Good Morning Gary,



I can offer advice on some of your questions. I reluctantly entered the
i-generation last Christmas. I have a 4th generation iPod touch, which I?ve
enjoyed more than I would like to admit. I purchased iBird and the Sibley
Guide for the device.



My well-meaning husband also gifted a small external speaker whose
user-unfriendly qualities made it impractical for the field. I?ve since
discovered that birds have much better hearing than the mammal on this
keyboard, and decided I don?t need an external speaker. I?ve accidently
called a few birds out of the woods while trying to listen to a particular
call or song on the lowest volume setting. I wasn?t using the ear buds at
the time. Now I do use them unless I?m trying to share a sound with my
helicopter hearing-impaired husband.



My little iPod came with a program called ?voice memo.? With it, I can
record sounds in the field. The microphone is very sensitive. It works
better than the ones on my digital voice recorder and digital camera. I once
stood in a second-story window of my home and recorded a female Great Horned
Owl squawk from about 250 yards away (in the middle of the night). You can
hear her faintly but clearly on the recording (along with a two-mile away
train and perhaps a little spousal snoring in the background).



I haven?t tried downloading recordings from websites to the iPod, but I do
plan to use the voice memo program to re-record my 1977 high school
Christmas concert from a cassette tape.



Since you can use iTunes to convert files from some audio CDs to MP3 files
for use with the iPod, I wonder if it?s possible to do the same with sound
recordings on CD? I haven?t tried that either. There may be copyright
restriction on some CDs.



There are two important things to note about purchasing an iPod. First, it
is imperative that you buy an protective case for it, since the glass screen
is very delicate. I have mine encased in an Otter Box, which still gives
easy access to all the ports. Secondly, get the largest capacity iPod that
you can afford. It?s amazing how much space these birding applications and
sound files can consume.



With the Otter box enclosure, my iPod measures a pleasant ?? deep x 2.75?
wide x 4.75? long.



Happy Shopping!

Amy Hill

Kalama, WA



From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Gary
Bletsch
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2012 7:48 AM
To: tweeters tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] RFI on bird song devices



Dear Tweeters,[Hills of Kalama - Amy & Steve Hill]



My portable cassette deck is acting up; my phonograph is busted, so I can't
make bird-song tapes from records any more. I reckon it's time to tiptoe
into the century instant.



I don't really want a smart phone or a tablet computer.



What I want is some sort of modern device that will let me play bird songs
in the field, loudly enough for them to hear. It would also be nice to have
the ability to make the occasional recording of their voice, although my
little digital camera does a halfway decent job of that already.



I also would like to be able to capture sound recordings off websites such
as Xenocanto, and store them on the device, for future use, if that is
possible.



I am really not interested in getting a field guide--I still prefer a book.
I just want the sound recordings.



The device I choose should be able to store bird songs from other countries,
for overseas trips, and not be limited to ABA-area sets of recordings. How
one acquires a set of overseas recordings for, say, Thailand or Kenya, is
beyond me.



The device should also be reasonably small and robust. The small size of the
device rules out any sort of portable CD player, as far as I know. I don't
mind having external speakers--many bird guides overseas have such a setup,
and it seems to work fine.



Any suggestions?



Yours truly,



Gary Bletsch







Gary Bletsch



Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA



garybletsch at yahoo.com



"Nun," sagte ich, "wenn ich ein Taugenichts bin, so ist's gut, so will ich
in die Welt gehen, und mein Glueck machen." Und eigentlich war mir das recht
lieb, denn es war mir kurz vorher selber eingefallen, auf Reisen zu gehen,
da ich die Goldammer, welche im Herbst und Winter immer betruebt an unserm
Fenster sang: "Bauer, miet' mich, Bauer, miet' mich!" nun in der schoenen
Fruehlingszeit wieder ganz stolz und lustig vom Baume rufen hoerte: "Bauer,
behalt' deinen Dienst!"