Panasonic RR-US450 Voice Recorder, Thin Style, PC Software 66 Hour Rec

I've always respected Panasonic quality and reliability -but this was a shock.

It was onsale at Fry's for 39 dollars -1 day sale.

I returned it within hours.

The main reason was neither XPSP2 or Vista wouuld recognize it as a device in My Computer.

While it was detected and identified as an IC recorder in XP -one could never access anything saved on it.

Instructions took about 45 minutes of careful scrutiny just to configure settings necessary to record something.

Playback volume was weak; "buttons" difficult to identify and press.

I expected this device to produce an "open with" or "autoplay" dialog just as one would expect for a camera.

No such dialog ever appeared.

Vista never knew what it was. XP could not see it as a drive.

Their 1-800 support number was inaccessible from California. Their 1-905 number for Canada, was -but noone was available at 2:30pm on a Friday afternoon.

There is no support for this device at their site other than the Editing software updates -which are useless without the ability to detect the unit properly.

No help in the manual for transferring files -just a warning not to disconnect the cable when transfer is taking place.

Kind of cheaply constructed the controls are a bit weird and everytime I pick it up I wonder, "Is it broke yet?" I've been able to record conversations accurately and painlessly. The software is "crappy" but it does the job if you struggle to learn it. My task was to record the conversation, download their format, convert it to mp3/wav for distribution. I used their software to get to the wav, and Audacity to get to the mp3. Their software is pretty good at removing noise to clean up the recording. I've had it about 3 months now, and I still haven't broken it. I keep it in my back pack wrapped in a bandera. (Makes a better case than the sock I was using and people don't react to the bandera as strongly as they did to the dirty sock.)

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I've had this recorder for 3 years and use it for my job to record meetings, of which I then produce written summaries. It works OK, but I have a new laptop for my job and I want to install the driver software on the new machine. I haven't done that because I no longer have the original driver disc and Panasonic wants me to pay for a replacement (no free download). I don't want to waste the money doing that because the new machine runs Vista and the software doesn't work well on Vista. My recommendation is to get a recorder from a different company with better customer service.

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This is the worst bit of Kit I have ever bought, it records really well and plays back on the device fine, which ever record quality you choose it remembers when you switch it on. (That's if you can call it switch on, as you push the hold button to switch it of, and un hold to switch it on.) so if you select HQ for record quality the next time you switch it on its set to HQ. the controls are very good with a Jog Shuttle type joy control, but the main problem is when you plug it into a PC via USB it is unidentifiable, it requires the drivers from the CD. But even after that you cant access the files, it wont show up as a drive, the software cant see it, windows see's it as a Panasonic device but not a drive, I tried to access it via a dell laptop using Vista I gave it to a friend who tried it on a desktop using XP and this could not access the files, so for now its at the back of the draw till my brother goes Clay Pidgin shootingPanasonic RR-US450 Voice Recorder, Thin Style, PC Software 66 Hour Rec

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