Home > Consumer Reviews > Macally iPod Audio Recorder Black (IP-A181)

Purchased the Macally iVoice III microphone to use Skype on my 1st generation iPod Touch, essentially converting it to a phone. The microphone is a bit bulky, but very light. According to everyone that I've called, the sound quality is very good; I speak at a normal volume with the microphone about a foot to 18 inches away.

If you're calling overseas using Skype(like I do), the mic will pay for itself very quickly. Highly recommend.

The quality is good enough for lectures. I use it with my Ipod Classic 2G (120GB) and it doesn't drain my battery down during the lecture and lecture is 4-5hrs. I recently had to use the line in function. It works great when wanting to record lectures from someone that as an old tape recorder they use. I just had to use an auxillary cable

This microphone only works some of the time. And it is too close to the headphone jack and interferred with them working properly. I am sending this back and getting a refund

but if you have a touch iPod/iPhone it won't work--the new ones come with the built-in voice memo function anyway.

I'm using this mic with a hand-me-down Ipod Tough Gen 1. It runs most of the apps I have tried it with. But some apps will not recognize it. So for the Studio Six Digital apps (sound meters etc.) and McDSP Retro Recorder are the best. The mic tends to overload at about 100db SPL sl measurements above that level will have some distortion but it still does the job. 4 stars because I'm having trouble making the external connection work. It seems to need a high output mic. I'm going to try a preamp. I was hoping to be able to do some live recording with good quality condenser mics (with phantom power of course) but have not been able to get there yet. Test indicate this mic drops off at both the high and low end so if you are using it for measurement, find out and keep it in mind.