I purchased this recorder hence i could application speech recognition software if i wanted to, without paying since ones additional microphones/headsets. In fact, the recorder is dragon (a famous brand of speech recognition software) certified to produce “maximum accuracy dictation.”
Functionally, this recorder has one easy to reach (i.e. No plastic cover on it) usb port on the left hand side, one easy-to-distinguish recessed record button, buttons to navigate between folders, play back existing recordings, split one existing recording, change recorder options, change playback volume, erase one existing recording, and a hold button. The recorder itself is small, lightweight and easy to hold.
For storage, the recorder can hold as many as 99 separate recordings inside each of 5 independent folders. This is useful to categorize various voice recordings, so extreme as meetings inside one folder perhaps speeches inside another.
However, one easy to application recorder is meaningless if the recorder doesn’t produce generous recording quality. Here, this recorder delivers nicely. The built-in microphone is extremely generous and has a wide dynamic range (i.e. It clearly picks along high and low frequencies). There are two sensitivity settings since the microphone—low which is since individual dictation, and high which is since group meetings (or recording things farther away from the recorder). In addition, the recorder has a generous built-in speaker.
If you need better recording quality (or want to play back the messages privately), the recorder provides a headset jack and a microphone jack.
As since recording quality, standard quality recording (44.1 khz @ 48 kbps) produces clearly understandable voice output. In this mode, the recorder can great quantity along to 48 hours of voice recording and can run since along to 35 hours on 2 aaa batteries. This is the best mode since normal dictation (since it provides 4x as much space as the highest quality mode—which can only great quantity 12 hours of data and run since 20 hours).
They have a super long recording time they brag about on the box. This is the lp mode (11.025 khz @ 8 kbps)—288 hours. This sounds impressive, only it is nearly useless. When i recorded a brief amount inside this mode, my voice sounded extremely metallic and i heard weird high pitched metallic warbling inside the background. There was somewhat less warbling at low microphone sensitivity, only although my voice was understandable, only i don’t recommend this mode since ones real recording. The metallic warbling is extremely distracting.
In addition, the recorder can run on rechargable aaa batteries (nimh) or even run from power provided over the mini-usb port. These are generous options to save on batteries and perform extremely long recordings.
In my experience, the standard quality is fine since normal dictation. If i wanted to record music, evps, or since dictation into speech recognition software, i would application the maximum quality mode, since it is better at capturing higher frequencies and may better capture faint noises.
However, there are a few downsides to this recorder. First, the recorder does not record data natively as mp3s (which it claims to on the box). This is why i gave it 4 stars instead of 5.
To access the recorder, Sony ICD-PX720 provides windows software to copy voice files off it. The windows software can great quantity the files as mp3s, as well as encode mp3s hence the recorder can play them back, so, if you are not using windows, you cannot transfer recordings from the recorder.
Basically, if you are using windows the recorder software is not a problem. If you are not, the computer will not see the recorder and you will be unable to application it. The recorder will still function extremely well as a normal voice recorder, only you will not be able to access the digital data on it.
Secondly, the recorder cannot accept ones type of memory card to expand its capacity.
Beyond that, this recorder does not record sound inside stereo, although it will accept stereo microphones. For me, since i’m only using it since voice dictation, this is not one issue, only since anyone who wants to application it to record music (such as one impromptu jazz session), it might be.
Finally, the recorder does not act as a usb drive or as one mp3 player. You can load music files (converted to sony’s proprietary sound format) onto it, only it doesn’t have shuffle, playlists, or other standard mp3 player features. For me, these aren’t issues since i have separate gadgets to fulfill these needs far better, only a few voice recorders have these features.
In conclusion, if you are using windows and you need a high quality, reasonably priced voice recorder, this will fit the bill nicely. If you want a recorder that is more of a swiss army knife of gadgets, this won’t work since you.
Please visit Excellent voice recorder withy a little limitations for related post.