The dictaphones you can get nowadays are so much better than any from the past. The clarity of playback is a heck of a lot better, along with the amount you can store on them. The size has of course got smaller and smaller over the years, as with many modern gadgets. It seems to be the smaller then better, this isn't always good though, especially for gentleman who do not have small hands! You won't have any trouble with this one though.

The quality of playback is fantastic. This is partly due to the noise cancelling microphones which are built in to the device. This stops the usual fuzzy playback that you can get from older dictaphones. There is also the option of whether you want high quality recording or not. If you want this though just be aware that it will take up more space for that recording rather than putting the quality down a notch and having more recording space. It is up to you. The highest quality really is good though and easy to make out.

I use this for work normally, for when I have an idea which I don't want to forget about or for audio typing for the admin assistant. Having the admin assistant do my typing for me is relatively new as I normally did all my own but I swear, a good audio typist is worth their weight in gold. It gives me a lot more time to get on with other work. I normally spend some of my evenings doing audio for her which does give me more time in the office to do the more important pending tasks. At first I was given a tape dictaphone. This was very outdated and when I saw the audio typing device the admin assistant would be using, I cringed. I work at a company which I always thought was very forward thinking with their technology but when they produced this, I thought again! I suggested the above model and managed to convince them it was a good idea. I now have this on me at all times and the admin assistant is very grateful not to be using the tapes anymore!

The menus are easy to navigate with a folder system for keeping all your recordings. You can erase single files or all files at once. The buttons are easy to work and of a good size for even not so small fingers.

If you need a dictaphone then I would personally recommend this one for its ease of use and high quality recordings. Battery life is fantastic. At around £180 (I got it for £120 through the company because of connections) it does seem quite steep but you are getting a good piece of kit.

Specs

Internal memory - 4gb
Micro SD card
USB 2.0 High Speed
Dot matrix display (sounds dated but is fine)
Backlit
Recording format - PCM (WAV), mp3, WMA
Noise cancelling function
Playback speed - 50-200% (admin assistant as confirmed she finds this adequate)
999 files per folder
Podcast support
Headphone jack
USB cable
Takes 2 AAA rechargeable batteries
Weight - 84g
Menu languages - English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian
Voice guidance languages - Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu