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View Full Version : MP3 Voice Recorder for PocketPC 2002


Jason Dunn
07-05-2002, 05:20 PM
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/zavorine/wince/mp3.htm">http://www.geocities.com/zavorine/wince/mp3.htm</a><br /><br />What a superb concept for an app! I wasn't sure if the Pocket PC had enough CPU power to do real-time MP3 encoding, but it looks like I was wrong. Very impressive programming feat - I'm surprised someone didn't do it sooner. Perfect for those long recording sessions!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/notem.jpg" /><br /><br />"Voice Notes Recorder with MP3 encoding (NoteM) was implemented as an alternative to build-in Notes application’s voice recording feature. It gives you approximately 5.5 compression rate as compared to Notes default recording mode (8-bit 11.025kHz mono PCM), with the same (or even better) perceptual quality (you can even record music). The user interface also was implemented as similar as possible to Notes GUI. NoteM supports currently only MPEG1, 2 (2.5) Audio Layer 3 (.MP3) and WAVE PCM (.WAV) audio formats."<br /><br />I should warn you that his web site is hosted on Geocities, and once today it was already out of bandwidth, so there's a good chance that after a few of you go you'll have to wait until later to try to get the app.

entropy1980
07-05-2002, 05:30 PM
If anybody has a copy send it to me I will mirror it on my site www.sprinklerhead.com

email me at
[email protected]

klinux
07-05-2002, 06:41 PM
Brilliant! What is the bitrate it records at?

I imagine if it is mono at 64kb/s (no need for stereo and higher bit rate as the built-in microphone can't take advantage of it) it could get excellent compression rate!

Xenosaiyan
07-05-2002, 07:04 PM
Sounds cool. The quality on the voice recorder default settings are simply bad, so this could be a good application.

entropy1980
07-05-2002, 07:35 PM
Since it the site keeps going down I mirrored it on my site
www.sprinklerhead.com

GadgetMan
07-05-2002, 08:23 PM
Since it the site keeps going down I mirrored it on my site
www.sprinklerhead.com

Well. I just visited your site, but do not see any information about this program on your home page. Bummer :cry:

George

GadgetMan
07-05-2002, 08:25 PM
Opps, I just refreshed IE cache and the info and links appeard. Sorry, about the premature alarm :lol:

George

dhpss
07-05-2002, 08:50 PM
This seems to be for ARM only?

entropy1980
07-05-2002, 08:52 PM
Yes it is only for PPC 2k2.

van_mierlo
07-05-2002, 10:22 PM
Since it the site keeps going down I mirrored it on my site
www.sprinklerhead.com

de active sync version is not working with mine....de cab file installed it perfectly to my ppc with about 680 kb. However it would have been nice to run this from my cf card.

bblock
07-05-2002, 11:39 PM
Try installing it, closing the ActiveSync window when it shows up, then run setup from the newly created directory on your PC. That's how I did it, and it works fine.

I take it you can't change the bitrate with this app? Can anyone try recording to an SD card (in the iPAQ) to see if you're only limited in recording time by the space available?

Thanks.

Peseta
07-06-2002, 02:23 AM
Have to work with it, but at first glance it's an application I've been waiting for since my first PsPC [Compaq Aero 1520].

Although my Casio E-200 can of course compress quite nicely voice recordings with IMA ADPCM codec [5KB/s], Microsoft in its infinite wisdom lets Notes only recognise "storage card" which automatically directs recordings to "Built in storage" [&lt;8 MB], so I had to record in main memory till now while M$ must have known developing PPC2002 that there would come devices with more than one external storage ability [Toshiba, Casio, Nec and Compaq [with sleeve]].

NoteM may be the perfect solution: high compression and storing on any location I want. At last I can record a whole day of meetings directly on my CF-card.

Gerard
07-06-2002, 10:28 PM
All I can say really is YES!!!!!!! This is an answer to a thousand-times-whispered prayer to the developer gods! I have been shuffling files a lot, using SD memory on the iPAQ to quickly move WAV tracks there between songs with my girlfriend's band between sets, then using LAME to re-encode these 3 to 6 MB files to about 12% size as MP3 files, a cumbersome and limited method. And the highest bitrate I can get away with this way is 22kbps, which is less than satisfying. This thing is gonna see a lot of use, tons.
By the way, I'll be using another PocketPCThoughts-discovered program to install the CAB to the iPAQ File Store directory; S-K's cabinstl.exe, a fine program for custom installing of CAB files. This site just rocks for cutting-edge finds!

Gerard
07-06-2002, 11:42 PM
just.... plain.... awesome.
I've fooled around with this for half an hour, and the quality to filesize ratio is bloody amazing. The cabinstl attempts failed, giving me a 'cannot register' error (even though I did not choose to register MP3 files with the app on installation). The biggest part of the installer (over 400KB) is just a copy of the old (ancient) mfc300.dll, so it's a simple DLL overwrite. The remaining 200KB+ is easy to take in the \Windows directory, especially considering all the space the MP3-compressed files will save me on an almost daily basis. This thing is absolutely HUGE! Not only does it play MP3 flawlessly in the background (something my iPAQ never did before, even with the updated media player installed), but it can be mapped to a button so that MP3 recording is two button pushes away at all times. And it can take my old WAV files and encode them as MP3 in a couple of taps. AND it has a decent, nay, a perfect playlist-building function, with a global file browser and full-folder additions. The only flaw I see is that the volume control fails, so I use the system volume control.
Amazing, just amazing. I'm finally completely happy with audio on the iPAQ, absolutely, completely happy. Forget WMA; I'll not encode any more of that garbage.
Gee, I wonder if this guy could write an MPEG-capturing program for one or more of the CF cameras on the market?

ctmagnus
10-01-2002, 01:17 AM
Has anyone else tried UNinstalling Notem yet? I found that I just wasn't using it so I did so and now I get an error message (can't find \windows\notemsrv.exe). Being able to correct this would be nice.

trapper
10-14-2002, 05:11 AM
What sampling rates and word sizes does the program allow?

Gerard
12-08-2002, 04:04 PM
"I plan to update encoding engine first and release beta version early next year with the same GUI, but with a wide range of encoding options available (up to highest bitrates possible) to select which modes will be included in the final release."
That's from the developer, a week ago. Just a wee 'bump', but possible cause for major excitement for those of us lucky enough to have a microphone jack... like me, in about a week, thanks to Leonard Wesson of PocketPCTechs.com. And then there's the 5450...

heydave
12-10-2002, 04:53 AM
This is what i REALLY, REALLY need... high quality mp3 recording via a mic in jack. That way I can throw away my minidisc recorder and save mucho time cause I don't have to encode my minidiscs to mp3s.

My question
1. Gerald: will the mic-in jack you're getting be stereo or mono?
2. Why isn't there any stereo mp3 recording programs for the pocket pc out there? ie., music match jukebox or cool edit, etc.
3. Has anyone tested out the mic-in jack for the ipaq 5450? Is that stereo or mono? Are there any bundled audio record programs?

heydave
12-11-2002, 11:46 PM
I'm not able to install this (via activesync or the cab file) on my Viewsonic v35. It says it can't install on this kind of device. Any suggestions?

heydave
12-12-2002, 06:05 PM
got it. was trying to install the wrong cab.

Gerard
12-17-2002, 05:01 AM
heydave; So sorry for the lengthy wait to reply! See, PocketPCThoughts has forgotten how to send me email updates this last while, and I just remembered tonight to use the shortcut I created last week for this thread...
So, in partial answer: I don't yet know for certain, but if earlier discussions with Leonard Wesson of PocketPCTechs hold true it will be a mono mic jack. Of course, that was before he found the 4-wire 2.5mm jack he's putting onto my 3835, before he figured out how to also wire it to act as a headset jack besides just a stereo-out and a mic-in. So I will be testing the left/right channel thing as soon as it gets back, and posting the result quickly after that.
I have no idea why there's as yet so little recording stuff for the PPC, except that there's no mic-in of course!
The 5450 is being discussed quite heavily on Brighthand, and there are a couple of threads on the mic jack. Seems a few recent acquirers of the unit have been stymied by the apparent reluctance of this model to record anything via a microphone plugged into it. Either that, or they lack a proper adapter, something Leonard will be supplying as a part of his kit when it's ready for market. So as it stands, I have not yet heard of a single person recording to the 5450 using an external mic. And the User Manual for the device as supplied by HP apparently refers not to a garden-variety microphone, but rather to an earphone/microphone combination, as in telephone headset. That's scarcely a promising recording mic, right? Probably as bad as the built-in mic!
As you see, a lot of it is still up in the air. I haven't yet heard anything concrete from PPCTechs, only that they received the unit on Wednesday last week. I'll update here (and try to remember to check for replies) as new stuff comes in.