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Sony ICD-P520 Digital Voice Recorder with 256 MB Built-in Flash Memory and USB

See it at Amazon.com for $59.99

Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)

Amazon Customer Reviews

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121 of 130 people found the following review helpful:
(1 out of 5)

this one, not so much

Oct 28, 2007 - By James B. Planey (Chicago)

I bought this recorder as a quick replacement after I lost my Olympus on a trip. The Olympus was so much better for my use. As a student, I like to record lectures and notes and burn CD's to review as I drive. The trouble with the Sony is the complicated software that comes with it. Sony corp is so concerned about music rights that they have made it a nightmare for the user to burn CDs from recordings that they have made themselves. Forget drag and drop into your your preferred software(like the Olympus.)With the Sony you must bow three times, kiss the ground and use their proprietary burn program and format--with no guarantees that the CD will play back on you chosen CD player. On the up side, the sound quality is very good for such a small recorder. Its just a real clunker once you try to do anything more than record. I just ordered another Olympus.

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
(5 out of 5)

Sony ICD P520 Recorder

Aug 7, 2007 - By Thor (Kevin4043)

Pros: Easy to use, Recording Quality good, Recording time very good.
Long life on batteries. Good mic sensitivity. Able to download voice to computer files. Good price / value. If you need one of these, this is the one to buy, or any Sony brand for that matter.

Cons: No real negatives at this time.

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
(5 out of 5)

Sony Digital Recorder

Aug 23, 2007 - By Fred Mealio (Perrin, Texas United States)

For a small recorder, this does a good job, I think that this is a good deal. The price was good and the quality of the unit is better than I was expecting.
I use the recorder to record an open meeting and the pickup is great, I can record someone from across the room as well as someone close by. The software is easy to use and this permits burning to a CD a snap

27 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
(3 out of 5)

Sony's DVR

Aug 9, 2007 - By S. Niranjan

This DVR would work if your using it to only record conversations with intermiittant spaces. However this is not a good recorder if you want to use it for recording musical passages or recitals. I got this for recording piano scales and to help me practice. However the sound quality from the tiny speaker is horrible during playback.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
(4 out of 5)

Sony DVR for PC

Sep 22, 2007 - By Q. Omoto (D.C.)

The recorder is of a nice compact size and manages to pick up a decent range of sound (i.e. I can record lectures from the 5th row, rather than placing it up on the podium next to the professor). However this product is in no way shape or form compatible with Mac. That should be in big bold letters under the product description. I had to load the software and recordings onto my roommate's computer.