Category: accessible Devices
Hi all.
the last few days i had a chance to look at the mp3 dasy and voice recorder milestone 311 and i was wondering if anyone else owns one or had the chance to explore it.
Here are the things that i like and things that i don't like about it.
Let's start with the things i like because i like being positive lol.
Size. Very happy with it. As it says in the manual the milestone has got a credit card size which is very good. It is very portable and it can go everywhere with you.
Batery and charging. Pritty good batery with 10 hours of playback or recording if i remember right and i like the fact that somebody can charge it with a charger but also by plugging the milestone on the computer with USB.
Memory. The milestone has got internal memory for 2 hours of recording but also somebody can get a 4 gb memory card or more to add to it.
Well designed. For its size somebody would expect the buttons to be small but they are very easy to find and rekognise.
Also for its size the speaker on it is very decent.
Adding voice names to folders. Very good feature.
Now the negatives.
The recordings sound good on the milestone itself but if we copy them on the computer the level is pritty low i think.
It has got only one juck which either a headphone output or a line in input to record with stereo microphones, radios etc. This is very bad because we can't monitor what we are recording if we use line in and we can't set the levels or anything.
Very inconvenient to do manegement of the files on the milestone by using the computer.
I will try to explain that but i hope you understand what i mean.
On the top of the milestone there is a small button to go through the different features. The features are: Internal memory voice recorder, memory card voice recorder, mp3 player, dasy player and that's about it i think.
So if you want to see the mp3s you put on it you have to find the particular options on the milestone plug the USB cable and you can see them with windows explorer. Then if you want to see your dasy books you have to unplugg it from the computer, find the dasy player with the top button, plugg it back in on the computer etc. So i don't like this at all. We should be able to see everything on the milestone without having to keep unplugging it and plugging it back again.
Over all i would give the milestone maybe 7 out of 10. It is a good and very portable mp3 and dasy player and it is good to record quick reminders on it but somebody wouldn't be able to record things like lectures at university or college etc. YOu have to be pritty close to the milestone to be able to record with it.
Thanks for reading and i look forward to hear your oppinions for this device.
Na, not one of my faves either Nikos mate. For recording, both Lisa and I use the olympus DS30. Going for DS50's soon, only because of more space etc, but that's my recorder of choice. Only thing is, if you are going to go for one, be careful wha tmike you get. I can give ya some info if you're interested. Also, to check out some recordings done with the olympus, check out my lj in the profile. I've done a couple of podcasts with it.
Thanks #simon for your post.
Yes i am interested to get a digital recorder. The olympus ds50 has got accessible menus but it is more usefull for voice recordings. If i get mine i want to use it for nature recordings etc. Somebody suggested to me the edirol r09 and i found a review on blind cool tech and it sounds good and the menus are not that bad. Somebody can remember them.
But i am open to more suggestions.
Another unit that's fairly new is called the VI Player. Its marketed in britain, and from what I heard on blind cool tech, it sounded like a prety good product. For what you want, I agree with post 2, in the the olympus machines give you much better quality, and more flexibility. I think the Milestone is god for some people, but I think its a bit overpriced. The one thing that is a mild annoyance is that the only acessible manual is in the unit itself, and to use it, you have to copy it onto the PC to read it. Personally, if they are trying to sell it is being able to be used as a stand-alone device, I think they should ship it with the manual readable in the device itself, or on an audio CD or cassette or something.
Lou
I've had a mile stone for a few months now, and while its small size is definitely a plus, I don't like the volume of recordings. If you're going to record a person speaking, they can't be more than a few feet away from the built in microphone. I once recorded a class, and had to sit in the back. That night, I had to maximize the volume of the file in goldwave because I couldn't hear the lecture. I haven't really come across a recorder with which I haven't found some fault. I'd love to be able to afford an edoral, but that's beyond my means at present.