NormCast.de

Ueber den "ZOOM H2" wurde im NormCast Nr.95 ja schon erzaehlt. Ein echt nettes Geraet, wenn es um`s Aufnehmen geht. Ein Manko hat es allerdings: Es spielt "Fremd-MP3-Dateien" und somit die allermeisten Podcasts nicht ab, vor allen Dingen dann nicht, wenn sie in Mono sind. Ein uebler Beigeschmack bei diesem ansonsten rundum gelungenen und professionellen Echtzeitrecorder. Grund genug, die Firma mal anzuschreiben:

Hi!
I`ve bought my new Zoom H2 just recently and I like it very much. Everything concerning recording is okay. BUT:
Sometimes I want to use it as an MP3-Player as well, e.g. for listening to a podcast-episode in bed. I don`t need the capabilities of a "real" MP3-player but I think that I can expect the device to play ordinary MP3-files, can`t I?

The H2 plays MP3s encoded as 128 kbps/44 khz/Stereo quite okay (but not all of them). But, very many (nearly all) podcast-episodes that I download from the internet won`t play, especially if they are encoded with 80 kbps/Mono (or less). The files are completely okay and they play perfectly on the pc, dvd and on my old edirol r1 as well.

But the H2 just refuses to do so by saying "invalid file" and that`s it.

I usually copy the files to the "folder_01", the zoom H2 finds and lists them. If I select one of those for playback it says "invalid file". If I copy those files back from the H2 to the pc, they play completely okay in e.g. "winamp".

The firmware is 1.10, the device is new, only a few days old.

Am I handling something wrong or is it a "bug"? Can this problem be solved?

Thanks in advance and kind regards from Germany!
N. Osthus

…die Antwort kam schnell…

Dear Norman Osthus,

Thank you for your inquiry. The H2 allows you to import MP3 files from a computer. However, file format is limited.
Please confirm the bit rate and sampling rate of the MP3 file. Also, a monaural file is not supported.

MP3 (Bit rate: 32 / 40 / 48 / 56 / 64 / 80 / 96 / 112 / 128 / 160 / 192 / 224 / 256 / 320kbps / VBR, Sampling frequency: 44.1 / 48kHz)

Anyway, we will forward your feedback to the H2 development team for future reference. Your kind understanding is highly appreciated.

Sincerely yours,
ZOOM Corporation.

Also, wir warten nicht nur auf`s Christkind, sondern auch auf das naechste Firmware-Update :)