, $50 more will get you 22Gb more. Add the needed gizmos (mike, camera adapter, and cables for the TV—and those last two aren't available for the the Zen Micro becuase, uhm, it doesn't do those things) and it all comes to $335 with free shipping); if you just want the microphone, that's $20 extra.

Re: $$$

[twilight33]

I don't need a camera adapter or cables for the TV because that's not what I'll use it for - I want something that switches easily between FM (and let's be honest, that is a ridiculous contraption on the iPod) & mp3s, as well as record many, many conversations with my family in the years to come. I have all the storage I need for my Canon as it is until we go on a vacation for longer than a week, which isn't happening anytime soon & by then I'll have a laptop to edit on instead of mess with another tiny screen :) My budget for such things is not over $300 but $200.

BTW, I'm too visual and have never been able to get into audiobooks. Various lecture podcasts on the other hand...

Re: $$$

[northwardbound.livejournal.com]

Methinks their estimate of 4000 songs/8GB is ambitious. Or they mean yes, you can do it, with the most minimal sound quality. I keep my sound files at medium compression and I've got 4500 songs on 17GBs.

I'd recommend playing with it in the store.....I was *this close* to getting the zen micro until I picked it up and it felt...cheap. Like it'd fall apart with normal use. And then Scott insisted I pick up the iPod (I Didn't Want To) and well.....here I am, assimilated *lol* But then, I also got a screaming deal because they were discontinuing the 40GB photo iPod, so I got mine for eh....just about $275.

[tim-wright.livejournal.com]

I, too, resisted but in the end, well, I chose wisely!

One of the cool things is that you have room for it all: music, images, recordings and, what I really like, books on, er, little tiny hard drives encased in plastic (the Seattle Public Library has a growing collection of books on CD that are perfectly rippable).

Re: $$$

[twilight33]

Heh I'm still not going to go that route because of my absolute requirement for FM/mp3 compatibility. I'm a former DJ, I'm never giving up the free beauty & randomness of the radio no matter how much is podcast!

[sunneyone.livejournal.com]

that is so cool. :)