Digital Recorders

[Jason Z. Guest]

For those who like the iPod (especially Classic) route, consider these two solutions that I just stumbled upon:

http://alesis.com/protrackmobilerecordingkit
http://www.jr.com/belkin/pe/BKN_F8Z082_hy_BLK/

Many thanks, yet again, to all whom have responded to my inquiry.

Best,

Jason

[Jason Z. Guest]

Just to follow up, found the Olympus WS-400 at Best Buy. An amazing tool: 272 hours of play, high-quality stereo sound and no cables necessary - simple plug-and-play. Thanks for everyone's comments and thanks to those who supported the Olympus WS family of products. Cheers, Jason

[R.Frank]

Olympus, Sony and Panasonic all make good recorders. I've been using a Sony ST-25, and a Panasonic for a couple of years now. Both have worked satisfactorily and no glitches. Be careful of the ones that have toggle and Rocker switches as they can become cumbersome to use. My Sony has a four-way rocker switch with a push function also for various menu and place settings.I found that if you're not paying full attention to what you are doing you can screw things up. While the Sony uses this type rocker switch on some models the Panasonic used three or four buttons which made it much more intuitive to use as long as you remember where the button is at. With the Sony I found that while trying to push the button I accidentally rock it and get or go where I don't want to be.

Some of the features I will look for with my next recorder will be; size, button functions, pocket clip, mic jack placement, record time, playback speed adjustment, and high quality recording that can be used for dictation playback into Dragon NaturallySpeaking. (Dragon has rated several digital recorders for their program - you may want to check out the models they recommend as they require high quality recordings)

I like the pocket clip or case so I can put the recorder my pocket and use a microphone clipped to my shirt collar,used in a voice activation mode. This frees my hands so I can use my camera, or read brochures, while recording my thoughts sights and smells of where I'm visiting. Of course I always carry my notepad and pen in my camera case as backup. Having a high quality recording I can play back the dictation directly via my computer into Dragon NaturallySpeaking and have it printed out on my computer screen and don't have to worry about trying to decipher my scribbled handwriting.

well, I hope this has helped, good luck.