Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder
Digital camera Review: Wow
Summary: 5 Stars
I am completely amazed at what this little thing can do. It has such clarity with each recording. I took it to my church's choir practice and it had amazing sound. I have used it for dictation while my stereo was playing in the background, and with the directional mic on, as soon as I started talking, you can't hear the stereo. It's crazy how real it sounds. Class starts tomorrow and I can't wait to start recording my teacher's lectures. I'll be using Dragon Naturally Speaking along with it, which is also amazing and such a time saver!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. Voice recognition is good. Manual is so terrible that it is almost unusable.
My previous Sony Digital voice recorder (MS515) lasted less than a year - the microphone stopped working. Sony won't send a refurbished unit within the warranty period unless I produced the original receipt; otherwise they wanted $166 for a refurbished unit to replace $239 original recorder!
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. So I do not buy Sony products unless there is an overwhelming reason which for this recorder was 6 stars voice recognition rating by Dragon.
Contrast this with Olympus. I sent them an out of warranty micro-cassette recorder ($300) for repair whose microcassettes 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.
Digital camera Review: Do Not Buy This Recorder
Summary: 1 Stars
Shame on Sony. I wish I could give this zero stars. This is the least user-friendly or professional friendly recorder I have ever purchased. The instructions are terribly translated, and very hard to follow, even for the seasoned recording user. But the worst part is that all the controls are on this RIDICULOUSLY tiny button on the front which, unless you have very long, sharp fingernails or incredibly thin fingers, you are sure to hit stop when you are trying to hit play, etc etc. So what if the sound quality is good if you can't get the tiny little button to move to where you need it to go? A waste of time and an exercise in frustration. Don't bother.Digital camera Review: The Best--Give it 10 stars
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a professional writer and bought this recorder to use with Dragon Naturally Speaking V.9. I tried using an Olympus recorder with V.7 of the software and it didn't work well, even though dictating directly into my computer via a microphone worked great.
The first time I used this Sony with Dragon it transcribed with about 99-percent accuracy. I tried it in a room with background noise and got the same accuracy. Now I can capture thoughts and ideas anywhere I am, and since I live in Savannah, Georgia, that means at the beach.
Digital camera Review: Excellent sound quality. Questionable unit finish. Good software. Poor documentation.
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this unit because Nuance, the publishers of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 gave it higher marks than the Olympus DS-2 I already own. My review of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 appears elsewhwere. Suffice it to say that the software is superb with nearly 100% accurate voice recognition. My dream has been to be able transcribe dictation from a recorder to a finished document.
The Olympus DS-2 is an excellent recorder at a very reasonable price. It's performance with Dragon Naturally Speaking 8, the previous version, left a lot to be desired. With the new version 9, performance is better, but still far from perfect.
Thus I was brought to decide on testing the Sony ICD-MX20, a unit that costs more than twice as much as the Olympus DS-2. My primary interest in the unit is in being able to dictate and then transcribe automatically. I will not be using it to record lectures and meetings or the like, although I did a couple of experiments to see how the unit would work in such environments.
The ICD-MX20 is shorter and slimmer than the DS-2, but slightly heavier. The finish of the ICD-MX20 is very slick; slick in the sense of being smooth and slippery. I am seriously concerned with my ability to hold the unit securely. The surface is so slick that it may be difficult.
The ICD-MX20 controls are well laid out. The mini-joystick works surprisingly well after a few minutes of practice. Swirtching between functions, such as setting the microphone sensitivity, is cumbersome howevr. All of the switches on the sides can be manipulated with one hand and a flip of the unit is required to maneuver the Hold switch on the back. The LCD display is clear and doesn't present too much information at one time.
The unit uses 2 AA batteries and my first impression is that battery life is poor. Sony says " 8 hours" at highest quality recording - and it appears they mean simply 8 hours if the unit is powered on. That's not a lot: better use that Hold switch.
Finally to sound quality, the one thing that motivated me to buy such an expensive unit. It's superb. The MX-20 microphones can be set to mono or stereo. I used only the mono mode since my primary interest is dictation. The microphones are very sensitive. Hold the mic too close to your mouth and even a low voice will result in pops. But once you load your voice file onto the computer, Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 --- without training --- does a credible job of accurate transcription. The sound quality is excellent, clearly superior to that of the Olympus DS-2.
Using a headset, as recommended by Dragon, the sound quality is absolutely outstanding. This unit could be used in professional settings for reporting or creating podcasts. Put on a headset while you're driving (being aware of local laws, of course) and you can transform drive time into dictation time --- and simply transcribe the files automatically in Dragon. Very cool.
As a conference recorder, the ICD-MX20 shows promise. I used it to record the audio of a television talk show as I walked further and further away from the set. The Voice Up function of the unit, which amplifies distant voices, really works.
The Sony documentation accompanying the unit is poor. The English translation is awful, showing all the earmarks of being translated from Japanese by someone who doesn't speak English well. All the information you will need is there, but it is a struggle to wrestle the meaning from the mangled syntax, grammar and occasionally strange use of language. Sony also persists in printing the documentation as a single broadside sheet which is very difficult to handle. The documentation for the included utility software is worse. It is very sparse in terms of detail, but fortunately the user interface of the software is very intuitive.
Overall, the ICD-MX20 is impressive. Sound quality absolutely deserves a 5. Design and construction overall merit a 4, the toggle and its functions being a bit too cumbersome. But the slick and smooth texture of the unit which makes handling a bit anxiety-provoking brings my overall rating down to a 3. Documentation is a 2. In all, I'd give the unit a 4. But for its prime purpose in my case, of recording audio that Dragon Naturall y Speaking 9 can automatically transcribe, my rating is a solid 5.
Jerry