Digital Voice Recorders Reviews

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. 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 e-mail 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 reviewers of digital voice recorders have no agenda to sell you a specific product and offer some transparency about how products are tested and rated. We also looked for reviews that compare a good sampling of similar models, because testing a number of similar products imparts a better frame of reference. We found the most credible, unbiased reviews at the O'Reilly Digital Media website. Reviewer David Battino seems unusually obsessed with digital voice recorders and includes reader responses to his assessments in his article. We found good, but less comprehensive coverage on Andy Kaiser's Digital Bits website, as well as at Laptop Magazine.

Consumer Reports hasn't tested digital voice recorders, and other normally reliable electronics reviewers, including CNet.com, have not reviewed these recorders, either. PC Magazine tests and rates seven digital voice recorders, but six of those models have already been discontinued. An Australian website, Good Gear Guide, reviews only two models (one since discontinued) and explains in its report on the Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9600 (*est. $500) that "we don't get many voice recorders through the office." We did find a large number of owner-written reviews for digital voice recorders at Amazon.com. These are helpful for verifying the opinions in professional reviews and for gauging owner satisfaction with recording quality, ease of use and reliability.

Still, Sony digital voice recorders are some of the least expensive models on the market. If you use Windows (there don't yet seem to be drivers available for Windows Vista, however) and don't need to share recordings with others, some Sony digital voice recorders are a good value.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

We found the best reviews for voice recorders in the Olympus 300 series, with prices varying according to the amount of onboard memory each model offers. If you need better quality for podcasting, the Zoom H2 is the best value, with four integrated microphones. If you want to use a high-fidelity external microphone, the pricey MicroTrack II can power some compatible high-quality mics. The Olympus DS-4000 is expensive, but it’s generally considered the top choice if you need a digital voice recorder for heavy business use and transcribing.