Sony ICD-B500 Digital Voice Recorder with 256 MB Built-in Flash Memory

List Price: $49.95 Discount Price: $37.99

Features:

• Voice recorder with comprehensive recording capabilities in any situation
• 256 MB capacity holds up to 150 hours of recording; three recording modes of varying quality
• Large LCD display for maximum visibility; intuitive button scheme; 250-megawatt speaker output
• Date and time stamp on each recording for easy organization
• Digital Voice Operated Recording (VOR)

Accessories:

3-Year Extended Service Plan - Covers Electronic Items $0-$200 - Repair

Customer Reviews:

playback good, interface not so good [Posted on 2008-03-18]
This recorder is compact, easily portable, and records sound well. Some digital recorders I've used result in tinny voices without much depth, but the Sony is fairly true to natural sound. The price is also reasonable for the quality.

What I don't care for about it are the following:

- battery life seems to be short (average two months with intermittent use)

- buttons are almost flush with the casing, so you have to look at what you're doing with each recording. I would have preferred the "record" and "pause/stop" buttons to be elevated slightly so I could activate by touch.

- erasing is not that intuitive. Although you're supposed to be able to hold the erase button down firmly and erase the recording, usually I have to start playing and then press the erase button twice.

- organizing in folders seems overly complicated. I have to read the instruction book each time.

pretty good sound quality [Posted on 2008-03-29]
This little device was pretty cheap but I must say the sound quality is better than I expected. It's also a lot easier to use than I thought it would be. The batteries last for a while too, so thats good. I would say if you need a recorder, this is really good for the price.

Sony recorder [Posted on 2008-03-31]
I got my sony recordable quickly. I was disappointed in the product. It doesn't come with plug in to download what you have recorded to the computer. Really wasn't what I was hoping for. It is very sensitive to noise. You need a very quiet place when recording because it picks up every little sound. I wanted it to have for record lectures in school but it is difficult to hear the lecture through the other noises in the classroom. I should have actually purchased what I was looking for in a recorder from a store in town. Decent price and not worth the cost to send it back.

easy listening [Posted on 2008-04-19]
This is a great product to record lectures. It doesn't matter where you sit in the classroom, the audio quality is great. The only problem is that you can't transfer the tape recordings to a PC, you can only listen to it on the device. It should be PC compatible.

Lots of features... [Posted on 2008-05-26]
This digital voice recorder is very small so it's easy to carry with you. I suggest purchasing a strap since it wasn't included, but there's a hole for one. I found it to be a little complicated because of all the features it has. However, once I master it, I'm sure it will be perfect for the use I purchased it for (paranormal investigations).

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