Several companies have come with MP-3 or MPEG-2 recorders designed for radio journalists. They are all based on the use of flash memory. This is the latest from a US company called EdiRol debuted at a Photo fair in Cologne in September. Price in the UK will under 400 pounds as from November. That makes it a lot cheaper than some of the competition.



The US$440 unit (street price in the US) includes two electret mics, a 64MB Compact Flash card, an optical-output jack, and 9 recording modes from 64kbps MP3 to 24-bit linear WAV. It can transfer a max-resolution 60 minute recording (908MB) to a PC over USB-2 in around 3 minutes.



It does seem crazy that with all the radio reporters out there, many have to resort to Mini Disc which is notoriously unreliable. Thanks to Oliver in Berlin for the update on the name - I originally called it the more logical Editrol - but, indeed, there is no 't'.



Not yet released as of November 16th 2004 when we rang the Dutch importer.