Okay, I'm a guy who records his entire life, so data rate is something really critical to me. Previous Sony voice recorders used a proprietary Sony compression method (in addition to the higher data rate methods) that allowed for a decent-quality stereo recording that consumed 1 Gigabyte every 86 hours. Well, at the LOWEST data rate with this recorder (a storage-hungry 128 Kbps mp3) it takes 16 Gigs to record about 10 days. That's INSANE!!So, while I LOVE this device and all its amazing features, I definitely can't use it as my 24/7 recorder. I have to back all that stuff up to TWO hard drives! 16 Gigs every 10 days to two drives... sorry... that's excessive. Sure, storage is cheap these days, but that's a lot!
Aside from that major gripe, this device is amazing. 96/24 recording... I don't even do that on my high-end equipment! Sounds great. Has a memory stick slot that the previous devices had dropped for some reason (my last one was an SX750, which totally crapped after two years with its 2 GB internal memory being the only recording option). You can set the level on the device you plug into the mic input (mic/line) which is nice. It's not just considered a mic-only input as in earlier devices. Limiter AND low-cut filter. Nice.
One really cool feature is the transpose. You can go up or down in pitch without noticeable degradation maybe as much as a step, but a half step of transposition is virtually free of artifacts. This is great because I play the sitar and frequently tune to C#. It's very nice to be able to bump a recording up to D or down to C without really being able to hear any digital artifacts.
Cross-memory recording is cool. If you are using the built-in memory and it fills up, it will automatically continue onto an installed memory stick. Very convenient.
One thing they took away, though, is the ability to create a new file by pressing a button. You can place markers by pressing a button now, but if you want to start a new file you have to stop recording and start it again. That sort of bites, because when I review old recordings, the creation of a new file is how I used to indicate that something interesting was happening. This is yet another change after more than 12 years of using previous recorders (MX1, MX515, MX20, BM1, SX750). Not sure why they did that. As someone who records 24/7, I need an obvious way to delineate events, and starting a new file is the best way.
Calendar, sleep timer, alarm... interesting new features, but again, since I leave it running flat out, the calendar will only show a new date/time if I stop it and start it again. Otherwise, the beginning of the current file is the date/time for up to a few days of recording.
Don't get me wrong. This is an AWESOME device! I will take it with me whenever I have some stereo recording out in the field that I want to do. But I got it to replace my broken 24/7 recorder (the SX750) and sadly it can't replace that because of its huge data rate. So I'm back to using the MX20, which is getting a bit old now, but hey, it still works, rusty mic guards and all! :-)
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