Data Recorder

[JC]

What does the data recorder do?

[Doc]

Saves data made on the BASIC.

[JC]

Ah. But like music data or both music and graphics? And I imagine they're saved on the cassette tapes provided with the recorder for playback?

[vealchop]

The recorder comes with one official "nintendo" cassette. You can play audio cassettes in this also like a normal cassette recorder. If you check out old cassette recorders from the 80's, some have a jack on the back that will say "data" and they work the same way. This recorder is just branded for Nintendo. Mine is brand new in the box and the recorder itself is still wrapped in celophane. A great buy I picked up from Pink Godzilla.

[super56k]

What does the data recorder do?

Late response on my part, but what can I say, coledge has me busy.  I own one of these.  I use it to save my "Family BASIC" programs to cassette tapes.  It is really weird when you save or play the tape, the audio sounds allot like a modem.  This is because the data is converted into an analog audio signal much like that of a dial-up modem.  It is just a standard tape deck though.  I could have used any random tape deck, or voice recorder for that matter, but I only use original hardware.

[JC]

So, am I getting this right? The Data Recorder is audio only...it doesn't have some awesome capability to conjure BASIC graphics?

[vealchop]

It records data on audio tape. The data might make noise when played on a regular tape deck but it is read into the computer (in this case the family BASIC) as code. I don't think you could save your data on just any tape deck, it had to have had a "data in" input. Some consumer tape decks had this feature in the 80's. I had one for my commodore64.

[madman]

Wow, JC must be a youngin' to not be familar with data on tape   It works the same way tape backup works (ok, not exactly), only it's on an audio tape instead of a bigger tape.  I remember loading games off tape on my c-64, what a long process that was.

[JC]

Right, madman. No, I just figure if you can put video and audio on them little tapes nowadays, why not think it possible Nintendo was a bit ahead of its time, as usual, and allow you to record video and audio with the Data Recorder.

[madman]

You'd have to have a variable speed tape recorder in order to do video on a normal audio cassette, the data rate is obviously higher for video than audio so the tape would need to be moved much faster.  The PXL2000 video camera used this method for capturing video onto an audio tape.  Of course the res was total crap and it was black and white, but it worked. 

I think the Intellivision was the first console to support a BASIC and saving to a cassette tape.

[ericj]

Has anyone tried saving via the 'line in' on your computer? If so, how well does that work?

I'll be receiving my Family Basic in a few days or (weeks--damn Japan to US shipping times) and since the official Nintendo Data Recorder is hard to get my hands on, I'd like to know if I should start looking for a cassette recorder with a data in input or if my laptop would work.

Hmm, come to think of it, it's been a LONG time since I've seen cassette tapes in stores; probably have to go to a thrift store to find them or have mom and dad send me some from my younger days. Guess I'm getting old; I remember when I used to buy new albums on them. 

Thanks for any info.

[133MHz]

In my experience with Atari computers, using your computer as an audio recorder works wonders, orders of magnitude better than the cassette recorder. Also for a more permanent/portable solution you can get a solid state audio recorder (the kind used to record lectures).

[ericj]

Thanks for your response!

That's kinda what I was thinking. I'll give it a try once I receive the keyboard. I remember using a cassette recorder with my TRS-80 Radio Shack computer as a kid and how much of a pain in the ass it was trying to record and play the program--about 3/4 of the time it'd work, the rest of the time it did nothing. I figure it'd be the same way with the famicom keyboard and data recorder. 

Do you think a portable mp3 player with a 'line in' would work? I have an old one that has a flash drive and also a Sony MD player that I no longer use.

[133MHz]

I remember using a cassette recorder with my TRS-80 Radio Shack computer as a kid and how much of a pain in the ass it was trying to record and play the program--about 3/4 of the time it'd work, the rest of the time it did nothing.

Yeah, that's because standard cassette tape sucks for data. Bad audio quality, lots of speed fluctuations, dropouts, etc. you name it. By using a digital high-quality audio recorder you eliminate all of these problems. You just have to find the optimum recording/playback volume and you're set!

Do you think a portable mp3 player with a 'line in' would work? I have an old one that has a flash drive and also a Sony MD player that I no longer use.

I've never seen an MP3 player with a line in plug, but if you have one then it should work. Just make sure to select the highest quality recording option since those are usually suited for low quality voice recording (which will crap out your data). I've never had any MD players, but if you can plug a line input to those and hit record, then it's perfect!