Sony ICD-SX700D Digital Voice Recorder with Voice Operated Recording

Comment: Sadly, I was mailed a non-functioning one. It wouldn't turn on no matter what batteries, no matter if the hold button was on or off. I could have been unlucky, but it really sucked spending over a hundred for something that didn't work. My husband went out to radio shack and bought the 50 dollar version for me and it works fine.
like I said, could be my luck, but it's aggrivating.

Comment: After researching features of several comparable devices, the Sony ICD-SX700D was the only logical choice. The Dragon software I am already familiar with and it's still "okay" and is still learning my voice. It does take work for accuracy. The ICD-SX700 looks complicated, but Sony has a knock of creating intuitive menus that more often than not, make sense. Buttons have a decent tactile feel and the screen is easy to read- and I don't even need to use my reading glasses to operate. The main feature I was seeking was the VOR-- voice activated recording. That works very well, very natural and clean. I highly recommend buying an additional lapel clip-on mic. Skip the pricey Sony ECM's. An Olympus brand or other lapel mic designed for video camcorders will suffice. I move around a lot in my noisy kitchen and this set-up works well. I'm also the using the ICD-SX700 as an mp3 player, downloading podcasts and music to their own folder. Invest in a better set of earphones at some point, since the ones that come with it are very basic. The Sony software is standard for Windows as is the stripped-down DragonSpeak. I wish they were Mac compatible. They do work well together and there have been no problems with the install or operation on Win XP (32-bit mode only). It's fun to watch the screen typing away what I just spoke a few minutes earlier. After a bit of clean-up, I'm ready to post text to my blog. Overall; good Sony quality, a fair value, Mac compatibility would be nice, but I run Win on my Mac for the best of both worlds. My technical expertise level is mid-range, so I did need to read the manual. Amazon as usual, made ordering and delivery easy.

Comment: Need I say more! Everything I ever wanted in a digital recorder. If you need anything better then you need a professional digital recorder. This little gizmo record voices in big conference rooms with an incredible clarity! great as a Dictaphone, for interviews, and pretty much everything else. It records in Stereo or mono.

Comment: It works great. Very impressed with it. It was easy to set up and it did not take as long as indicated. It was up and running within an hour. I purchased it mostly for dictation. I wanted to be able to record lectures and interviews and tranbscribe them to text. Basic dictation/transcribing works wonderfully. Recorded lectures/transcribing is 50/50 based on how close your are to the speaker and the surrounding noise. Interviews/Conversation have not been successful for me when it comes to transcribing. The transcribing software cannot distinguish between the two voices and it defaults to [inaudible] to the program. Another issue I had, and this is my mistake for not double checking compatibility, I bought a new computer as well and my new computer being 64 bit, could not read the 32 bit software (this is what was explained to me). So, I have to use my older computer for transcribing. Make sure to double check system compatibility before you purcahse. Its also quite pricey but all in all, I use it for work and it does make my job easier. So, it pays for itself.

Comment: The reviews on this page portray the Dragon Dictate side of the product (the software) poorly, but don't address the Sony digital voice recorder side of the product (the hardware).

I did not purchase the software version of the product, so for reviews of the recorder hardware, see this product page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-SX700-Recorder-Operated-Recording/product-reviews/B001QWCNKG/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1