Sony ICD-B500 Digital Voice Recorder with 256 MB Built-in Flash Memory by Sony
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Our Price: $129.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $33.99 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Sony ICD-B500 Digital Voice Recorder with 256 MB Built-in Flash Memory
Digital camera Review: easy listening
Summary: 3 Stars
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.Digital camera Review: great recorder in language class
Summary: 4 Stars
I play this during my language class and then review the recording when I am driving. The sound quality through the built in speaker is garbled. But if you connect it to your computer speakers it sounds great. Headphones are an improvement over the built in speaker, but the volume is low. I use a tape/adapter connection when driving. I tried the downloading and found it difficult. The 80+ hours are great. It records easily and it is easy to delete files when you don't need them. I tried an external microphone on this and it is not necessary. The mic picks up everything in the room. When the teacher is speaking or there is a dialog between two people, the sound quality is great. When everyone in the room is studying in small groups, the sound goes into chaos. Over all this is an inexpensive way to record a class. Less of a hassle than using tapes.Digital camera Review: playback good, interface not so good
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Digital camera Review: pretty good sound quality
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Digital camera Review: recorder
Summary: 4 Stars
I like the fact that the recorder is so lightweight and easy to move around with. However I think that software and accessories to download voice recordings onto my computer should have been included as part of the package.