Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder by Sony
|
Our Price: $369.87 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $149.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder
Digital camera Review: Good Product
Summary: 3 Stars
I like this product. However, it does not allow you to name the folders. The model I purchased two years ago will do that. Also, the memory stick is a proprietary item. I wanted to use an off the shelf memory stick. The best part is the reliability of Amazon. The order arrived when they said it would.Digital camera Review: Good for Voice Recognition; Ergonomics Need Improvement
Summary: 3 Stars
Having used voice recorders daily for 20 years, I always find Olympus brands to be more sturdy, ergonomic, reliable and have better warranty policies and service. The reason to buy this Sony was better voice recognition with Dragon Naturally Speaking and ease of transfer files to computer.
Controls in this unit are not very intuitively placed although not so bad that they are difficult to use. Accidentally pressing the record button is very easy and so is inadvertently deleting all files, instead of one file, in a folder on the recorder. After making that mistake once, now I do all deletions on the computer because there is no way to recover a deleted file from the recorder. Editing a file, say inserting or deleting something, on Sony recorders is very cumbersome, if not impossible.
Voice recognition is good and that is really the only bright spot about this recorder. Manual is so awful that it is almost unusable. There is no software for Mac and the software for Windows is very slow, buggy and freezes a lot. Then, of course, Sony uses their proprietary memory Stick instead of more prevalent SD card.
My previous Sony Digital voice recorder (MS515) lasted less than a year - the microphone stopped working. Sony won't send a replacement unit within the warranty period unless I produced the original receipt; otherwise they wanted $166 for a refurbished unit to replace $239 original recorder!
Contrast this with Olympus. I sent them an out of warranty micro-cassette recorder ($300) for repair whose micro-cassettes were getting tangled. And for $80, they replaced it with a brand new unit! I was flabbergasted and my next 2 digital recorders were Olympus which were very sturdy. The only problem with them, compared to Sony, was the requirement of their proprietary software to transfer files to computer.
My experience with Sony VAIO Laptop was somewhat similar. In my experience Sony electronic items are not very reliable and durable and using their warranty is a big hassle. As a general policy, I do not buy Sony products unless there is an overwhelming reason, which for this recorder, was 6 stars voice recognition rating by Dragon. You may want to look at the Nuance web site for updated voice recognition ratings of different recorders with Dragon Naturally Speaking. But Sony recorders shine when it comes to voice recognition. Next come the Phillips and Olympus recorders.
Digital camera Review: Good recording quality, some flaws
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this recorder to replace a previous Sony model that I'd been very happy with, but wanted longer recording capacity. The ICD-MX20 works very well in terms of recording quality, but it has a few design flaws I didn't notice mentioned in other reviews.
First, the main control is a very fiddly little joystick in the middle of the unit, and it's very easy to press the wrong direction (the main problem is that the main play/pause button is controlled by pressing it into the unit, whilst skip etc are up/down/left/right and it often fires off these by accident). The other thing (which is really quite a bit problem for me) is that even when the 'hold' button is on, the unit powers up when any of the buttons are pressed to tell you that the hold button is on. This means that you can't keep it in your pocket (which I did for my old Sony). You can put new batteries in the unit (I'm using 850mAH NiMH) and 2 days later the battery will be flat, even if you didn't use it and the hold button was on the whole time.
That said, I'm fairly happy with the unit. I keep it in my bag, and that fixes the 'hold' issue, but I wish Sony would fix the design issues. It's good, but could so easily be great.
Digital camera Review: Great Product
Summary: 5 Stars
Still have to try to find the best setting though.
Volume is a bit low...have to find a way to increase that but quality is awesome.
One thing i didnt like was the voice up. It doesnt work that well. It just increases everything including the noise.
Digital camera Review: Great product. Software works under Linux/Wine
Summary: 5 Stars
I've used this for a couple weeks now, and I love it. The unit has a robust feature set and is very versatile. I'll give bullet points.
- The removable storage was a big draw for me. At ten bucks for a 1Gb card, I can use the cards themselves for archiving.
- The ability to create folders was important to me.
- It has a robust feature set.
- It has fantastic sound quality.
- Great voice pickup (I have a soft voice and I normally have problems with pickup, but this unit has no problem with it).
- The included software will convert the proprietary format to WAV files, and then you can convert to mp3 or whatever you want with third-party software (e.g., Audacity).
- I didn't get the Dragon Naturally Speaking software, so I cannot comment on that. I'll try that later.
- Some people commented on the incredibly smooth finish being almost slippery. I can see that, but I don't have a problem with it.
- The unit is small, so if you have large fingers it might take a little getting used to, but the buttons and the "joystick" quickly became comfortable to use.
- Some criticized the "pouch" that comes with the unit. It's a little pouch (no flap or buttons or anything) made from "polarfleece" type cloth. Good for keeping it from being scratched, but I'm already looking for something to replace the pouch.
- The included software will work on Linux if you install it using WINE.
- A lot of people have complained about short battery life. I turn it off between each use and I haven't had a negative experience with battery life. I'm still on the cheapo batteries that came with it.
Some drawbacks:
- I'd like to be able to change the names of the folders. It's either impossible or I just don't know how to do it.
- It's relatively expensive (like many Sony items).
- The instructions are not that great, but I'm not an "instructions" kind of guy anyway.
- The included software is behind the hardware because to tell the software what hardware is connecting to, there's a drop-down menu, but the model number of this unit is not listed.
The biggest question, though, is, "Would I buy it again?" Yes, without hesitation. But again, this assessment doesn't take into account durability or any type of long-term use because I've only had it a few weeks.