It ain’t much to look at, but the Edirol R-1 Digital Recorder is probably going to make quite a few audio geeks pretty happy. One of the major shortcomings of all these modern players is that they aren’t exactly good recording devices (for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the desire to make it more difficult to bootleg music). The R-1 doesn’t have that problem, with not only a 3.5mm mini-jack microphone and Line ins, but built-in stereo microphones, as well as a 3.5mm and SPDIF optical out.
There’s no hard drive inside, though; the R-1 records in WAV or MP3 direct to CompactFlash cards. Some people might see consider that a shortcoming, but it probably saves quite a bit of battery life to leave out the drive.
Of course, battery life isn’t all that hot to begin with – about 2.5 hours on a pair of AAs. But since you carry around extras (or switch to AC if you’ve got it), you can keep on recording audio as long as you’ve got flash memory and batteries.
There are plenty of musician-friendly bits inside, too, like a built-in tuner and metronome. Plus you can hook up the R-1 via USB 2.0 and pull all your MP3s and WAVs off any time you want.
If you just want to listen to your MP3 collection, you’ll hate this. If you have been looking for a better option to record than miniDisc or DAT, however, it looks hot. Expect a launch in November for $550.
Move over NJB3, here’s the Edirol R-1 Digital Recorder [DAPreview]
