Sony - Digital Voice Recorder - Silver

I bought this recorder to record music lessons and record Irish music sessions (where 6-14 musicians play together) so I could learn new tunes. The built in stereo mic is good enough to produce CD quality recordings, but it is very sensitive and works best if turned on and placed down on a table, chair, shelf, etc. If you buy an input cable, you can transfer CDs or cassettes to the recorder and listen to them as MP3s. One gig memory is really good for one of these hand held recording devices, and the built in USB port allows for easy transfer to and from your computer (and thus to any other format, i.e. - CD, etc., or device like another MP3 player). The flaws are minor - to allow for it's small size, it uses only one AAA battery, and like most modern electronic devices (such as digital cameras) it eats them. Save the environment and yourself some serious cash in the long run and buy rechargable AAAs and the battery life improves quite a bit. The menus take some getting used to, but once you get used to the recorder they're easy to navigate. All and all - if you want to record music, this goes a great job at a very good price (several hundred dollars less than many other stereo digital recorders).

This will not pick up voices in the room loud enough to be able to hear and understand. I have an Olympus digital voice recorder that I paid much less for than this Sony and the Olympus records better. This is going back to the store - am going to buy the comparably priced Olympus and expect much better quality.