Sony ICD-UX200RED Digital Voice Recorder with Built-In 2 GB Flash Memory (Red)

I found this unit to be an excellent value. It is a nice compact size, an excellent combination of features without being too pricey. You can plug it into your USB port and just copy the audio files right off the device without installing any additional software at all. I love that part as I hate installing any odd software I don't absolutely need. It simply looks like a USB style thumb drive to your computer. The audio files are standard MP3 format, so they can be used with just about any modern audio tools. I found the built in omnidirectional microphones (stereo) to be very sensitive and works great in a typical meeting room or office. If you are using it in an environment with lots of background noise, then you might want to use an external directional microphone to help eliminate any extra background noise.

To the reviewer who gave the item a bad review because it did a poor job at recording music... a few points. One, this is a Voice Recorder and is clearly marketed as such. So unless you checked the manufacturers specifications to see if it is rated to record the type of audio range that would be in music instead of just voice, then you should have realized this type of device might not be suited for that type of recording. You should not fault the product if you did not research it properly. Second, if it does support such a range for general audio recording, just because you can plug a line into it, does not mean that you are going to be getting a good recording. The input jack on this unit defaults for use with microphones. You can go into the menu and change it to Line Level Audio. But if you really expect to get the best recording quality from external sources (for this or ANY recording device), then you need an intermediary device inline with the signal to adjust the line impedance and/or signal levels so it matches what the recording device is expecting. Otherwise your signal and input may be mismatched and at best your recording will be poor or distorted. This device does provide active audio monitoring with a headset, so you certainly could have checked signal quality if you were using a headset with it and should have been able to get much better results with it.

I was skeptical about purchasing this model because of one negative review on it's sound quality. After doing more research, posts on other sites explained that the small external speaker does not provide adequate playback quality. Truehowever, the recordings sound awesome once downloaded (or when using the provided headphones). . . especially when I hook up my external camcorder mic. I use it for recording band rehearsals & gigs. Very easy to download and email the mp3s to the other players(who rave about the audio clarity). I considered the Tascam which costs about triple the price, but after hearing other bandmates complain about the complexity of file format conversions, I am glad I chose the simple route.

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I bought this recorder to record my lectures for class. I have a Macbook, and it works amazingly with it. You do not have to order any additional software. It comes with a USB cable, a rechargeable battery, AND a pair of headphones! I have posted a video review of this product on my youtube channel. You can check it out here:I demonstrate the sound quality and explain it in greater detail. =]

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This was my first purchase of a digital recorder, so perhaps with current technology, my expectations were too high. As features go, this unit has everything I wanted: rechargeable battery, stereo mic, external stereo mic jack, headphones, 2GB, multiple recording quality levels.

However, this unit fails miserably at the only thing I need it to do record high quality sound via the built-in mic. There are so many problems where to start..

1) Any slight breath of air into the mics, even from a foot away, cause wind distortion and render your audio useless.

2) Every time you click the Stop button during a recording, you have an audible, hollow clicking sound at the end of your recording. That means after every clip, you have to edit that sound out. You can't simply start and stop a recording without worrying about having to edit out something from every single clip.

3) If you're holding the unit while talking, any contact with the unit itself causes noise on the recording that gets picked up. If your finger slightly slides across the unit sound. If you tap the back of the unit sound. If you accidentally rub up against some clothing, even if the mic itself doesn't touch anything, that contact resonates through the unit and you get that noise picked up in your recording.

4) The audio itself comes with a lot of background hiss, also rendering the unit useless if you are recording anything for a podcast or other high-end use.

If you only need this for dictation and audio quality isn't a high priority, then maybe this is good for you, but then you don't need a stereo mic and there are much cheaper units with the same features that would do the trick. I honestly don't understand what Sony was thinking with this semi-high-end recorder.

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This takes all the stress out of dictating. Its easy-to-use controls and USB plug are as handy as the color is refreshing. Plus, it's easily identified. I use it with Dragon Speaking Naturally Pro 11 and am writing faster than ever.