MAXELL P-7 Voice Recorder for iPod

• Lets your 3GB 4GB or Photo iPod record memos, lectures, or conversations
• Omnidirectional microphone for optimal recording
• 20mm built-in speaker for high-quality playback
• LED light indicates activate recording

Recording wise, it is comparable with Griffin or Belkin voice recorders. Its size is a little bit bigger than other brands, but it has a headphone jack, which could be very convenient.

It's about $10 cheaper than other brands I think it is a great deal.

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Do not purchase this item if you have an ipod Mini. Despite Amazon's claims that it works for "ipod or ipod mini," or receiving my recorder it was clearly noted on the packaging to NOT be compatible. Indeed, on plugging it into the Mini, an error message was received. Poor form, Amazon!

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Although there were no restrictions listed when I bought it (Amazon's description now specifies 3G and 4G models), this Maxell recorder failed to work with my 3G 30GB iPod. It did record sometimes, but the volume was so low down into the noise level as to be useless. No support or explanation from Maxell, so back it went. Too bad, because the price was right!

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I got the P-7 Voice Recorder for IPods with high hopes of being able to use it to record live concerts. Those hopes did not last long. The quality of the P-7, to be charitable, is poor. A conventional hand held cassette recorder, regular or mini size, both would make better recordings. It produces very muddy sound. The highs and lows simply aren't even recorded, and the middle frequencies sound cheesy and incoherent. Even speaking into it from 1-2 feet away and no other noise sources didn't prove satisfactory. I may have had a defective product, but I doubt it.

In addition, the plug was so flimsy that it bent slightly forward after a few weeks, causing the IPod to give error readings afterwards that, regardless of the P-7 being plugged in, "there is no recording device plugged in." It has been a wasted piece of plastic/metal ever since. I'm going to have to throw it out.

I don't recall paying more than $15-20 for this, but since it worked so poorly, I can't see buying it, or something like it again. Maxell makes great cassette tapes, but this is something they need to radically re-think or perhaps abandon.

In addition, the P-7 has limited applications. It will only plug into 4th generation IPods (perhaps earlier, NOT later. My 4th generation IPod is from late 2005.) The P-7 has a 2nd flat plug (visible in the picture to the left of the main plug), which fits my IPod but not later ones. I was told that the newer IPods will accept other types of mics that are allegedly much better. (What else would a salesman say?) I'm not about to spend another several hundred dollars on a newer IPod just to test those claims.

I also ordered another stereo mic that looked like a small white barrel the size of a quarter, only to find that since it lacked that 2nd flat plug, it wouldn't plug in and therefore didn't work either. That makes 0 for 2. I'll stick to using the IPod as a playback only device.

Overall: low functionality, lousy sound reproduction, flimsy manufacture, instantly obsolete design....it would get a failing grade in any area I can imagine. "F".

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It's an overall good product for the price. I actually bought this for my boyfriend so he could record lectures at school. The microphone is not really good enough to do that. It would not be able to pick up sounds from very far away, but I think most recorders wouldn't. It's a cool product because after you record something, you can play it back without headphones. The device also provides a speaker! This would be a great product if you just wanted to use a recorder for personal memos.