Hi Gary,

I can heartily second the iPod suggestion.
Nothing surpasses it at any budget, and you might
find its many other functions useful. If you have
the budget, buy a new one. Used ones are a pretty
safe bet, but the non-replaceable batteries and
the main button do eventually wear out. 4th
Generation will be perfectly adequate (the latest
is 5th Gen). They come with different memory
capacities. If you know for sure you'll never
want to put videos or your music library on it, 8
GB will be fine. But I caution you that having
your favorite 100 music albums, a free app that
lets you take photos of a check and deposit it
from any wi-fi environment, a scientific
calculator, foreign language dictionary, metric
converter, appointment calendar that syncs with
your computer's Outlook, and the ability to
collect podcasts, plus many other helpful apps
(like checking your email at any internet cafe
around the world), may convert you to the i-age.
It need not take over your life, but it is
unbelievably handy. So I'd recommend 16 or 32 GB.
For the extra $50 or so, you'll not have to upgrade later.

There are add-on speakers of all sizes. Probably
not necessary for calling birds within 20-30
feet, which is usually what you'd want. But for
example if you're calling owls, you might want a
little speaker. There are also little plug-in
microphones that give enhanced recording quality.
For ID purposes, the built-in mic should be just
fine. Disclaimer and high-pulpit pitch: I stopped
calling birds altogether a few years ago. I
wasn't doing it a whole lot, but after struggling
with my guilt for a long time, I decided it just
wasn't fair to risk harrassing a single beautiful
creature for my convenience. Strict adherence to
this rule has helped reinforce my attitude as a benign presence in the wild.

The i-Pod's ability to shoot video can be very
hand for field identification. It won't give you
a high-resolution still shot, but can document
behaviors and field marks that a still shot won't
reveal. You can also use the video and voice
recording features to take field notes that you
can then email to yourself in order to have them on your computer.

Marc Hoffman
Kirkland, WA
www.songbirdphoto.com

At 10:50 AM 12/13/2012, Hills of Kalama - A & S Hill wrote:
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0013_01CDD91F.B5942190"
>Content-Language: en-us
>
>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
>
><mailto:garybletsch at yahoo.com>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!"
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