Griffin Technology has provided iLounge with exclusive photos and details on iTalkPro, the company’s brand new high-quality recording accessory for fifth-generation iPods. Substantially redesigned from the company’s earlier, popular iTalks for 3G and 4G iPods, the glossy black iTalkPro now boasts twin internal microphones for recording in CD-quality stereo, taking advantage of the 5G iPod’s superior stereo and monaural sampling modes, and a bold red recording light around its one-touch recording button. It also features a unique on-screen gain adjustment menu and a bottom-mounted port for an external microphone of your choice. Predictably, the new iTalk connects to the 5G iPod’s bottom Dock Connector, and is not compatible with earlier iPods. A release date and pricing have yet to be announced.
According to Griffin, iTalkPro will be able to record for 3.5 continuous hours on a fully-charged 60GB fifth-generation iPod, or 1.5 hours on a 30GB model before the battery runs out, a limitation based largely on the 5G iPod’s need to spin its hard drive all the time during recording. These recording times also assume that the iPod has sufficient hard drive space for recording; Apple’s firmware saves files in high-bitrate WAV format rather than in compressed MP3 or AAC.
Like Griffin’s iTrip for iPod nano, iTalkPro adds its own on-iPod settings menu to eliminate the need for additional buttons or switches on its body. The menu allows you to switch between “low gain,” “high gain,” and “automatic” gain modes to provide “optimum recording in any situation.”
