To say that Chris is awesome is an understatement:  He gave me a portable digital recorder that works amazingly well, the Zoom. I hardly write reviews of any kind, but since I have began recording a lot, I’m going to hope that some of you will find this useful.

Why I love it

Incredibly user friendly interface: The most obvious buttons are right where they need to be while the more obscure (but still useful) functions are tucked away in a neat little menu.

Great look and feel: Slender, sleek, fits in my tiny palm. It even comes with a desktop stand, and a clip adaptor so you can use the device hands-free.

Great sound quality: Yes, it does look as professional as it sounds. You can adjust the mic directions for surround sound, 90 degrees, or 120 degrees.

Easy to import files:  No hassle importing.

It was made for musicians:  It comes with a guitar tuner, converts .wav files to mp3s, and comes with earbuds so I was set to record right away! They made it almost too easy for me!

What I Mildly Dislike About it But Don’t Mind Putting Up With…


The volume level:  It’s not as good at picking up sound as it should be. While this is a problem which can be remedied by Audacity -> Effects -> Amplify, it’s not too great for reviewing a piece on-the-spot.

Noise:  With the previous being said, I seem to pick up a little more noise than I want to. Definitely nowhere near ’studio’ quality, but it’s still amazing.

Record button: This little sucker is sort of in an odd place so you can hear me handling the device before and after I hit record. Minor issues. Maybe someone someday will point out the fact that there exists a record-delay option. :)

To Sum It All Up

For the price? It’s a must-have. I absolutely love it to bits and am taking it everywhere!

Here’s a vocal recording of Thelonious Monk’s Round Midnight that I made using the Zoom. There has been no edits to this vocal track so you can hear what the device is fully capable of. Enjoy!

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