Birdjam recordings on Olympus LS-11? (1 Viewer)

About ten years or so ago, I bought a set of bird recordings for North American birds. These were sold by Birdjam, and I had to buy them via the iTunes store. Thus they came in a format that is fine for my oldish ipod. But as that model tends to reset often, it is not always useful in the field. So I'm looking either for a replacement set of recordings or for converted versions to be played on my Olympus LS-11. I found that the apple versions can be converted with a program by AVS that I had bought mainly for other purposes. But that package has a converter program. Looks like it is not perfect though.

Thus, alternatively, I wonder whether there are sound libraries for North American species that can be bought and used on the LS-11. I know I could try to make my own compilation from xeno-canto. But that would be way too time consuming.

The LS-11 (and I assume the related Olympus recorders as well) have one quirk, however. Sounds can only be stored in a Music folder. And there are limitations as to how much can go in there. Certainly much less than what finds room on a SD card. Euro Birds recordings that I had bought from Bird Guides iDentify are working very well, though. Thus, a like version for North America would certainly work as well, I think.

I'd like to know of any well proven such compilations. Thanks in advance.

I use Birdjam on a newer Ipod touch with no problems. I get photos and ranges for each bird as well. Since you have already purchased the Birdjam recordings, have you thought about just buying a newer ipod? You don't need the latest model, and really not much storage capability, so used ones can be quite cheap. I originally used a nano, but now use a secondhand touch.

ptickner said:

I use Birdjam on a newer Ipod touch with no problems. I get photos and ranges for each bird as well. Since you have already purchased the Birdjam recordings, have you thought about just buying a newer ipod? You don't need the latest model, and really not much storage capability, so used ones can be quite cheap. I originally used a nano, but now use a secondhand touch.

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The reason for sticking to the unreliable ipod is the speaker I have for it. Its easily the most compact decent sound system that I know. So getting a newer ipod would no longer allow to use that set-up. Also, I doubt that I would still have full access to those recordings. I must have changed the computer software twice, in addition to some major hardware components.

So I am presently attempting to use the 7 CDs of the Stokes series for a substitute that I could then use on any mp3 player. I still have some way to go though. I managed to convert the CD tracks into mp3 files, this time reliably. But many of those tracks have voices of two species on them as each CD only allowed 99 tracks. Again, another of the AVS programs has proven most helpful. Though treating around 600 tracks takes time.

In the end, I hope I can make it work the way I want. Essentially, I'd like to use the recordings the way my Birdjam is organised. I don't need pictures or range maps in this case. So that facilitates things a bit.

I hate apple for making products that can't be used freely. So certainly no new/used ipod, except if I could use it with the convenient Travelsound speaker.

I certainly see your point, and that Travelsound speaker looks great. I've never seen one before.

Good luck!

Success with my replacing attempts

ptickner said:

I certainly see your point, and that Travelsound speaker looks great. I've never seen one before.

Good luck!

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Yes, that Travelsound set-up is great. I had seen it first when a Chicago birder used it to verify a shorebird call in the field. My sound memory would be too limited to use the device for that. But I was immediately impressed and bought the components while still visiting my son. The BirdJam download was done at home as apple would not have provided an opportunity to transfer the ordered item to my own computer later.
Meanwhile, those blackouts mentioned earlier have become so bad that the ipod has become virtually useless.

Anyway, I have worked for more than just the full weekend now to get a replacement set-up started. And I think I have finally been successful. It took the Stokes CDs, that I converted to mp3 first. Then, each single entry had to be named as an info along the lines of "session 1, track 46" is not very helpful in the long run. Then, all those tracks with two species on them had to be split - using my newly acquired AVS software. And as many recordings occurred on both the eastern and the western CD set, I had to find a way to combine them. I had decided against sorting them out and keeping just the better version. And combining to a single recording might have been possible, but only with lots more time and effort to be put into this. So I decided to keep all the recordings. They are definitely not simple duplicates, judging from the lenghth.

A simple complete listing would have been impossible due to the limitations my Olympus device sets. But it would also have been tedious to get to a specific recording. So I now have two versions on the same SD card. One version is alphabetical, with groups not larger than about 50 entries (not species as there is often at least a second entry per species). Thus, one group within the letter r is just those names which begin with "Red". This arrangement results in around 30 folders. A second set follows a more systematic approach. Thus alcids, finches, shearwaters etc each make up a folder. This approach resulted in about 68 folders. So there is still some leeway to the maximum of 127 possible folders.

I patterned this after the Bird Guides iDentify package that I have for Europe. Of course with the necessary adaptations.

From previous uses, I have learned that both the alphabetical and the systematic lists can be helpful. So the only drawback now is the fact that the Olympus device has a very weak speaker. Thus I need to carry along a separate one. The first one (see attached picture) that had been recommended to me here on BF may have never worked. But I'm not sure as it is too long ago that I had bought it. Anyway, it is not working now. Claiming any warranty seemed to be too uncertain at this point to even try.

I found a comparable but probably somewhat sturdier - but also heavier - speaker in a local electronics shop. With the advantage that I could easily go back in case of malfunction. The second picture shows the comparison between what I consider the ideal set (with the Travelsound speaker) and what I use now. Of course, the bulkier Olympus solution has a built-in recording and microphone part. And it is actually meant as a recorder first, and not really that much for playbacks.

So, if anybody knows of a recommendable mp3 player with decent built-in speaker and SD card slot, I'm still in the market! Thanks.

Robert -
I have the same speaker system for my iPod Nano. The speaker system is great but the rebuilt nano had to be returned twice, upgraded and still freezes on a regular basis. The battery has to die before the Nano will reset itself. I now have an iPhone 5 which has pretty good sound but not the ear-splitting volume as the Travelsound speaker. The iPhone is so multifunctional and convenient, especially considering the bird guide apps loaded on it, that I see no reason to fall back to the older system. If I want louder, there are speaker options for phones, for example, a very portable, $20 Satechi-Portable-Rechargeable-Speaker.

Steve

Hamhed said:

.......... I see no reason to fall back to the older system. If I want louder, there are speaker options for phones, for example, a very portable, $20 Satechi-Portable-Rechargeable-Speaker.

Steve

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Hi Steve, seems that you have the same speaker then. Well, I'd still prefer to go the integrated speaker route, if I can find one. That Travelsound was just as good as integrated though. Yet, it was also decently powerful. The version you now have is basically similar to what I have as long as we simply consider bird sounds to be played aloud. I am not a smartphone person. Try to stick to a simple mobile only. Some of it has got to do with the rates to be paid for something I don't really use. Of course, living in Switzerland means we are being milked wherever they can. Thus, I paid about twice as much for my speaker than you did.

It does seem incredible the amount of our income we alot for internet, communication and our apps these days, compared to 25 years ago when a cordless phone was a seemingly costly upgrade to a wall phone. I'm showing my age now, I know; times have changed! I guess an iPod Touch is not an alternative? They don't seem all that cheap...

Steve

Swissboy said:

............
So, if anybody knows of a recommendable mp3 player with decent built-in speaker and SD card slot, I'm still in the market! Thanks.

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I found (or rather a friend of mine did) an amazing little tool made by Sony: ICD-PX333. I have only used it for recording/playback so far. But it comes with a microSD card slot. Mostly I'm just amazed about the built-in speaker. Here, one normally does not need an external speaker. Definitely more powerful than the Olympus one. And the microphone is just as amazing. It might not differentiate as finely, but that might not always be necessary. Definitely a little tool to explore further. B

At this point, I have yet to figure out how to use the SD card.

Edit: I'm slowly learning. For one, the files need to be in mp3 format. So I need to convert those that are now a different format, mostly mpeg4. Same problem as with the Olympus LS-11, by the way.