Marantz PMD660

The newest Marantz PMD recorder is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but it has features that make more expensive, full-sized field recorders green with envy. It can run for hours on just four AA batteries. It records on Compact Flash media cards which you can find in any discount store, and will store more than 36 hours of mono on a single card. If audio quality is your key requirement, you get over an hour of pristine, uncompressed, 16-bit .wav files. Editing can be achieved right there in the field using either of two editing modes, or you can use your favorite audio editing application by transferring files to your PC-the PMD660 even has its own USB port. XLR inputs, phantom power, built-in mics and more-it's all there in the PMD660.

Highlights:

• WINNER of the 2005 Radio World "Cool Stuff Award"
• WINNER of the 2005 Radio Magazine "Pick Hit Award"
• Smallest PMD yet-fits in your hand
• Uses inexpensive, widely available Compact Flash media (CF)
• Operates for four hours on four AA batteries
• Two XLR mic connections with +48v phantom power
• Two built-in condenser mics for easy, true stereo recordings

• Solid State Technology- The PMD660 is the newest generation of "Flash Recorders". By storing audio data on Compact Flash (CF) media cards, all of the mechanical hassles of tape recorders are gone forever-as are the costs of servicing and maintaining them. Solid State Technology makes the PMD660 less vulnerable to bumps, vibrations, and sonic deterioration over the long haul. Not only that, but CF storage allows you to choose from several recording formats, and makes transfer to computers a snap.
• Long Battery Life-Tired of lugging around six extra D-Cells just so you can interrupt your recording to change batteries half-way through an event? The PMD660 will run for four hours on four AA cells. You can carry an extra set around and not even notice they're there-not that you'll need them.
• Long Record Times-No more flipping tapes! A single 1 GB flash card can hold up to 36 hours of uninterrupted audio (monaural .mp3 at 64 kbps). For music recording, the same size card can hold more than 17 hours high quality compressed stereo (.mp3 at 128 kbps). If you need the unmatched quality of uncompressed audio, you can get about one-and-a-half CDs worth of 16-bit linear PCM audio at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz on the same 1 GB card.
• Professional I/O-Let's face it. Plugging professional-grade microphones into an 1/8" jack is asking for trouble. The PMD660 offers two balanced XLR mic inputs with +48v phantom power. And just in case you don't have the time, space or budget to use external microphones, the PMD660 includes a stereo pair of condenser mics built right in.
• Editing and File Transfer-In the end, you'll probably want your audio to be used for broadcast, or burned to a CD for evidence, documentation, or just for convenient playback. You'll want to edit out dead air and relevant information. You can do this right on the PMD660 with cut-and-paste simplicity using the "Copy Segment" mode. You don't need to worry about mistakes, because the PMD never erases your original recording. Once you have it the way you like it (or if you prefer to edit on your computer or DAW), you can transfer your audio files to a PC for broadcast or CD burning through the PMD660's built-in USB Port.
• Exclusive-"Virtual Track" Mode-For more sophisticated editing jobs, the PMD660 features Marantz Professional's exclusive "Virtual Track" mode. In this mode, you can create up to 99 virtual tracks-internal playlists of audio segments.  You simply tell the PMD660 what segments of a file to play, and in what order, and it does it-without altering the original file in anyway, and without using up more card memory. Need 5 and 10 second sound bites and a two-minute interview segment, all from the same file? It's easy with virtual tracks.
• Optional Wired REmote-It would be great if every recording situation had a field engineer running everything behind the scenes. Unfortunately, all to often it's just you, wishing you had more hands. The RC600 wired remote control enables you to start and stop recording, and to mark new track-starts on the fly. It even has a peak meter right on the remote, so you can keep an eye on your recording, without taking your eye off the ball.