Members LiveMusic Posted November 25, 2007 Members Share Posted November 25, 2007 I bought a Zoom H4 from a friend. He stuck the wrong AC adaptor in during a gig and fried it so that the AC adaptor does not work. It does work on batteries. I got it for $100 but I don't know if that was such a great deal because batteries don't last so long. I wonder if rechargeable batteries would work fine. I can buy a new power supply for $25 BUT it might be fried inside, not the power supply. I fear he has thrown away the power supply. Else, I could maybe test it to see if it's actually fried. Anyway... here's the immediate problem. Recording seems to work fine. Long story short, my recordings got uploaded to his computer. Then I bought a 2GB SC card and we transferred the files from his computer to the new card. But now, when I put it in the Zoom, it says "no data" and I cannot listen to the songs. Any idea what to do? I found a firmware update (I doubt that this is the problem here) but it says you must use the AC adaptor to upgrade firmware. Bummer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 25, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 25, 2007 Have you checked the manual? I had an H4 for evaluation and successfully transferred some WAV and MP3 files to it for playback. I don't remember that there was any trick to it, but it may be that the files you're trying to play on it are in a format that it doesn't play. I think its range of bit rates for MP3 is somewhat limited. It's also possible that if you're using WAV files, the program that created them put something in the header that the H4 doesn't understand. You may need to save the files using another program that writes plain wave files. I don't know about your power supply problem. If it runs on batteries it will probably run from an external power supply of the correct voltage and polarity. It does have a pretty short battery life. I was using some generic 2000 mAh rechargeable batteries with it and they ran down after about 2 hours. 2-3 hour battery life seems to be conventional for most of these inexpensive flash memory recorders. Not like my Sony TCD-5 portable cassette recorder that I can run all day on two D cells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LiveMusic Posted November 25, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 25, 2007 EDIT: I think maybe the new card might need to be formatted in the H4? If so, I hope I can transfer all of these files to my computer before, as that will wipe out the files. ::: There should be no file compatibility issue as these .wav and .mp3 files were created on this very H4. Things get fuzzy... now I recall that this also happened a week ago... same identical situation... I couldn't do anything with the files that I knew were on the card (transferred from my friend's computer to the card) and I was needing to record some new songs and the card was full... so, I reformatted the card and I was able to record new songs. I don't know if the above is relevant. Suffice to say... files recorded on this H4. Files uploaded to friend's computer. Files downloaded to new SC card. H4 says "no data." Have I missed a step? Does a new SC card have to be formatted on the H4? Now, where is that manual? EDIT: Yippee, I was able to get all of the files on the 2GB card into my computer, so, they are save. It took 30 minutes to transfer 1.3GB. My USB is probably USB1, not 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsongs Posted November 25, 2007 Members Share Posted November 25, 2007 I have an H2...similar thing. When I placed the SD card in my computer for reading, I also took SoundForge to it and edited the file from the card. That left some of the SF .sfk temp files on there and when the card was placed back into the Zoom unit (lol, Zoom Unit Zappa?) I was forced to reformat the card since it couldn't read the card (shame, since I had one of my acoustic shows in there, and I was at a rehearsal at the time, and it was ultimately more important to record the rehearsal... So yeah, if you have any files on your Zoom SD card BESIDES a .wav or .mp3 , it's gonna give you problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daklander Posted November 26, 2007 Members Share Posted November 26, 2007 ...Not like my Sony TCD-5 portable cassette recorder that I can run all day on two D cells. Ain't that a great little recorder? I have a TC-D5M that still sees heavy use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 26, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 Ain't that a great little recorder? I have a TC-D5M that still sees heavy use.Yeah, it seems that the people who make (and use) portable recorders today have either forgotten what's important about a field recorder, or they use them for different purposes. I suspect some of both. A recorder like the Zoom is great for capturing sound bites where you can use it all day and not actually record more than an hour or so of material. Lots of musicians use one this way to capture ambient sound for use in sample-based productions. But when reliability and predictability is important, it's hard to beat real hardware. While you may run out of pockets, there's always room for one more shoulder bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thankyou Posted November 26, 2007 Members Share Posted November 26, 2007 I think you must format the card first in the Zoom. I have an H4 and when you want to reuse the card, you have to go to the card menu that has "format" as an option. It will erase the data on any SD card, then you're ready to reload. Post back if you still have problems - my recorder is upstairs right now and I can't remember the exact process. As far as batteries, this is a weakness and if you go to some forums related to the Zoom, there are a bunch of creative ways to camel back other rechargeable batteries to the recorder. It takes two AA's down pretty fast. The adapter is 9V, so that might explain why. It seems to use up the batteries much slower on MP3, though your options are less and the sound quality is compressed. Last week you asked about an interface for your brother. I've never used it that way, but the H4 will do that. Did you get the Cubase software too? It comes with a new Zoom. edit:Zoom forum Good luck, Duke, I may be in your neck of the woods next year to visit my nephew in N.O. I'd be happy to buy you a beverage and do some picking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LiveMusic Posted November 26, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 26, 2007 Last week you asked about an interface for your brother. I've never used it that way, but the H4 will do that. Did you get the Cubase software too? It comes with a new Zoom.edit:Zoom forumGood luck, Duke, I may be in your neck of the woods next year to visit my nephew in N.O. I'd be happy to buy you a beverage and do some picking. Yep, my bro could use the H4 but he'll be gone tomorrow. He's looking into a cheap mixer. Although, I really don't know why he wants to spend any hard-earned money on this. I wish he'd just practice learning to play guitar! If you come this way, please alert me! I'm in the opposite corner of the state, it depends on where you are coming from to come close to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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