Thursday, November 16, 2006

The F.C. Howell Audio History Project (cont.)

I’ve ordered both a digital voice recorder and a digital video camera from Amazon.com, with expedited shipping. They should arrive by Monday, November 20th.

The voice recorder is able to store over sixty-five hours of audio, without having to change tapes or perform any other maintenance. The recorded audio will be transfered to my computer where it may be edited. After transference, the recorder’s storage will be wiped clean, allowing it to store more audio. The edited audio will be put onto CDs, into audio files (such as could be played from a Web page), and eventually transcribed to print.

The camera records directly to recordable DVDs. Each DVD provides nearly two hours of recording time. Further, modern computers, such as my Macintosh laptop, can read the information from the DVD (not just play the contents). With the native applications provided on my laptop, I can then edit the video and subsequently write the edited video back to DVDs or into movie files that could be viewed from a Web page. As desired, I could also strip (take only) the audio, treating it as like the audio from the voice recorder.

Both devices will be powered by AC adapters (backed up with batteries), helping to ensure reliable and continuous operation.

I still have to find a good microphone and a camera tripod. I hope to procure those this weekend, and begin recording my father next Monday. Please join me in this effort!

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