Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony TCM200DV.CE7 Voice Operated Tape Recorder

Ideal if you need to prepare a lengthy speech or learn lines if you still have a cassette player in the car.

It's cheap and 10 times cheaper than a decent MP3 recorder (like a zoom multitrack) so it's worth getting for recording music lessons and quick demos of ideas and most people still have a tape player so you can play your ideas back to them. But it's a quite hissy and tinny. Even listening through headphones there's not much base response. It's very plasticky and doesn't feel like it'll put up with loads of knocks. However, for around £25 inc postage, you'll not be too bothered if it gets lost or damaged, not like if you've just forked out £200 on an MP3 recorder!
I'll have to see if it lasts now as it'll be living in my guitar bag from now on and I may try it with another mic

I bought this to replace a Sanyo which was stolen in Spain. I find the Sony to be of superior quality and considering the size of the loudspeaker, excellent playback quality too. The mic will pick up a little motor noise but this is an improvement over the Sanyo too. With a small remote mic I can record urban soundscapes eg. Market calls like "Come on Ladies, look at these luverly bananas, how about ten for 50p", in excellent quality although it is only mono, it is still good. Well it floats my boat anyway.

this tape player is wonderful for submitting music at any place or time. the battery life is very good and the sound quality reasonably clear for simple music such as dnb, jungle or hip hop. if you wish to carry it around it is very light and its microphone recording feature is a good addition to the player. i love using it to play my mixes out loud to people and, when going on a walk to do artwork it is very useful. IN A SENTECE, IT IS WITHOUT DOUBT a PORTABLE RAVE.

i'm a 17 year old filipino student writer/filmmaker and when an idea pop into my mind, im always armed with a pen and paper to write my ideas and to review it later. there were also times when pen and paper are not appropriate, while in the bath, while sitting at the toilet, while walking, etc. so I decided to buy a voice recorder to record my ideas everywhere and anytime. I'm considering a digital voice recorder but it is out of my budget. microcassettes however are good and small in size but it cant be played in ordinary cassette players. i originally bought a cheap 375 pesos or about $6 Platinum cassette recorder but the microphone is so bad so i needed a replacement. im considering an aiwa model with Voice activated recording, 2x recording time and a tape counter for about 34 dollars but because of sony's clear voice recording, i got this tcm-200dv tape recorder for 36 dollars. i really love the cool features such as 2x recording time, speed control VOR or Voice activated Recording, Clear Voice system which filters sound to make it more audible and its design. the microphone in the aiwa model is positioned in the hood of the recorder which is very bad because you cant direct the microphone to the sound source you want; sony however, positioned it excellently in the body facing up so you can direct it easily to the sound source. the VOR also is nice but it needs a litte practice to use and is so sensitive. the only thing lacking in this product is a tape counter. the recording is excellent and you can use it on meetings and during class because the mic is sensitive enough to "hear" sounds from a distance. overall, i recommend this product for students and professionals. you will really deserve what you pay for.