In this continuing series on Capturing Song Ideas, we discuss various methods songwriters keep from losing their great fragments of inspiration.

There is no denying the iPod is making inroads into the world’s personal listening (and now viewing) habits. Almost 15% of the world’s internet population is now subscribed to iTunes (Feb 2005). Most musicians today carry an iPod with them on the road. It is much easier than carrying a CD collection around.

Remarkably (but not surprisingly), iPod accessories are being released at a furious pace. Many of these can be taken advantage of by the songwriter to capture ideas.

If it is with you all the time - use the iPod as your personal song idea recorder. There are several competing products out there today that provide voice recording capability on your iPod.

This is the one I personally use:

It isn’t a bad recorder. There are many others available too -depending on the type of iPod you have. Amazon has an almost complete set of iPod voice recording accessories listed here.

The iTalk clips I record can be exported in WAV format. I can even name them.

However, the beauty is when I pull them into iTunes.

Melody Lines and Chord Progressions

If it was a chord progression I recorded I can add notes and chord progression in the “Properties” page of the audio clip. If I capoed my guitar, or if the chord progression was an open tuning, I’ll make a note of that here too.

After I have a handful of clips I’ll either (a) put them into an iTunes playlist or (b) burn the clips to CD to listen to while I drive my car.

This gives me a chance to come up with melodies, phrases, or whatever to accompany the audio clip. If I do, I also use the voice recorder to make audio notes of that.

Lyrics and phrases

If the audio clip I recorded was simply a lyric or phrase, with no implied melody, I will transfer it to my notebook when I am home and delete the clip from the iPod. I usually try to delete lyrics or phrases from all my capturing devices as soon as I get them to my notebook so I don’t have “lyric fragment clutter” (LFC). “LFC” is where you have tons of scraps of lyrics laying around and you don’t remember which ones you have captured to your master notebook or not.

There are many reviews of these devices at various places, like iLounge and Amazon.com. Find the Voice Recorder for your personal iPod that works best for you.

Update: Many people have been having success with Olympus Digital Voice Recorders.

Do you work in front of a computer during the day? Do you pack a laptop with you to class? If so, you might like the next installment: “Capturing Ideas with your laptop (or PC)“.

Capturing Song Ideas: The Complete Series

1. Capture song ideas: Capture at all costs
2. Capture song ideas: Notebook Style
3. Capture song ideas: Voicemail Style
4. Capture song ideas: iPod Style
5. Capture song ideas: Computer Style
6. BONUS: Capture song ideas: With washable Crayola Window Markers