Recording and playing the Zoom H4 recorders


The Zoom H4 recorders available in the JRR have great sound quality, but they're not intuitive to operate. The single most important rule:

 

1. Check out the recorder early enough to test it and make sure you can record and play back.

 

Beyond that, these hints might be helpful.

 

2. Always carry 2 extra AA batteries with you, but the recorders also have a cord you can plug in.

 

3.You use the big red button to record. When it's dark, you're stopped. When it's flashing, you're on paused recording. When it's solid red, you're recording. At the upper right of the tiny LED screen, you can see what mode you're in.

 

4. You use the center button on the front of the recorder to play, pause and access the file menu.

 

5. BUT you do not use it to navigate the menus on the LED screen. To do this, you use the track wheel on the right side of the recorder. (This is completely unintuitive and tricky.) Move it up or down to move the selector and press it in to make the selection (e.g., file/delete when you want to get rid of your files.)

 

Instructions on moving files to your PC are in a separate page in this wiki folder.

 

The full manual is at http://www.zoom.co.jp/archive/English_Manual/E_H4.pdf. Open it in Preview or Acrobat Reader and use the search function to jump to any instructions you need.