Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony ICD-B500 Digital Voice Recorder, Flash 256 MB

I'm a journalist and I use this dictaphone for interviews. The benefits of this one if that it's very small and light, very portable. The batteries last for ages and it can carry loads of different tracks.
However - One really annoying feature is that when re-playing a recording, you can't rewind. This seems very strange and is VERY frustrating. You have to start the track all over again if you want to listen to a previous bit. Also, it's difficult to move the tracks onto a computer, you listen to them on the dictaphone.
The mic is fine for quiet places where you are quite close to the other person. However, in noiser places (I carried out interviews backstage, with several people and in bars) it becomes very difficult to hear what's going on. I'd reccomend buying an extra mic to plug into this.
All in all ., this is cute and it works and it's probably appropriate for some, but for the work I'm doing I'm upgrading to something a bit more powerful.

It is easy to use and picks up voices without being too close. Rewind was a bit tricky to master, it kept going all the way back to the start, but once I read the instructions I soon got the hang of it!

Sony Digital Dictation Long Recorder
Excellent record and playback quality for a machine so small.( I recorded a Blackbird singing and it came within 2 feet to investigate the playback!).Controls are a little difficult to learn,because it can do so much,but basic functions are easily mastered.Fantastic value,but a wrist strap would be a useful inclusion.

They're a creative person's dream... Either that or you may need to take recordings for Media. Any Dictaphone for which matter is indispensable; being able to record ideas, thoughts, music notes at the touch of the button is vital when our brain's short term memory can lose a thought approximately 50 seconds later (am I the only one who lays awake at night with idea's flooding around?)

So you want a Dictaphone - How much do you pay? My argument is fairly straightforward; the necessity of a "2GB Recorder" with all the functions expect coffee making is very nice, but the underlying principle of a hundred pound recorder remains the same as a Dictaphone for fifteen quid. And let be known, many of us like a student myself do not have the money to buy fancy gadgets. Enter Sony's ICD-B510F.

The whole reason I wanted a Dictaphone in the first place is because as a music producer and DJ, I have a nasty habit of gaining great idea's and piano rhyths whilst in a lecture or in bed. Yes I know... How sad! It must be a Gemini thing. So with a budget I set to twenty five pounds, my first stop was this little beauty.

What can I say? It's value at it's most plainly obvious. In High Quality recording mode, you get a whopping 30 hours + of recording time (Which, unless you are not human, is more than enough) or over triple in Low Quality. Recording is done at the touch of the button, and they are saved as "files", which are then grouped into a folder. 4 Folders are automatically set into the player. Simple!

Recording quality is also adequate for the price. Again, this is a Dictaphone; a means of getting ideas down, and I therfore have no desire of having WAV quality playback or any other fancy kudo's to impress myself (more than anyone, put it that way...). The sensitivity of the Mic varies alot; you do have the option of changing it, which helps. However, unlike older recorders, holding it at a distant produces clearer recordings.

Theirs also a built in FM radio. Hardly exciting any more these days, but always handy for football games or the news. This can be heard on loudspeaker of the provided headphone, as is your recordings too.

The player is ergonomic and alot smaller than I expected, which is great. My only gripe design wise is that the Recording LED is tiny, and can't be seen very well.

I've noticed a few previous reviewers suggesting this type of player to be "out of date" or inferior, or even "not" adequate enough. I would argue all these; You get what you pay for! In fact, I believe my dad's old Olympus Dictaphone which uses a tiny cassette to have a much warmer, quality tone that these digital models.

If you're looking for an adequate means of recording idea's, notes, no matter what aspect of work/leisure you do, then this is what you need!

I needed this to carry in my pocket for ideas, expenses and memos and it is the perfect machine for this. It has no computer connection but I don't need this.