Are there any good sound recorders that cost <$50 and are not just the voice memos app? I’ve tried the app a few times and it is, in my opinion, pretty bad for birds, cicadas, and frogs.
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One I like is Merlin! It’s free, and although it’s mostly meant for birds, it still is really good at picking up other sounds, too. I’ve also tried other apps and they tend to distort the noises. Merlin is my favorite, and it’s fairly straightforward to upload audio recordings from the app to iNat.
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Does your camera take videos? You can take a video and convert it to an audio file.
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Are you asking for an APP or for a device.
If you are searching for a device them any decent smart phone will most likely be better than a < US$ 50 recorder.
However, to be effective with a phone a good app is required . I used to used Rec Forge II which allowed controls over a lot - and it recorded in a decent high quality format.
However the app is broken for free users now and I have not found a replacement.
as @giannamaria says Merlin app is good - it also has a live spectrogram display, however its lack of any more controls makes it less useful when compared to a more pro app. (which again I am yet to find a decent replacement for)
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before you go spending a lot of money, i would try converting your audio file to WAV (or getting an app that can record WAV files) before loading to iNat.
Voice Memo records audio in an MP4 container, and when you upload an MP4 file, iNat probably converts your MP4 file to one that has lossy audio, even if you recorded lossless audio. more about that here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/issues-with-quality-of-sound-recordings/52178/17.
if you can convert to WAV, iNat won’t do any extra conversion, and the quality of your uploaded audio might be better. it’s a little cumbersome of a process, but i figure it’ll be no worse that whatever process you planned to go through by buying a sound recorder.
if you still want a separate sound recorder, i would recommend a Zoom H1n. i see these going for as low as $60 new (not quite $50, but maybe there will be deals when Thanksgiving rolls around, or you can buy a used one now for <$50), but you’d probably need to spend a little extra to get a good wind screen for it, too.
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I’ll try it, thanks!
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If the problem is that your phone is picking up a lot of background noise in addition to the sounds you are trying to record, an external microphone that you can connect to your phone might be worth a try; this would probably be less expensive than a separate recording device.
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That might work, but part of the problem is that I use the phone of a family member, since I have not one of my own, and would like to find something that I could take on my long solo walks in the woods.
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My favourite app on my phone for recording Bird song is BirdNET from Cornell Lab.
I also keep looking at Echo Meter Touch 2/Pro smartphone unit for Bat recording, but I am not likely to purchase in the near future.
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As others have said, a smartphone with Merlin can be quite useful. I have a Røde brand directional USB microphone in my camera bag, and attach it to my phone when I want to record a particular call coming from a particular direction, rather than the whole soundscape. Several similar microphones are available for under $50.
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See above.
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