Sony ICDSX46.CE7 128MB IC Voice Recorder

See it at Amazon.co.uk for £68.90

Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)

Amazon Customer Reviews

Most Helpful First | Newest First

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Best of the best

I've been through several voice recorders till I reached this one. I used to have an Olympus which was as good as gold but the time arrived to move on.

I then tried this Sony and it's brilliant! The buttons are sound and you feel you're pressing something. The voice activation does not switch off the second you stop talking, even just to swallow. If you lower your voice it keeps on recording, even with voice activation on. There are several controls for speed/slow playback and for raising quiet sounds. You can erase part of a recording, you can move files from folder to folder and you can combine recordings. It comes with a small pouch which is cut out so that you can record and playback without removing it, thus protecting the sexy slim body.

So why only 4 stars? you may ask. My only niggle is that the display during playback is limited. Ideally, I would like to see elapsed time during record and remaining time during playback. During playback I would also like to be able to see the date and time when the recording was made. All this is possible but only by going back to the menu.

I also have an issue with the forward/back button during playback. Through the menu you can choose whether it goes back and forth within the recording itself or whether it goes to the next or previous message. It can get a bit cumbersome moving about while listening. My previous recorder allowed for next/previous with a single press of the forward/back button or rew/ff if the button was held down. Here, if you choose rew/ff in the menu then you must press the button a few times to get it to move to the next/previous message.This is only a problem during playback and not in stop mode.

These are minor niggles for what is a super machine, well designed and thought out and, most important of all, has superb voice reception for different environments as well as very good sound.

Buy it!

Ps. Here's a tip. On the Sony site you can see the manual to give you an idea of all its features in detail. Trust me, though, this is a very sound machine.

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Bril piece of kit

I bought this for my girlfriend ... she's a writer, and needed something to aid taking notes while walking round the house or pootling round the countryside. It's discreet, tiny in fact, and she loves it. Quality of recording is ace, and she's now attempting to download her voice files into text on her Apple MacBook ... might well need Dragon Naturally Speaking, but not sure. Interesting thing is that it never turns off ... it uses so little power it just goes into sleep mode, so if you buy one of these, don't bother looking for the on/off switch, since there isn't one.

I offered her an iPod with recording facility instead, but she opted for this, so that gives some idea of how neat a piece of kit it is!

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