New Tech Advice?

YOKO120

Hi All,

Just getting back into a little journalism, after a long absence. So just want some advice on where technology is ‘at’ now

1) Do people still use separate Dictaphones- or do they use their mobile phones or MP3 players as interview recorders? I have a Zen V Plus and it only records short ten minute bursts – which is not that helpful. My Nokia 5300 allows you record for longer (although sometimes it says 40 mins others 1 hour), but I worry about the sound quality and my ability to save on hard disk?

Do people have experience of any of these devices- or do they think that Dictaphones are still the way to go and would they have any advice on what ones to pick up, if so?

2) I have quite an old Lap-Top a Toshiba A40 its big and clunky but it does the job- however to connect it to internet I have to use a physical lead. Do people know if older lap tops are compatible with wireless technology, is there a way of getting a device just to fit in with the lap top- and would that make it compatible with hot spots etc?

Or do people think it better just to get a new lap top with built in wireless technology? What kind of money are we talking here.

BTW – my flatmate got internet connection with NTL for the house a few months ago- I did not need it so I was not involved. But could I make my lap top compatible with his set up. Of course I would pay my share of the bills etc?

3) Memory sticks? I have used a couple of ones I got free at events- they broke or did not work very soon after- what are the best ones to get, memory and reliability wise.

4) Could some tell me would Bluetooth technology have any benefit for media work?

5) Finally, my deadlines for work will be spread out, almost a month. Does anyone here have experience working at monthly mags or trade mags or monthly or 6 weeks deadlines? Is there are a different pattern of work? I am used to do weekly and daily deadlines- and am worried when I am not working specifically on something all the time- then I am not working at all?

Sorry for length of mail, but anyone with any experience or ideas-answers to any of the questions will become my new best friend ….thanks

flogen

YOKO120 wrote: »

Hi All,

Just getting back into a little journalism, after a long absence. So just want some advice on where technology is ‘at’ now

1) Do people still use separate Dictaphones- or do they use their mobile phones or MP3 players as interview recorders? I have a Zen V Plus and it only records short ten minute bursts – which is not that helpful. My Nokia 5300 allows you record for longer (although sometimes it says 40 mins others 1 hour), but I worry about the sound quality and my ability to save on hard disk?

Do people have experience of any of these devices- or do they think that Dictaphones are still the way to go and would they have any advice on what ones to pick up, if so?

Plenty of people still use dedicated dictaphones but some do use their mobile phones or mp3 players as it's handier than carrying a second device with them all the time. What you should do is figure out how good your phone is for what you're going to be using it for - make a test recording at various distances and so on and see how it sounds, figure out how long it will allow you to record etc. Some phones are rubbish because the voice recorder function is just tacked on, or the mic isn't good enough to pick up sounds from any kind of distance - the amount of storage space available isn't always great either.

Assuming you can rely on the phone for recording, it should be easy to save onto your hard disk too; just use the USB cable you got with the phone and transfer the files by dragging and dropping them (I'm guessing it uses Nokia PC Suite software which should also have come on a disc with the phone- if you don't have it installed already and have lost the disc it's available to download for free here).

You might figure out that a dedicated dictaphone is the best way to go - I got a good Olympus model a while ago that did the trick, was a good price and was digital so easy to save files onto the hard drive. I know Argos do a few dedicated dictaphones but they're probably not best in terms of price - just try any big electronics outlet (Currys, PC World, DID, Peats, Power City etc.) and see how you get on - alternatively you could try online; elara.ie has a good selection here.

2) I have quite an old Lap-Top a Toshiba A40 its big and clunky but it does the job- however to connect it to internet I have to use a physical lead. Do people know if older lap tops are compatible with wireless technology, is there a way of getting a device just to fit in with the lap top- and would that make it compatible with hot spots etc?

You should be able to add wireless connectivity to your laptop, assuming it has either a USB socket or a PC Card slot. You can get yourself one of these or one of these, depending on what suits your machine best. I always found the PC Card slot to be better as it doesn't stick out of the machine quite so much as the USB so less chance of you knocking it out or even damaging it - they both perform as well as the other in my experience, though.

Just to point out that the two devices I linked to are just examples and may not be the best or cheapest...

Once you've set them up you should be able to link up to any wifi hotspots - if you're talking about ones in cafés and on the street bear in mind that you might have to pay to use them... if you have a wireless router in your house you'll be able to get onto that without having to plug into it (but make sure you have a password set up on it so no-one else can!).

Just out of curiosity - do you want it so you can use the internet on your laptop anywhere you go or just in specific places (like in an office you work in etc.?)

Or do people think it better just to get a new lap top with built in wireless technology? What kind of money are we talking here.

If the only problem you have is that your laptop doesn't have wireless I'd say there's no need to buy a new machine - that said new laptops have wireless as standard and are dirt-cheap nowadays... you can get a decent workhorse of a laptop for less than €500.

If you're going to be on the go a lot I'd recommend you look into getting something light eventually - I have a big laptop and carrying it on my shoulder all day gets quite sore after a while. Again, you can get really compact and light laptops for quite cheap nowadays - just make sure it's not so small that it's uncomfortable to type on.

BTW – my flatmate got internet connection with NTL for the house a few months ago- I did not need it so I was not involved. But could I make my lap top compatible with his set up. Of course I would pay my share of the bills etc?

Yeah - you should be able to just plug your laptop in now and fire away on it... if he has a wireless router in the house then once you get an adaptor of your own (as mentioned above) you'll just need to log onto that (using whatever password he might have put on it to stop neighbours and so on accessing it) and again you're laughing

3) Memory sticks? I have used a couple of ones I got free at events- they broke or did not work very soon after- what are the best ones to get, memory and reliability wise.

I don't tend to use these much so I'll leave this to someone else but most of the memory sticks you get free at events are the cheapest of the cheap so aren't going to be nearly as reliable as ones you pay for - even the ones that cost next to nothing in the shops.

4) Could some tell me would Bluetooth technology have any benefit for media work?

Bluetooth can be handy for transferring files from one phone to another, or from phone to PC etc. etc., without having to physically plug them into each other, install software and so on... I wouldn't say it's anything you can do without, though and you'd probably need another adaptor for your laptop in order to be able to transfer stuff to and from your phone or whatever else.

There's plenty Bluetooth can do but at the same time it's not really anything that can't be done with a cable or wifi.

5) Finally, my deadlines for work will be spread out, almost a month. Does anyone here have experience working at monthly mags or trade mags or monthly or 6 weeks deadlines? Is there are a different pattern of work? I am used to do weekly and daily deadlines- and am worried when I am not working specifically on something all the time- then I am not working at all?

Depending on what you're doing you may find yourself working hard for one or two weeks of the month and staring at the walls for the remaining time. If your lucky you'll have deadlines spread across the month so one magazine's deadline is the first Friday in a month, another's is the second and so on - or else have enough work from one place that you need to be on the go all the time to get it done.

You can end up in a situation where you only have a small-ish or easy-ish piece to do and all month to do it, so you end up with too much time on your hands. It's really up to you to manage your time properly to avoid this, and to ensure you're taking on enough work to keep you relatively busy all the time... That's easier said than done and is often dependent on the work you get, but it's do-able and far more enjoyable than a stop-start approach which is easy to fall into and tedious to endure.

Apologies for the even longer reply to your long post - hope it's of some use to you!