I purchased this recorder so i could familiarity speech recognition software if i wanted to, without paying for every additional microphones/headsets. In fact, the recorder is dragon (a famous brand of speech recognition software) certified toward produce “maximum accuracy dictation.”
Functionally, this recorder has an easy toward reach (i.e. No plastic cover on it) usb port on the left hand side, an easy-to-distinguish recessed record button, buttons toward navigate between folders, play back existing recordings, split an existing recording, change recorder options, change playback volume, erase an existing recording, and a hold button. The recorder itself is small, lightweight and easy toward hold.
For storage, the recorder tin hold as many as 99 separate recordings inside each of 5 independent folders. This is useful toward categorize various voice recordings, such a thing as meetings inside one folder perhaps speeches inside another.
However, an easy toward familiarity recorder is meaningless if the recorder doesn’t produce considerate recording quality. Here, this recorder delivers nicely. The built-in microphone is extremely considerate and has a wide dynamic range (i.e. It clearly picks upright high and low frequencies). There are two sensitivity settings for the microphone—low which is for individual dictation, and high which is for group meetings (or recording things farther away from the recorder). In addition, the recorder has a considerate built-in speaker.
If you need better recording quality (or want toward play back the messages privately), the recorder provides a headset jack and a microphone jack.
As for recording quality, standard quality recording (44.1 khz @ 48 kbps) produces clearly understandable voice output. In this mode, the recorder tin shop upright toward 48 hours of voice recording and tin pen for upright toward 35 hours on 2 aaa batteries. This is the best mode for normal dictation (since it provides 4x as much space as the highest quality mode—which tin only shop 12 hours of data and pen for 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 for every real recording. The metallic warbling is extremely distracting.
In addition, the recorder tin pen on rechargable aaa batteries (nimh) or even pen from power provided over the mini-usb port. These are considerate options toward save on batteries and perform extremely long recordings.
In my experience, the standard quality is fine for normal dictation. If i wanted toward record music, evps, or for dictation into speech recognition software, i would familiarity the maximum quality mode, since it is better at capturing higher frequencies and may better capture faint noises.
However, there are a few downsides toward this recorder. First, the recorder does not record data natively as mp3s (which it claims toward on the box). This is why i gave it 4 stars instead of 5.
To access the recorder, Sony ICD-PX720 provides windows software toward copy voice files off it. The windows software tin shop the files as mp3s, as well as encode mp3s so the recorder tin 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 toward familiarity it. The recorder will still function extremely well as a normal voice recorder, only you will not be able toward access the digital data on it.
Secondly, the recorder cannot accept every type of memory card toward 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 for voice dictation, this is not an issue, only for anyone who wants toward familiarity it toward record music (such as an impromptu jazz session), it might be.
Finally, the recorder does not act as a usb drive or as an mp3 player. You tin load music files (converted toward 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 toward 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 for you.
For more content, please visit Excellent voice recorder with a few limitations.