SANYO ICR-FP700D Digital Stereo MP3 Voice Recorder with Expandable SD Card Memory Slot

Comment: After considerable research I purchased two of these; one to replace a top of the line Sony that was too small to hold and use effectively. The Sanyo Recorder has been everything I had hoped they would be. Easy to use, Highly compatable file format, long recording time, variable speed playback, uses standard AAA battery (One!!!)and produces standard MP3 files. I use my Sanyo to record for Podcasting, and Audio CD production. The Sanyo Gets the Job Done, and the price is good too. Just be sure to properly adjust the mic sensitivity properly to prevent a scratchy destortion in the playback sound. Mine worked so well, I purchased another one for a relative for Christmas, and recommended it to a friend. 25 years ago, I had to spend $25,000 to get a major brand medical transcription system to get the features this Sanyo has for a mere $100.

Comment: The device works great.
However some feature need to be improved:
1. The timer time is not very flexible (.5, 1hr, 2hr etc.) Would be better to specify start and end time. Also to establish everyday, M-F, Sundays, Saturdays recordings.

2. Navigation is clumsy. It need to organize file system: folder number, file number. User should be able to easy navigate thru all files and folders.

Comment: SANYO ICR-FP700D Digital Stereo MP3 Voice Recorder with Expandable SD Card Memory Slot

For the PRICE it's a good - no GREAT little device! One AAA battery lasts forever, easy to use and versatile. If you need audio from anywhere to mp3, this unit can do the job.

Mic/line-in/phones = 10
Function buttons = 10
Navigation / user interface = 10
Play speed = 10+ (great feature)
Menu read-out = 10
Speaker = 1 (but who needs it)
Sensitivity selection = 10
USB to PC = 10 (seamless)
Storage capacity / folders = 10
Fit & finish = 8 (don't really care about the looks - hardware seems sturdy for its size)

I thought it would be nice for spontaneous recording for my son's guitar play but I use if often (might have to get another one). The plus/minus speed variation is great for him to learn various solos and you would be surprised how different songs sound when the speed is changed and pitch is maintained - makes understanding lyrics a breeze and it would definitely make a wild party - wilder!

It is smaller than you think (real easy to misplace) and in 'big hands' it won't be comfortable. It's not industrial strength so you need to treat it nice. Get a case that has some cushion and size to it and like most electronics, keep it far away from dust, liquids, etc.

The highest quality 192 kbps mp3 and an 8 gig card will give you 90+ hours and if you need more, you can drop the kbps down 2 notches. It's a recorder / music player / data card that will trade stuff with your computer.

I'm super happy with it :D

Comment: I found the Sanyo ICR-FP700D to be as advertised. Be aware that if you use the built-in speaker for play back, it will hum rather badly. However, if you play back via USB onto your PC, the audio is just fine. The USB plug cover is bound to break off; it just doesn't have a strong feeling, but it hasn't as of yet. I only use this for choir recordings and find the audio to be very good. The device is small but not too small for my big male hands. Overall, I like the device and would recommend it to others.

Comment: I've been looking for an SD card-based recorder for some time. And while I have a couple of MP3 players that can record audio it's nice to find a dedicated voice recorder that uses replaceable SD cards.

The ICR-FP700D is the stereo version of the monophonic SANYO ICR-FP600D Digital MP3 Voice Recorder. It features a black instead of a whitish/silver case. The shiny black case does tend to accentuate fingerprints. But I'm more into functionality than aesthetics.

Compared to my older Panasonic flash-based voice recorder this device doesn't come with proprietary drivers or software. It records directly to SD cards. In fact it has no internal memory of its own so SD cards are required for use (no big deal). A separate SD card reader isn't required because it also has its own USB port. The recorder is simply recognized as yet another storage device.

The recordings, even in MP3 format, are quite good. However I wish that the recorder allowed the user to select between MP3 or WAV for the output format. It would be nice to find a recorder that can handle lossless audio recording without resorting to ADPCM. The three selectable levels for microphone sensitivity along with the usual selection of quality-based recording formats does help improve things. The built-in stereo microphones along with a stereo microphone jack also help to add some more definition to the recorded sounds. But, as always, know your equipment and experiment with it first.

An interesting note is that this recorder's microphone jack doubles as a stereo line-in jack. A switch on the back of the device allows the selection between that and normal microphone mode. So, with the right adapter, you can connect this device to a tape deck or turntable and do some impromptu analog-to-digital conversion.

Finally, since it does record and playback audio in MP3 format it does playback prerecorded MP3 files. But such files need to be organized in a certain way on the SD cards ("\MUSIC\Artist\Album\Tracks"). Plus the limitations of the LCD display (segmented, not dot matrix) obviously doesn't take advantage of ID3 tags. It does play back the MP3 files I've encoded using Lame flawlessly. It won't replace my Sansa e140, though.

This was a recorder I've been waiting for. And it does live up to my expectations. Maybe in newer versions they'll also include lossless recording to WAV or FLAC. The replaceable SD card makes it easy to record and, when one runs out of space, simply replaces it with a fresh card.

One note: The 1GB card that shipped with mine, on a glance, looked like a mistake. At first I thought they mistakenly placed in just a MicroSD to SD adapter. But, on closer inspection, that adapter came with a preinstalled 1GB MicroSD card! So, for anyone with cell phones with a MicroSD card slot, you can immediately record and playback the MP3 files from the included MicroSD card (or, since it's a cellphone, forward the MP3 files to your friends). The recorder itself has a standard SD card slot. So this is a small unadvertised bonus.