Ipod, can I plug in an external feed from the headphone jack of my portable FM receiver (72-76 MHz) to record MP3 of meetings?

These meetings are being broadcast via a short range FM transmitter operating in the frequency range 72-76 MHz, and being picked up on small personal FM receivers tunable to only the channels available in that frequency bandwidth. the purpose of this arrangement is to provide assistance to those who have impaired hearing, so they can listen via headphones attached to their personal FM receiver, and so that they can adjust the volume to be able to hear. What I would like to do is feed that signal into an ipod and record the meetings in MP3 format. Is there an ipod that has a 'line in' slot, one that could likewise be used to attach a microphone? What specific model of ipod? Thanks, Bob.

  • Asked by Robert B from Chesley
  • Mar 10, 2010
Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

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1 Answer from the Community

  • Answer

    There is no iPod with line-in (even the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touches don't have that), however some of the newer iPod models have built-in FM Radio, but the recording is only used for Live Pause - you can't record and then copy to PC later, for example.

    You could just plug the iPod into some other recording device, using the right cable (eg: 3.5mm stereo plug on each end, or 3.5mm -> 2 x RCA, etc.)

    Also, there are plenty of personal music devices that can record FM radio directly, although you'd want to make sure they can tune to frequencies that low, a lot of FM radios will stop at around 88Mhz...

    Having said all that, you don't necessarily need to record the FM signal, it may be possible to just record using the device's internal microhpone, placed inside the meeting room itself. The only iPods that will do this are iPod Touches, however.

    I've used my iPhone (same recording method as the iPod Touch, with internal microphone) to record a meeting with 10 people around a large table, and the sound quality was perfect. In a noisy room, however, I wouldn't be so sure of the results.

    If the meetings are already being transmitted, it sounds like the best solution for you will be to connect into the sound system being used (there's probably a mixer for the microphones, before going to the FM Transmitter). Take a line-level output from there, and plug it into a dedicated recording device - a lot of cheap digital dictation devices will do line-in, even an old laptop will do the trick!

    This of course assumes that you have access to the equipment (which is not specified in your post). If you don't, and you are relying on recording the FM signal, then unfortunately there aren't any products in the Apple stable that will allow you to do this. I would go with my earlier suggestion of another personal music device that _can_ do FM recording.

    Hope this helps.

    • Answered by Ben T from Murwillumbah
    • Nov 24, 2010