Digital Voice Recorder Review

Sizing up reviews of digital voice recorders

Digital voice-recording capability can be found as a throw-in on all kinds of devices designed primarily for something else, especially in MP3 players and cell phones. However, if you intend to record a lot of talking (personal dictation, class lectures or podcasts) rather than just infrequent reminders to yourself, experts say you're best off with a dedicated digital voice recorder that's designed to record conversations and filter out background noises. The best digital voice recorders also allow you to edit sound files (including inserting audio without recording over existing material) and permit you to transfer the files to your computer. You can then can save the audio files, transcribe them or email them to others. Some digital voice recorders are designed to do a narrow range of tasks extremely well, while others are more versatile but lack the high-end performance that specialization can offer. Therefore, choosing a recorder depends partly on what you hope to do with it.

The best reviews of digital voice recorders are based on hands-on testing and objective evaluations. We especially appreciate those reviews and reviewers that test and review a good selection of digital voice recorders. Among top reviewers, CNET's round-up of professional-grade digital voice recorders is a great resource, as it provides in-depth analysis and tests of several models, along with useful comparisons. O'Reilly Digital Media is another top stop for in-depth analysis of digital recorders, featuring detailed reviews and a forum where reviewers answer reader questions. However, while a true audiophile could spend an entire day diving into some of reviewer Mark Nelson's probing research on high-end digital recorders, O'Reilly and CNET might be a little too much for someone with more everyday recording needs.

For more mainstream users, we found good but limited coverage at Laptop Magazine, PCMag.com, PC World and AudioTranskription.de, a German site. While these reviews are very worthwhile, fewer digital voice recorders are covered and the reports are a little more dated -- though largely still valid. User reviews can also be helpful, and Amazon.com is a good place to read those as more models and feedback can be found there than anywhere else.

Most digital voice recorders record in a common audio file format, such as MP3, WMA or WAV, but a few march to a different drummer. For example, Sony uses a proprietary audio format that has to be converted to one of the more common formats if it is to be heard in a standard media player. Sony provides the necessary software -- Digital Voice Editor -- to do that, but that software only runs under Windows and not the Mac OS. Those two issues are the source of lots of user complaints at Amazon.com and elsewhere. Sony digital voice recorders also tend to be a little more expensive than their competition.

However, other users and some experts say that these issues aren't necessarily deal killers, especially for those who will be mainly using their recorders for making personal notes or dictation that will later be transcribed to text. One strength of some Sony recorders -- such as the Sony ICD-MX20 (*Est. $200), which is named as a Best Reviewed product in this report -- is that they play well with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which is one of the most popular speech recognition programs available. In fact, Nuance, maker of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, rates the Sony ICD-MX20 as the most accurate recorder of all when used with their software. For more information on voice recognition software, see the separate ConsumerSearch report.