Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony ICD-MX20 - Digital voice recorder - flash 32 MB

I've been looking for the best voice recorder for a while and it's not as simple as one my think. There is quite a good range of low and medium quality devices, but I really didn't want to get frustrated when trying to make out what the lecturer said in my recordings. I also wanted it to have expansion slot, so that I could stick a memory card in and record almost unlimited amounts.

This Sony recorder has exceeded all my expectations, thought. It's got excellent quality build - feels very firm and sturdy and it's made of metal, not plastic. It's definitely not going to break in the next couple of years. The voice quality is absolutely fantastic. I've use a lot of other voice recorderes and none of them come close to it. The stereo microphone really makes quite a lot of difference! This voice recorder is the best device that money can buy. It's definitely worth every £ spent.

I bought this for my wife who wishes to conduct interviews in her work in Palliative care. It was recommended on the strength of its ability to record voices in the room and I was convinced by reviews such as the earlier one. When it arrived the first thing I noticed was that it was very small, a bit narrower than an ipod nano which isn't necessarily a problem, but it can make it a bit fiddly to use.

There are two big problems. The first is that the sound quality is awful. My wife and I tried recording ourselves speaking loudly in a very quiet room, a few feet away from the microphone and we were barely audible on the recording. In an interview situation, we would miss half of the conversation.

The second is the interface. The software is awfully complex and unintuitive. I could learn how to use the device, if I sat down for about 4-6 hours with the manual and did nothing else, but that just isn't good enough for the quality of product supplied at this price band.

We have returned it to British Bargains for a refund and instead spent a bit more and bought the Olympus LS-10. This is a beautiful machine, crisp clear sound quality, intuitive with a good manual. I picked it up and was recording in two minutes. It is expensive but worth every penny.

Olympus LS-10 PCM Recorder

Why is it that in 2009 Sony and Mac can't make somethings compatible!? I'm sure there's a perfectly justifiable explanation - there had better be - but for the punter it is just irritating. I bought this recorder because it seemed to be the best but never saw anything to infer that it wouldn't work with a Mac but low and behold it doesn't. The user experience is also pretty awful. Anyone out there who could shed some light on why Macs and Sony can't get their acts together, I'd love to hear the reason(s)!