User Guide VR1

The VR1.0 looks like a regular USB flash drive, and it does have that functionality too. 

It also has a Lithium Ion battery which powers it as a voice recorder in recording mode.

Before you use the device, please charge it by removing the cap and plugging it into a USB source.

It typically finishes charging within 75-90 minutes.

On one end of the VR1.0, there is a switch you can turn on to put it in “recording mode” for voice recording. 

When you switch the recording mode to OFF, it can be only used as a flash drive. 

IMPORTANT: While charging the device (plugged into a USB port), please make sure the switch is OFF.

NOTE: This is an optional feature. You can still use your recorder without enabling this feature. Time-stamping is currently not available for Mac OSX, but we hope to have our own app ready soon for our customers.

On Windows, once you’ve plugged it in, open ‘Computer’ (in Windows) and double click on the drive the device is plugged into to see the contents of the USB drive. 

It should show the drive name as “RECORD.” 

You will notice there is a file called SetTime.rar. You can ignore this. 

There is also a folder called ‘Set Time’. Inside this folder, there is an .exe file called SetTime.exe.

Simply double-click the file to run. You may need to provide Administrator privileges to run the .exe file.

This file allows you to put a time stamp on the recorded files so that you know when a file was recorded – which is a helpful feature to keep track of files.

This is just a one-time exercise you need to do for your voice recorder.

Once it has finished charging (typically around 120-180 minutes), please eject the device from the USB port.

The red LED light will glow initially when charging, but once the light turns blue, this means the device has charge in it (even 25-50% charge will make the light turn blue). Therefore, it does not mean that, if the blue light is glowing, the device is fully charged.

Think of the blue light as being similar to the battery icon on a mobile phone. Even if it has 25% charge, the icon will show a blip or two. So, in the same way, the blue light glows if there is some charge in the device.

Please note that in recording mode, you do not need to remove the cap of the VR1.0. 

All you need to do is flip the switch to ON.

There is a small red light that glows when you either switch the button on or off. When switching it on, please wait for the red light to go off before you start recording.

Each time you switch the device ON, it starts recording, provided the device is charged – AFTER the light stops blinking and goes off completely. Once you’re finished recording, simply flip the switch to OFF position.

When the device starts recording, it creates a folder called ‘Record’, and it is inside this folder that you will find all your recordings.

Note: Each time you flip the switch ON, the recorder starts a new recording, which creates a new file.

If, for example, you switch it ON and OFF 3 times, the recorder will create 3 recorded files corresponding to each time, and they will typically be named 

• Record001.WAV
• Record002.WAV
• Record003.WAV

You can rename these files to other names of your choice just like any other computer file.

Also, please note that if you finish one recording, and switch the recorder OFF, the red light will flicker a few times to indicate that the file is being saved. Once the light goes off, you can switch the recorder ON again for a fresh recording. 

If you prefer not to wait in between recordings, simply let the recorder stay ON.

Once you’ve recorded something on the VR1.0, it is very simple to access your recordings.

You simply plug it into the USB port of a computer, and you can access the device as a normal USB drive. Before plugging it in, please make sure that the switch is in the OFF position.

Once you are in Windows Explorer, just open up the window for the VR1.0. It will typically show up as a removable drive. In the window for the VR1.0, you will see a folder called ‘Record’.

Once you open this, you will find that it has your recorded file with a .wav extension.  You can play this file normally as you would any other media file – either through Windows Media Player, or any other player of your choice. 

If the 8GB storage on the device gets filled up, the recorder will save the file and stop recording.

You would need to move files off the device by plugging it into a USB port on a computer and move the files from the device into another folder to create space for future recordings.

NOTE: If you are on Windows 10, please use VLC Media Player, because Groove Player is not well equipped with all the codecs, and you will probably get an error saying that you have a file with incompatible format. VLC Media Player will solve this problem. You can also try using Windows Media Player.

While using the VR1.0 with a Windows computer is fairly simple and straightforward, it takes a few minutes extra to get it set up with a Mac. But don’t worry, it’s not hard.

Time-stamping on Mac OSX:

Ideally, if you have a Windows partition on your Mac, you can run the SetTime.exe from that partition to enable time-stamping on your device.

About the time-stamping on Mac – this is an optional feature.

Unfortunately, the SetTime application on the device is a Windows only application – which was developed by a 3rd party. 

We are in the process of developing our own Macspecific app, but it is not yet ready.

We apologize for the inconvenience. We hope to have it ready really soon.

The workaround would be to run it under Parallel Desktops for Mac or via Bootcamp – or use a PC.

The other option would be to name the file itself based on the event – say – “Birthdayparty-Today’sdate” – something of the sort.

However, as a recorder, the device will still work with recordings and playback would be via VLC Media Player on a Mac.

In order to play your files back on Mac OSX, you need to install VLC Media Player for Mac.

Here is an easy way to use VLC on Mac:

1. Download VLC player for Mac here:

https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.enGB.html 

2. Double click the VLC icon
3. Drag VLC app into your applications folder
4. Drag any media file into the VLC player icon in the dock (that’s the row of pop up icons at the bottom of your Mac when you hover your mouse over)
5. Play back your file.

After your VLC player is installed, open the WAV files from your recorder. When you alternate click the file, you should have the option to “open with” — select to open with your VLC player, or just simply drag the WAV files into the VLC player.

Now turn up the volume on your Mac. You should be able to hear the recordings done on your VR1.0 USB Voice Recorder.

If you need to convert your WAV files to MP3, we recommend using the “Convert” feature in VLC itself, or third party software like Emicsoft Video Converter for Mac.

You can also use Quicktime Player for Mac OSX.

Alternatively, you can download the Mplayer app from the Apple App Store

Just as you use VLC Media Player for Windows or Mac OS, this software is free to download and install on your Chromebook too.  

You just need to make sure that you are selecting the version of VLC Media Player for Chromebooks.

Simply open your file with VLC Media Player (once installed) and play your recordings.

1. Copy all the files in the USB Recorder off onto your computer into a folder, naming it: Recorder Backup.
2. Check to see if you have the following folders:
   1. SetTime
   2. Record (if not, please create one)
3. Format the recorder selecting FAT32.
4. Copy all the files inside the Recorder Backup onto the recorder. DO NOT copy the entire folder called Recorder Backup, but rather the contents of this folder. Make sure the 2 folders mentioned in point #2 above are present.
5. Go into the SetTime folder and run the .exe file within the extracted folder. The file name is called SetTime.exe.
6. Physically remove the recorder and use the recorder to record something.
7. After you are finished recording, switch it off and plug it back into a computer.
8. Check the Record folder to see if the recorded file is there. Try playing it back using Windows Media Player or VLC Media Player.

1. Please connect the USB voice recorder to your Mac computer.
2. If there are any important files on the recorder you need to keep, copy them to your Mac computer.
3. Next, please launch Disk Utility, which is located in the Utilities folder inside the Application folder in Finder.
4. Please select the USB flash drive in Disk Utility’s left menu and then click the “Erase” tab.
5. Click the “Format” menu. In the dropdown menu, please make sure to select MS-DOS (FAT) format, because any other format will not work. Apple themselves recommend using MS-DOS (FAT) for disks 32GB or smaller.
6. Click the “Erase” button. Please do not enter any password or use any security functions on the drive, otherwise the recorder will be unable to record.
7. Once the format is complete, check to see if the device is showing up on your computer.
8. Now, please go ahead and create a new folder on the recorder called RECORD.
9. Please go ahead and eject the device and then use it to record a test recording as normal.