 Great first digital voice recorder |
| Review Date: May 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Gary A. Spong, Fort Laud, FL |
After having a Sony micro cassette recorder for years, I realized I rarely used the thing because the tape hiss was so bad. It still works, but it's a shame they never came out with a low-cost, small digital tape format in the 80's...or perhaps put in dbx noise reduction. In fact it's ridiculous that they're still selling those machines with basically 60's technology and people keep buying them. Well, I'm here to say, "Stop!" If you've suffered with tape hiss for years, here's a great machine that will get you into the 21st century.
This model just came out in January '09. I use its native SHQ format, which I believe stands for Super High Quality. I think Mac users are out of luck as far as transferring digitally to their computers. But I use Vista and the software installed seamlessly. I had made five or six test recordings ranging from ten seconds to two minutes. They all transferred via USB within seconds. The software is called Digital Voice Editor and is pretty cool. You can use it to make some settings on the recorder like recording formats, mic sensitivity and file-naming conventions. You can play back the files at variable speeds, good for transcribers. You can also set it so that the files are automatically deleted from the recorder once they're transferred to PC. I haven't tried the MP3 player feature. I didn't buy it for that. I bought this as a means to record musical ideas, melodies, or lyrics while on the road. In my view, the quality is good enough that once on the computer, those files could be used as samples in my next song.
I looked at about ten different Sony models in the store before getting this one. Some of the higher-end models had smaller displays. I like the larger display, as well as this being one of the few models in black. The buttons are larger than most models and well-placed. The speaker is decent, but even the cheapest Sony headphones are better. One reviewer says this will not record in stereo. I'm not sure this is correct. The specs state it does, but I haven't tested it enough to determine for myself. I use a cheap little PC microphone that came with some old Dell computer. It has a stereo jack and produced audio much better than the built in mic. I may upgrade to a Sony ECM-DS70P Electret Condenser Stereo Microphone in the future, as it will also work well on my camcorder.
If you're a Windows user this is a great portable recorder for getting ideas onto the PC for editing, pod casting, etc. Those who have no need to transfer files will find it is a great field recorder with very clean audio, suitable for recording lectures, conducting interviews or the occasional "note to self." |
Excellent recorder
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| Review Date: June 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Gandhi, Michigan |
| I use this recorder for recording class lectures and meetings. Once the file is transferred to the computer, the quality of sound is excellent. The software (comes in a CD with the recorder) allows you to increase/decrease the volume. Even if you are sitting very far (30-40 feet) from the speaker, you could record and listen to the speech later on. Memory space allows you to record for about 12 hours. |
Very Small, But Very Solid!
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| Review Date: May 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: pg2007, Massachusetts, USA |
First, let's correct the Amazon specs on the size and wt. of this item. The true dimensions are 4.25 in. tall, about 1.5 in. wide, and .75 in. thick. The recorder weighs in at 3 oz., with batteries installed. I've included an uploaded photo of the recorder hand-held.
The manual is extensive, although the odd labeling of the recorder's keys makes it a little hard to follow. A slide switch on the upper left side of the recorder labeled "Hold" turns it on and off. You can select one of the five message "folders" (A-E) by going through a menuing process. Each folder can hold up to 99 messages, depending on your chosen recording quality level. Once you have selected a folder, creating a message is accomplished just by hitting the large red "Rec/Pause" button. You can pause and continue a message just using this button. Playback is also simple, using the large "Enter" (Play/Stop) button.
More complicated features allow you to add-on to a previously recorded message (one which has been "Stopped"), split a message into two separate messages, record with voice-activation, etc., etc. Messages can be erased one at a time or folder-by-folder.
The included software lets you upload the contents of your recorder to your PC and play the messages from the recorder or the PC. I have run mine on an XP-Pro machine, and checked to see that there was a Sony update for Vista 64-bit compatibility, which downloaded and installed just fine. Once the messages are on your PC, you can re-name them (just like any other files), delete them, or split them up. You can also convert them from native format to MP3.
The recorder has four different recording quality levels and two levels of mike sensitivity. An editing feature lets you boost the sound for otherwise unintelligible portions of your messages (I didn't try this).
The playback volume range seems acceptable even for use outdoors, and I haven't yet tried recording in a windy environment.
All in all, it's slick--much better than I anticipated. Back in the day, you had to spend several hundred dollars for a recording/transcription device like this, and it chewed through tape cassettes.
One thing to be aware of: the recorder is so small that it might be easy to lose. There is a string lanyard thread-through point in the lower right top edge of the device, and I am ordering a string lanyard connector for use with a neck lanyard for it. |
Perfect recorder for lectures & transcribing
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| Review Date: June 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: T. Weis, NYC |
I bought this little recorder in a hurry for a lecture the next day. I was ACTUALLY ready to buy a microcassette recorder before I woke up & realized the potential lack of hiss & flexibility in recording voice MP3s. The recorder is simple to learn (took me 3 minutes) & worked flawlessly. Crystal-clear recordings, great & easy downloading to PC, terrific Digital Voice Editor software.
I am looking forward to using this for dictation to make voicenote reminders to myself; also to possibly use with Dragon Naturally Speaking to write dictated e-mails (it's supposedly compatible), and also Microsoft OneNote. Highly recommended. |
Lectures to CD
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| Review Date: September 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: B. castle, key west florida |
| Absolutely love it! Easy to use and goes for 14 hours on highest quality recording. It is so easy to download and burn to discs so I can listen while I commute or listen with headphones directly from the recorder. I had to change the batteries after about 18 hours (including listening from headphones and the actual lecture). It doesn't look as expensive as some of my friend's recorders but it records better and has more functions. I LOVE IT! |
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