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Almost Perfect Voice Recorders
Since my purchase and return of the Sony MS 515 digital voice recorder, I am still on the hunt for a good voice recorder. It seems I have to wait some more to a device that excels on the performance list.
July 2004
I am currently in the hunt for a voice recorder that I can use universally: to pick up meetings, make interviews, make personal ToDo notes, or record conference speeches. My first try was the Sony MS 515 (see article here), which miserably failed because of the ridiculosly poor hardware buttons. Then it used the Sony proprietary MS format, that did not affect my recordings, but was a major inconvenience as all my other digital gadget work with SD cards. Altough some upgraded versions appeared already on the market since I started to write this roundup, I decided to put it on-line, as the new devices got only minor upgrades compared to these in this review.
Olympus DM-20
This could be the king of voice recorders, but simply, it isn’t. What is really a joy in this device, is the fact that it records in wma (still I would prefer mp3 because many device do not support wma, like the Apple iPod), can record in high quality (44 kHz stereo), has a remote control with a built-in mic and a docking station. You can also transfer some music in mp3 or wma onto the player for listening.
Olympus DM-20, docking station, remote with mic
(from the Olympus website)
The frequency response of recordings goes up to 8000 Hz, so probably you do not want to record music with the DM-20 either. However it is no problem to listen to music, as for playback the frequency response goes up to 20 000 Hz.
The built in 128 MB allows 8 hours to be recorded at 44 kHz (HQ mode), and 12 hours at 12 kHz, and 40 hours at 8 kHz.
There is no possibility to divide/join files on the recorder, in fact the ‘Index feature’ is similar to the Bookmark feature of the Sony MS515, and there is no dot matrix to show the names of files and folders, you have to navigate with the help of message numbers only.
Then 128 MB of memory is just not enough for a music player – I have a 128 MB SD card on Palm and I can store only an hour or so of music in 192 kbit/s. Usually I wished for 3-4 hours of music, so for me 256 MB is somewhat the lowest level of acceptance in case of a flash memory music player. Then add the fact that you also make recordings, and then the the Olympus DM-20 quickly shows short on memory. My wishes would be SD card based flash memory so that I can upgrade to larger sizes if I want and also so to be able to use the in the built-in SD card reader of my laptop. I know, I know, Olympus uses SmartMedia and xD cards – again a fact that stops me buying Olympus cameras these days.
Olympus DM-20 box contents - arrives with a docking station
What is more, it can playback wma and mp3 only up to 160 kbit/s, what is a pity, hence I usually rip my CDs at 192 kbit/s. 128 kbit/s mp3 is OK for listening outdoors, but indoors, I appreciate the better quality of 192 kbit/s; to go further up, to 256 kbit/s, has no much sense to mee as it just generates files too large to my liking.
Unfortunately, though it has a docking station, it is also powered with AAA batteries what I consider a shortcoming. The other thing I do not like is the design of the buttons – anyone tried to seriously use this gadget with these tiny buttons? Every time I want to press a button it needs a look to position my fingers. For a serious voice recorder buttons should be able to be used without looking, only by touch.
I liked:
I did not like:
Olympus DM-20 Specs: link
Olympus DM-20 Manual: link (pdf)
Panasonic RR-XR320
This is marvel finally, SD card based recording – is that so hard to implement it? I do not think so, so why others cannot make it? It is also possible to give a custom name for files and folders (both with the recorder and the PC software), and files can be dived (though cannot be joined). However, however, however. There is no cue rewind. Man, I cannot believe, a voice recorder without cue rewind!!! All you can do is to jump to the beginning of the file and cue forward like a fool. Imagine how annoying could this be if I want to find a certain part in a 2 hour interview. I just cannot understand how people can release a 330 USD voice recorder without cue rewind. The recording format is ADPCM (probably with sample rate of 16 kHz), at least this is a somewhat standard format, but still not mp3.
Panasonic RR-XR320
(from the Panasonic website)
I liked:
I did not like:
Panasonic RR-XR320 Specs: link
Panasonic RR-XR320 Manual: link (pdf)
Philips PocketMemo 9350
This device again is almost perfect. First, finally it records to SD card, so I can finally make use of the SD card slot on my Toshiba laptop. It has an analog like button for playback/forward/revind, similar to that of analog tape recorders – this feature alone makes the PocketMemo stand out from the competition. The battery department also rocks – it can operate on standard alkaline batteries, but it is possible to insert rechargeable NiMH cells, that can be recharged via the optional docking station. Buttons imitate a traditional sliding micro-cassette voice recorder style, that, in my opinion, really facilitates use. Finally the size of the pocket memo is also just optimal for comfortable use. Finally someone listens to users.
Unfortunately, it records again into DSS format (like the Olympus), and only offers 8 and 12 kHz sampling frequencies. They say the DSS is good because of the small file size, but come on, those times are gone when we had to sqeeze everything into a few MB place, nowdays 128 MB is almost standard for electric gadgets. Well, nothing is perfect, but probably this is where a digital recorder should start in terms of features and design.
Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9350
(from the Philips website)
The bigger brother, the Philips PocketMemo 9400i is more or less the same in terms of hardware, but it offers fancy features on the software side. It comes with an SDK that allows integration with other software, makes the hardware buttons of the 9400i programmable, etc. I was told, that one has to attend a short course at Philips before buying the 9400i.
Phiplips also makes an excellent desktop transcribing kit, the 9750 with a desktop machine that accepts the SD Card, USB connectivity and pedals for playback control. I have not tried it myself, but seems to be a great help for transcribing my interviews sentence by sentence. You can also buy the voice recorder and the transcribing kit together, called 9475.
Philips Pocket Memo 3500 and the 9750 transcribing kit
I liked:
I did not like:
Digital Pocket Memo Family Product Training: link (pdf)
Philips Dictation Software Download: link
Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9400i brochure: link (pdf)
Mp3 players with recording capability
Many of the mp3 players now come with a built-in mic, and the better ones even have mic-in or line-in inputs. I think these are OK for occasional use, but uncomfortable for heavy, day-to-day usage, because they lack some basic features of the dedicated voice recorders. These are like organizing recordings into folders, bookmarking, cue and rewind-playback, repeat inside of message, or even if they have some of these features, they are implemented only through the menu system, not via hard buttons. They are rather good for recording only, I mean you start the recording, finish it sometime later and do all the rest on the PC. This is OK to record a speech on a conference from an amplifier, record the news from the TV (I like to record a block for example from Sky News and listen to it on the road), or some music from a CD-Player.
I really like for example the iRiver IHP-140, it is a 20 GB jukebox with line-in, so one can record in high quality mp3 for as long as he likes. For the feature set, it is really the king of the market, with digital optical-in/out, analogue line-in/out & mic-in (so you can directly encode into mp3 from a CD-player bypassing the digital-analog conversion), offers two way data transfer between the PC and the player (for example the Apple iPod does not allow moving mp3 from the player back to the PC), supports bitrates up to 500 kbps, the recorder's frequency range is 20-20 kHz (voice records only go up to 6 kHz, what is good for speech, but insufficient for music). I just wonder how all this stand up in everyday use.
There are more and more mp3 jukebox models with extended voice recodring features, such as the Apple iPod (via the iTalk accessory), or the Philips HDD120.
iRiver IHP-140 (20 GB)
I liked:
I did not like:
iRiver IHP-140 specs: link
Sony MiniDisc with recording capability
This is just a short note - the MiniDisc offers high quality recordings, however currently you cannot get the data out from the MiniDisc in digital format onto your PC, though it is recorded in digital. This is a restriction made by Sony and they do not seem to change their minds. All you can do is play the file and record real time with the soundcard.
Conclusions
It seems that currently there is no device on the market that meets my requirements in terms of specifications:
While most of this needs are only for comfortable use, like an SD Card coupled with mp3 allows to play the recording in my PDA, or to plug the card into the SD Card reador of my Toshiba. However, the limited sampling frequency of the recordings and the mic frequency range affect my recordings directly. The voice recorder can excel in any feature, if it is not able to pick up sound in the quality I need - an example for this is the Philips Pocket Memo 9350. To this adds the necessity to use an external mic for interviews, when the mic would be placed in the middle of the table, or for recording myself during presentations, where I would use a small clip-on mic attached to my tie and hiding the recorder in my pocket. Seems I am committed to wait and hope.
Update (Jan 31, 2006)
I got a hint from Leigh Drewnicki to check out the Edirol R-1 voice recorder. It has mp3 recording, stereo mic, 44 kHz sampling rate, has mic/line-in, works with CF (Compact Flash) cards. Size and design is targeted for professional sound recordings, not the business like fits in the pocket style. But alltogether, looks very appealing to me! Thanks for the note!
Edirol R1 by Roland
Edirol R1 specs: link
Links
Sony ICD-MS515 Voice Recorder - archive.foxpop.com
Last edited on 31-Jan-2006.
(c) Imre Oliver Kozak and @Foxpop.
