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Olympus VN 5500PC
by Chattystudent
INTRO
Out of all of the dictaphones I have managed to get through army time at university, this one has to be my favourite. I brought this one in my second year after my first one went first one got miss placed. I was attracted to this device because of the good brand name and it was very compact, lightweight, pleasant ... appearance and can be connected to a computer.
PRODUCT
The dictaphone comes in the standard grey plastic case, as you find with most dictaphones. The front of the device has a small to moderately sized LCD screen, certainly big enough to organise and set up your recordings, and has most of the buttons needed to control the device. On the top there is a headphones socket and a hold button to lock the device. The dictaphone can connect to a computer via a USB port using the cable provided. The back of the device has a battery compartment, which takes 2 AAA batteries. The device has noise reduction features that are designed to enhance the speakers voice. The dictaphone has a 512MB memory.
The product is the typical grey colour with plastic casing and small LCD screen. All the buttons needed to control, organise and playback your recordings are features on the front of the device, with a headphone jack and computer connector on the base and side of the device. Compared to my first cheap dictaphone it is very compact and light, and is powered by 2 AAA batteries. The device also has noise reduction features that enables human voices to be picked up clearly, ideal for a lecture theatre. The memory in this device is not as good as other devices i have had since, the basic memory being of 512MB, but as you can download your recordings onto a computer, it is plenty larger enough for most needs.
PRICE
I brought mine for about £45 from John Lewis, but obviously this price is now a couple of years out of date.
RESULT
As mentioned already this is my favourite dictaphone. It was simple to use, light weight, stylish and
Reduced good sound quality, even in a large lecture theatre. The background noise was not completely removed, but provided no else is talking too much close to the device it doesn't really effect the sound quality. The device even made great recording at the back of a large lecture theatre. The battery life of the device was good and lasts for a good 2/3 weeks even when using at lectures every day. The memory size is slightly on the small side, but because you can easily download the files onto the computer it doesn't really cause a problem. I ended up downloading all of my lectures every couple of weeks to keep them organised. The device does allow you to organise your recordings into folders on the device, but I didn't use this feature too much.
CONCLUSION
I love this dictaphone and would definately buy it again. The memory is a little small, but it never caused me any problems.
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Sony ICD PX820
by Chattystudent
INTRODUCTION
I borrowed this device off a friend when my dictaphone got broken. Ever since starting university I have always had a dictaphone with me as its sometimes fairly hard to keep up with the pace of lectures and keep my concentration up all the way through the lecture. However, it can be used for so many jobs, such as ... journalism, writing, experimentation, as well as in general life to record any ideas or thoughts.
PRODUCT
The dictaphone is the standard hand size device, and is black in colour. Personally I think it makes it look quite ugly, grey/silver is much nicer, but it's not all about appearance. It has a 2GB memory, which his equivalent to approximately 500 hours of recording, about a years worth of lectures for me. All of files, which are stored as MP3 files, can be downloaded onto a computer via an USB drive. It has a basic LCD screen. The device also has voice operated recording, which starts and stops recording automatically when you start speaking and this does also work in a lecture theatre, provided there isn't too much background chatter. It also has quite a unique function which lets you overwrite a recording where you may have changed your mind or made a mistake, which can be particularly useful when preparing speaking/presentations etc. The dictaphone also has pitch control, though I am not sure how much difference this made to the recording.
PRICE
This product can be brought for about £30-£35, depending on where you shop.
RESULT
The dictaphone produced fairly decent quality recordings, even at the back of a large lecture theatre, without picking up and focusing on background noise. Some of the addition features, particularly voice starts and stop function was particularly useful as there are usually breaks within the lecture and I could just leave the device running. It was easy to control and use, with large buttons and a clear display. I didn't even need to read a manual to know how to do all of the basic functions.
CONCLUSION
This dictaphone is certainly a good quality device, with some great additional features. It's cheaper than buying some devices that cant connect to the computer. For me the downside is its appearance as i think the bad makes it look quite old fashioned and ugly. However, apart from appearance I would certainly recommend this dictaphone.
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Sony ICD BX800
by Chattystudent
INTRO
As a university student I am constantly in lectures, which always have a lot of information to take in. I, therefore, decided to invest in a dictaphone to help me with my revision, so I could listen back to the lectures as and when I wanted to.
PRODUCT
When I purchased this dictaphone I didn't ... really know too much about the technical details regarding what makes a good dictaphone. As such, I decided to buy one from a well known brand, Sony. The dictaphone is a nice compact size, a typical grey colour and has buttons on the front of the device to control the recordings. The headphones connection point is on the bottom of the device. It has a reasonable sized LCD screen and has a fairly large integrated flash memory of 2GB (approximately 500 hours of recording). The files are stored in an MP3 format, however, there is no way of downloading these files to a computer. The dictaphone does have unique noise cut technology, which enhances people's voices in the recording. This is what attracted me to this dictaphone in the first place in the store, as in a lecture hall there is so much background noise the device could pick up on, and any enhancements on the lectures clarity would be great.
PRICE
This Dictaphone can purchased for about £40 depending on where you buy it.
RESULT
As expected from the noise cut technology, the dictaphone products high quality recordings, which are easy to playback. The recordings were even clear when I had the dictaphone recording at the back of a large lecture theatre. However, the main problem with this device was that it can not download the files onto a computer. When I brought the dictaphone I just assumed it would be able to connect to a computer. This was rather frustrating as I wanted to be able to connect it a computer to download my files and organise them into folders with my lecture notes. It also means that if you do use the device a lot the memory isn't as good as it seems as once it is full you have to delete files rather than transferring them. On a plus note it was fairly easy to organise the files on the device.
CONCLUSION
Overall it had excellent sound quality, but for me I wouldn't buy it again as I wanted it to connect to a computer. Since buying this device I have a brought a device that can connect to a computer and it only cost an extra £10. If your happy to keep all the files on the device it is a great dictaphone.
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