Device for Taking Travel Notes? 456
the Anonymous Wanderer writes "When I go in vacations, I like to take notes and upon return write a travel story for my friends. Until now I've been using a paper notebook, but found that I'm so busy when I come back that the notebook sits for weeks or months unopened. On the other hand, I have some 'dead' time during trips and I'd like to take the notes electronically (final editing could be done upon return). I don't want to carry a laptop or a PDA (too expensive, plus I want to be away from computers at least those 2 weeks per year). Any suggestions for a light, cheap, keyboard-equipped device? Like a travel clock + keyboard and more memory and USB? Thanks, the Anonymous Wanderer."
Solution (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A different option (Score:5, Insightful)
The more they over-tink the plumbing... (Score:2, Insightful)
But this is slashdot, so let's discuss electronic toys we can add to our debts. We like paying for things after they've become landfil.
no PDAs? (Score:3, Insightful)
a phone (Score:2, Insightful)
Zaurus (Score:1, Insightful)
Palm + mini keyboard (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously...nothing like a Digital Camcorder (Score:5, Insightful)
A camcorder may not have a keyboard, and may not be easy to take notes on - but believe me, there's nothing like audio+video to make a memorable/enjoyable memoir of your trip.
I never thought of a camcorder (usually $300+) as a worthwhile investment, but my recent experiences changed that view - my parents're visiting and they've got a camcorder along (Sony, about $500.00, I think).
Nothing beats a camcorder to take audio/visual notes including a running commentary. It's even fun to plug it back in to the computer and edit it and relive the memorable portions of the trip later. Give it a try.
Calculscribe (Score:3, Insightful)
On the downside, they're staggeringly overpriced ($240) for a keyboard + flash memory + LCD screen.
Okay...so you essentially don't want a solution? (Score:2, Insightful)
It just appears to me that you're being a whiny little bitch for 2 reasons:
1) if you use paper, then you're bitching about how you need to spend extra time on transferring it to a computer
2) if you use a laptop or PDA, then you're bitching that it's "too expensive"
I think you need to be realistic in your expectations and then just make up your fucking mind in light of those realistic expectations.
Psion! (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm seriously in love with my trusty old Psion Series 5 for writing stuff on - I mean, the odd short note is fine to do on the Palm M130 I got, but nothing can beat the Psion for datainput. True, it has only a serial conector, but then, nothing is perfect. A Psion 5MX or a Revo might be just what you need.
How will being electronic solve anything? (Score:2, Insightful)
How will the note taking device being electronic solve the problem that you don't have time to write up the story when you get back? Won't it just be a more expensive way of not writing the story for a while after your return?
My advice would be to just stay with the pad and pen. You will save the money on the device and batteries with out loosing any functionality as I see it.
PDA (Score:5, Insightful)
As for expensive, what exactally IS your budget? Sure there ARE $500 PDA's, but there are also $50 PDA's. You can't justify your avoidance on cost and I personally think the "I like to get away from computers...." arguement is rediculous. If you were a bus driver, this would be equivilent to saying you want to go on vacation, without being subject to a car/bus/whatever-can-be-driven.
Hell, if its notess you want, get a $10 mini-cassette recorder, and just talk into it. It will be much easier to deal with then pen and paper anyway.
Re:A different option (Score:5, Insightful)
Away from computers? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you want to be away from computers, use pen and paper to take your notes, like all those guys wearing flannel shirts at your local Starbucks. If a device has USB, keyboard and memory, it's a computer according to the classic definition [webopedia.com] with embedded software - just as any PDA, but more limited. So... why not to use the PDA anyway?
Tape recorder? (Score:3, Insightful)
What about a tape recorder? (Score:3, Insightful)
I remember seeing the olypus digital recorder comming bundled with software and connecting wires.
stop hiding form the solution (Score:2, Insightful)
My Experiences... (Score:3, Insightful)
In the end, I'm back to pen and paper and decided that if it isn't important enough that I'm not willing to transcribe it, then off it goes to the 'black hole of ideas' box. Maybe when I die, someone will edit and publish it. More likely, it will mislead a future team of archealogists into thinking we were all a bunch of crazy bastards.
I'd try the phone thing though, if you're traveling locally. Get familiar with a sound editor and you can give your audience something a little cooler than text.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Take a look here... (Score:2, Insightful)
Psion series 5 (Score:2, Insightful)
Buy one of these.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Write all of your notes in your notebook then when you get back, just throw away the notebook.
Use your digital camera for timestamps (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hate to tell you... (Score:3, Insightful)
A first or second generation PalmOS device with a keyboard would be better for travel. The PalmOS devices could run literally for months without a recharge and some took AAA batteries, which are easily replaced while on the road. WinCE devices -- especially the first and second generation devices -- were notorious battery hogs, and that's bad news when you're on vacation.
Having a built-in keyboard, rather than a foldable external one, is nice, but I'd trade it for extended battery life if I were using on vacation. I'd also rather have a more normal-size, foldable keyboard than a thumb-pad if my primary use of the device is writing a log.
Re:I recomend the Egotron 2000 (Score:3, Insightful)
Been ther eon both sides of the issue.
Honestly, the biggest reason to write the stuff down (in my mind) is for yourself. It's FUN to go back through your old travellogs and find all sorts of "Oh! I had totally forgot about that time we were in X and Y happened."
One thing that would be kind of unfun about not having a notebook though is that pictures are a nearly universal language. When I look at my travellogs, they're filled with all sorts of hand-drawn maps, clocks with hands drawn on them, etc.
Which is not to say that you couldn't have both an electronic note-taking device and a notebook, but
Re:Pocket PC + Voice Recorder (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps that's the way it is. But if you write something in your spare time and get it published, you start getting a fairly regular check for a while. Content is an interesting way to generate income. Doing it exclusively, though, is a bit worrisome. I wouldn't call it futile.
Re:Solution (Score:5, Insightful)
I really hate when people get modded up for saying "do it the old fashioned way!" Not only is it not the nerd/geek way, but it's also a cheap shot at gaining a +5 Insightful.
Never mind that PDA's are smaller than journals, that it's hard to organize what you've got since a journal is sorted only in chronological order, that there's value in having digital backups, and the other benefits of having tools such as voice recorder, no no no, the oversimplified pen and paper answer is the real solution to his problem.
Why don't you use a little brain power to help this guy instead of trying to gain karma by making this guy's request sound non-sensical?
Small Composition Notebook (Score:1, Insightful)
Alright, so you probably don't want the Lisa Frank version, but Walgreens has other similarly small, $1 notebooks to choose from. I speak from experience when I say that these things are a lot better than Palm Pilots and other PDAs. They're more portable, you don't have to worry about battery life, and you don't have to deal with carrying around a keyboard or trying to use the hand writing recognition software.
Whatever you use, get a dry bag for it. (Score:1, Insightful)
Any kind of boating shop should have these too. Saves you when you get drenched. I do a lot of travel in non-modern areas (like camping in a foreign country) and things get wet at the oddest times.
Re:Like the old Apple eMate (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You know (Score:2, Insightful)
That said, I wish I'd had the facilities to record sounds - markets, rainforests, etc. as well as pictures. The ability to upload piccies & stuff to home regularly would be a great boon too - not that it's happened to me yet, but losing your holiday films is pretty crap.
Re:Solution (Score:3, Insightful)
So sorry that everyone does not look at solving a problem the same way you do. Why don't we just get everyone to stop posting and then we can save time by simply reading what you have to say on the matter.
Why don't you use a little brain power to help this guy...
The original poster was looking for a possible solution to a problem. It may very well be that he has already found the best solution with paper and pen. In spite of your own techno-bias I suspect paper and pen may actually be the best solution in this case. I have found that the people who actually have the most brain power are those willing to consider all possibiliites, including the traditional. Recommending paper and pen IS helping the guy. It is helping him to not spend hours of his vacation time typing in text on a keyboard and hunting for batteries DURING his vacation.
Not only is it not the nerd/geek way, but it's also a cheap shot at gaining a +5 Insightful.
Thank you once again for a definitive statement about what others should be doing and thinking. As for karma whoring, you are the only one who seems to be overly concerned about karma points.