Zoom has lowered the entry point to owning and using a Flash Recorder! $99 will put a Zoom H1 Flash Recorder in your hands and let you enter the world of pocket digital recording! Students should be recording practice sessions and etudes before lessons and auditions’ directors should be recording rehearsals and concerts. There really is no excuse for the musician who is serious about improving to not own one of these incredible devices.
The Zoom H1 is powered by a single AA battery, but lets you record up to 10 solid hours. It comes with a 2GB microSD memory card, so you’re ready to start recording right out of the box, but upgrade to a 32GB microSD card and you can record up to 10 hours straight.
There are a pair of pro-quality XY stereo condenser microphones onboard the Zoom H1 means you don’t even need to plug in your own microphone, but there’s an 1/8″ input on the side in case you want to upgrade to a higher-quality condenser stereo mic. (See my post below for recommended mics.) Whether you need better-than-CD-quality 24-bit/96kHz PCM WAV format for professional post production or memory-saving MP3 format (48kbps-320kbps) for the Web or email, you’ll get it from the H1. The H1’s even perfect capturing quality stereo digital soundtracks for video recording, mounting easily to video and DSLR camera shoes.
The Zoom H1 is probably the easiest-to-use recorder to date. All of the H1’s essential controls are conveniently laid out at the tips of your fingers with physical switches. You don’t need to navigate multiple menus on a small screen. Adjusting the input level and dropping markers as you record are only the press of a button away. There’s even a reference speaker at the foot of the H1, allowing you to review your recordings, even if you don’t have a pair of headphones with you. No, you can’t really review it for quality, but it could prevent you from accidently deleting a good take a day later.
If you have been waiting, now it the time to jump! For less than $100, you can’t go wrong!