TDK Life on Record 77000015410 Sound Cube Audio System

• Two powerful 5 1/4-inch coaxial drivers deliver full range sound
• Play your iPod/iPhone music while charging using the USB to 30 pin Apple cable
• Using the rotary dial and front facing screen, play and control music directly from storage devices including USB flash and external hard drives
• Compact design and handle let you take your music anywhere
• Input options let you connect most audio devices and mix with an instrument

I thought it was very cool that TDK was releasing modernized portable radios, built with a high level of quality that generally hasn't been seen in radios for a good 20-30 years.

When I first plugged it in, I listened to FM (FM mind you, not a digital source), and after a short time said to myself... "this sounds as good as my Proton 300/301". For those of you who know about, or are lucky enough to own an old Proton, that's some fine company to keep. Is it as good? I don't have the equipment to test and prove so, but it's mighty close if it isn't.

I wished that on occasion, when going camping, to a picnic, etc... that I could take the Proton (and it's fantastic sound quality) with me. Well, now with a 12-pack of D-Batteries and a Sound Cube, you can do just that. The battery door is on the bottom, and screws securely into brass sockets mounted in the radio (you can use a nickel as a screwdriver). It doesn't have those typical flimsy plastic door clips you find on most radios; so you can put away that roll of electrical tape you use to patch the battery doors on your old radios. You also won't need to paste any foam on the door to keep the batteries from rattling, as the Cube already has a piece of well secured good quality foam (that won't rot from age). Nice touch!

How about features? The drivers are on the left/right sides of the Cube. The passive radiators are on the front/back. Granted, you lose some volume if you're in front of the control side (as the drivers fire sideways), but for stereo separation, that makes sense. Need more volume? Hey, it "goes to 11". Yes, it really does. There are two markings for the volume knob... "Off", and "11". Bonus point to the folks at TDK for having a sense of humor!

I definitely like the touch-screen control panel. Source selections are: 1)FM; 2)USB for flash drives and such; 3)AUX-1 for either the 1/8" Mini-Stereo jack for portable CD/MP3 players or the 1/4" Instrument jack; 4)AUX-2 to use standard RCA L/R jacks; and 5)MIX INST will let you mix a guitar in with a piece of music you're playing.

The EQ adjusts Bass/Treble. It would be nice if there were settings to tweak a wider range, but it does the job just fine; many modern radios don't have any tone controls, so I can't complain.

There are 5 presets on the touch-screen panel to save favorite FM stations, and of course the controls for playing MP3s (back/forward/play/pause).

The screen (OLED... nice!) shows what input you have selected, displays RDS info if the FM station you're listening too carries that (a nice touch, I didn't expect that to be a feature); and has a graphic equalizer that's thankfully subtle. Some equalizer displays are too bright/hyper; they're entertaining for a few minutes, but shortly become annoying. Someone at TDK had the sense to build in a graphic equalizer that won't become an irritation shortly after buying the radio (Thank You!).

OK... how is navigating a bunch of MP3s on a USB stick? Smooth sailing. I sort my music by band/album/song. The display shows icons for folders and lists the name of the folder, and displays the song titles when it recognizes songs. If you're scrolling through the list of songs, it shows a speaker icon next to the one it's playing. So navigating USB sticks is fast, easy... and 320k MP3s/VBRs work just fine (but it won't decode FLAC directly off a USB stick).

The top is rubberized, so your portable players won't get scratched up, and it helps keep them from sliding around. The FM antenna is easy to grab with your fingernails, and if you pull it out far enough, it will pivot. The carrying handle is sturdy, which is good as the Cube is a wee bit heavy when you fill it up with batteries.

The majority of the case is a flat/textured black (Hooray!). I'm tired of the smooth/glossy/fingerprint magnet cases that are so popular with electronics makers (but don't seem to be so popular with their customers).

The control knobs, speaker dust caps, and display are a subtle dark yellow/gold; the power-on light (on the volume knob) and currently active controls (such as play) are a "non-eye melting" white, which gives it a touch of class while still looking modern. I used to work in the art business so I couldn't help notice that the person who did the graphic design did a nice job. Usually products like this look "slapped together", so the effort put into its appearance is appreciated.

I like it much more than I expected; TDK has a sleeper hit here. For those of you scouring the "Bay" in desperation to find an old Proton radio in decent condition (and for a reasonable price), you might be happier with the Cube, which is also more capable.

Bonus: Looking for a carrying case to put it in to protect the drivers, and to keep it dry/clean when transporting it? Stop by your local "Mega-Mart", and look for the

cube-shaped, soft-sided, 36-can soda cooler (with the removable/washable hard plastic liner). The Cube fits -perfectlyin it, and the price is right.

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We purchased this cube for our 15 year old daughter, after reading a product-placement review at Wired. It is ergonomically far simpler than a full amp/speakers/subwoofer stereo system, easily moved room-to-room or used as a footrest, and it provides inputs for all of her music sources.

Note that there are actually two 5 1/4-inch coaxial drivers; the other two speaker-like ports are passive reflectors. So while this cube presents the illusion of being a subwoofer, two speakers, and a crossover circuit, it actually consists of two full-range speakers. There are physical limits to the subwoofer effect one can achieve with any 17 lb, 20 Watts RMS, 10" cube; this wouldn't be the right choice for a high school dance. There's little risk of the bass loosening one's deck screws, and anyone who knows the sound of a 200 Watts RMS 12" powered subwoofer could write a scathing review if they chose to be so clever. Given the physical limits here, I'm surprised how good this cube sounds.

In a 10' by 10' room the sound is remarkable. The 17 lb heft delivers. The bass is extraordinarily clean; the highs are quite clear but not the cleanest I've ever heard. With an inferior-sounding bass, a teen's natural reaction is to crank it up to compensate, and parents hears loud bass through the walls, of an embarrassing and disturbing sound quality. With this extraordinarily clean bass, there is no compensation reaction, and parents hear a tight, quieter bass through the walls that is far more pleasing. This is a nice bonus, and an argument to proceed for parents hesitating to so equip their teens.

With twice the budget, and a willingness to give up the ergonomic advantages of a single, portable cube, I'd go self-powered components from Audioengine, with extraordinarily clear highs to match the more powerful, actual subwoofer bass:

Audioengine A5 Powered Multimedia Speaker System (Black)

Audioengine AS8 Subwoofer 125 Watt black

Nevertheless, this cube fills its niche perfectly, and is a great value at its price point.

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TDK's Sound Cube feels very well made and sounds better than I'd imagined. The bass it pumps out is excellent given the woofer size. For the price, it's far and away the best portable speaker system I've heard.

Note: portability comes at a small price. If you take this on a plane flight, you will have your luggage searched every time. As a TSA agent said, "Man, that thing looks SINISTER on the x-ray."

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An excellent device with great sound, nice features and good looks.

But...Take batteries out after use. I spoke with TDK after experiencing the complete draining of my batteries twice (thankfully I use rechargeables). They acknowledged the problem and explained when you turn off the the Sound Cube it is actually going into standby mode and still drawing some power. There is no work around to this issue. Not a handy feature when running on batteries. If planning to bring on an extended trip without easy access to power from the plug. My recommendation is bring something else.

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Well, I have many portable sound systems in my larger home. I have bought a different one for every room to match the audio characteristics of the room (size and shape), and I found this approach to be a better alternative to re-wiring the house for built-in speakers or using a WiFi networked system (e.g., the Logitech Squeezebox family, which I also own three pieces of). From a sound quality perspective the TDK Cube is BETTER than all of them very clear, distortion free, and balanced. The Cube sounds just as good (if not fuller) than its sibling TDK 3-Speaker Boombox, it's only true rival. The 3-Speaker box is not portable but The Cube is easily portable.

How does it sound? Lemme tell you about the bass WOW!! It is so full and rich that you would be hard-pressed to tell it's not your home audio system with extra sub-woofer connected! But the big bass does not drown out the beautiful mids and highs. I don't know how TDK has made such a wonder for such a price (and why the others couldn't do it for more?) It plays louder than the TEAC SR-100i (2x50 Watts) and the B&W Zeppelin even though the TDK has "only" 20 Watts of RMS power (certainly the result of more efficient speakers). Even at max volume I cannot hear any distortion but it is hard to bear that volume in any room short of a dance hall.

Highly recommended you will not be disappointed with any aspect of this sound system.

Sony MZ-R37 Portable Minidisc Player/Recorder

• Horizontal design with easily accessible buttons
• 40-second shock-resistant memory
• New remote control includes editing functions
• Battery compartment holds 2 AA batteries--no external case needed
• High-quality recording with digital, automatic gain control

I bought the MZ-R37 early this summer. I got a refurbished model on Ebay for a resonsable price for recording concerts over the summer. This is a great model, durable and very shock resistant. I purchased a binaural microphone after I recorded a couple shows on a cheaper mono and man what a difference. One major tip if you are starting to record with the MZ-R37 be sure to hold the record button in place and be sure recording has commenced, I missed some songs at gigs because the recorder didn't start. Better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, this is also great for recording MP3s off of your computer just get a connection line from your sound card to the line in and you are set. You can also transfer concert recordings or band demos onto you computer if you have a recordable sound card. Great investment. Forget about MP3 players, too expensive to add memory. Minidiscs are inexpensive and far more durable than CDs also, with identical sound quality. If you are a music fan I don't know how you could live without one.

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I've had my MZ-R37 for several years. I'm a professional musician, working solo (vocals, electric harmonica, guitar, organ bass pedals) or with other musicians. I use the MD to record my/our live performances. I originally had rather low expectations. I just wanted to review the music. Generally I used the output of the sound reinforcement system (tho I made a lot of very good recordings with the included stereo mic). The quality is excellent. I've been able to use many tunes recorded on the MD for CD's. Yes it's THAT good.

I'm not claiming this will replace a full blown Pro Tools studio with Neumann U87's and a staff of Hollywood recording engineers, producers, and such. One can truly do magic with top line gear and a highly skilled production staff in much less time. But many of the MZ-R37's recordings were good enough to be on a CD with these and not embarrass me in comparison. And that's saying a LOT for a dirt cheap pocket size recorder with 1/8th inch input/output jacks.

Mike Curtis

ironmancurtis.com

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I got this model MD as a present last Christmas and I love it for many reasons: 1.) It is sturdy yet compact. The newer models I have seen don't seem as durable as this model. 2.) I can make my own "mix tapes" thousands of times over because MD's are re-recordable without losing audio quality. Also I can take my favorite songs from CDs and put them on one disc instead of lugging around several CDs. 3.) I can record from any audio source. Download from the internet and make your own MD without investing in blank CDs. 4.) The batteries last forever, or seemingly forever. I listen on long road trips (8 hours +) and seldom need lots of extra batteries. 5.) It's so easy to use that I am able to use it. 6.) I have never had any problems with it. I have even dropped it on the ground (accidentally) a few times and nothing has been damaged on the inside, or outside 7.) It's less bulky than a portable CD player.

There are a million great reasons to buy an MD player, of which the above are only a few. I dn't understand why more people don't own these.

2 PCS Wall Mount Shelf for Direct Tv Box, DVD Player, DVR, Cable Box, Blu-ray Player, X-Box

I like the shelves a lot. It's strong, made out of metal and glass. The only gripes are the screws for the wall is hard to mount. One of the shelves is welded uneven.

Thanks for the great product. Easy to assemble. Only took me about 30min to put together. Works great for the price .

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Panasonic RQ-L31 Portable Cassette Recorder with Slide Microphone

It's kind of inappropriate that so many people complain that recorders _intended_ for speech (e.g. lectures, interviews, notes, etc.) are bad for recording music. Kind of goes without saying. If you want to record music, if you want stereo sound, if require audio quality, then don't buy _any_ cassette recorder in this price range. (The bare minimum for these needs is possibly the Panasonic RQ-A220.)

There's also lots of confusion about the term "mini." The term mini is about the player size, not the tape's. This recorder, like all "mini" recorders, takes normal sized tapes. If you want the really small tapes then you want what they call "micro."

I purchased the RQ-31 to replace an older GE model I was using for notes and interviews. One thing stood out immediately the microphone was far more powerful. If you speak directly into the machine it will cause some distortion. This is good, actually, because it allows you to record people speaking without pushing the machine in their face. Combined with the voice activation feature this will allow you to easily record your thoughts and conversations without wasting tape. I thought this would be especially handy to record while driving just leave it in the passenger's seat and it will record only when you speak.

The most basic model on the market at this time is the Sony TCM-150 which is at least ten bucks less. Here's some of what you get by paying more: Voice activation, external microphone jack, extended record, and a tape counter. For most people these features are necessary which makes 150 model a poor choice. The Sony's TCM-200DV, however, offers all of that for about five bucks less than this Panasonic except it doesn't have the counter which I thought I needed. The next model up, the Panasonic RQ-L51, is identical to the L31 except it comes with an AC adapter and rechargeable batteries. I'm not so sure that the extra cost is worth it, but some might find the adapter necessary.

The recorder feels cheap for some reason. It's too light and there's too much plastic. (The Sony's TCM-200DV has the same weight.) Perhaps the manufacturers are putting all their effort into MP3 and digital recorders. In any case, use it for what it is. If you need an inexpensive recorder for interviews or lectures the Sony 220 or this Panasonic will likely do the job. If you require something a little more tough with better audio you'll definitely need to spend more or pick up an older machine from the days when they made these things to last.

I bought this recorder for school and due to its 3X recording, you can use a 90 minute tape for 270 minutes. For me, this means that I can use one tape each week for the classes I like to record. I recommend not using the Voice Activated Recording. It tends to make playback sound strange in the place where the tape stops itself and then restarts. If you use the 1X recording, you can listen to the tapes in your car or in any standard cassette recorder. Also, the tapes are cheaper than mini or micro cassette tapes.

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I bought the RQ-L31 from Circuit City(in their store)for a total of about $38.00; with no AC adapter or batteries. This recorder has a sensative microphone(built-in)that will pick up birds singing from a neighbors yard! The mic has two positions(up or normal); and it's difficult to tell the difference between the two settings on recordings. The voice activation record has two settings, one is for quiet, distant sounds, the other is for close-up sounds. I have used the RQ-L31 for voice and music recording. It's better at voice recording! It will record music, but a speaker that it not even "2"; just can't reproduce music that well. Also, volume output seems to be lower than most hand-held recorders; although it is totally clear, even turned all the way up. The design puts the speaker in the cassette door. Where you insert the tape(the door)is where the speaker is. I would have to say, that the recorder is not worth the $34.95 that it sells for. It does allow you to use an external mic, and it is shuts off at tape end very quietly. I have a GE mini cassette recorder that has much louder sound than the RQ-L31 by Panasonic. The GE only cost $19.99 at Walmart. It has voice activated recording too; but instead of normal or 3X normal recording length, the GE 3-5364A model has louder volume on playback, and variable speed playback control. If turned up past 75% volume, it gets distorted. The GE also tends to pick up the tape motor sound more. So, the Panasonic RQ-L31 is better at less tape noise recordings. RQ-L31 uses standard size cassette tapes, and has an LED battery level indicator(3 red lights). It is light weight and feature packed, but buy it with the understanding that it is primarily designed for voice/lecture recordings. Circuit City carries the RQ-L31 in their stores. Tape door is awkard to load tapes in, but you can get hang of it.

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Great recorder! The playback sound (voice) is amazingly good at 3x recording speed. It's much, much better than my Sony microcassette, even when the Sony is on the normal (best) recording speed. Like another reviewer mentioned, one drawback of 3x is you can't play it in your car deck (but who has those these days?!). But you can record 12 hours on one 120 minute tape at 3x speed! 6 hours a side. That can be good and bad; good for the capacity, bad to find specific spots, eg. the beginnings of things you tape. So, I think 60 or 90 min tapes might work better. I've also heard the longer the tape the greater likelihood of jamming... and, the tape quality itself is lower because the tape has to be manufactured thinner to fit the longer length/s in the cassette shell.

This player isn't much bigger than my Sony microcassette player. Side by side they look about the same size. At first I thought mine was defective; the tapes didn't seem to fit in properly. Load the tape in the door/lid and close it with a little more force than you think is needed (because it seems like it doesn't close properly and you might break it). Or you can seat the tape then close the lid... this method seems less 'harsh' or damaging to me.

I think this model offers the best value vs. the more expensive RQ-L51. The players themselves are identical feature, performance wise. The only difference is in accessories; the L51 includes an AC adapter and ni-cad batteries (which should not work as well or long as NMHs). Neither model includes a strap (unless I threw it away by mistake), which would have been nice; there is a place to put one on one of the corners.

Overall, I think this is a great little recorder for the money and recommend it. Note: having used this for 2 weeks at college, the 120 min tapes hold about 5 hours per side at 3x speed; not 6 hours as I mentioned above. Not sure why.

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I got my recorder about 3-4 months ago. So far, so good. I have used it for voice recording with good results. I also like the fact it has jacks for ac adapter, external microphone and earphones. It takes standard cassette tapes. To me that is a plus.

I purchased an AC adapter from Radio Shack to keep battery purchases down. I also had to buy an additional plug since it takes a very small plug and the adapter did not come with that size.

I do handle it with reasonable care. It is plastic, so take care of it and you will probably get good service.

I had purchased 2 of these recorders and for a while both were working great. One is still working fine as of July 2, 2010 and one cannot record reliably. The tape just twitches instead of moving. That unit is still capable of playing so far at either standard speed or 1/3x speed.

AVerMedia MCECINEMA Averlife Cinema Media Player

• Support Video: Max Resolution: HDMI output up to 720p,/RM/RMVB up to 1024x574/MPEG 1&2/AVI/DivX/XviD/DAT &
• Support Audio: MP3/OGG/WAV
• Support Photo: JPG/JPEG/BMP/PNG/TIFF/GIF
• Support Text File: Txt . MOV up to 720x576
• HDMI Output, up to 720p;Enjoy videos in various formats;
• Create a photo slideshow of family and friends directly on your TV
• Listen to your favorite songs by streaming audio files in different formats ;

Bottom Line: Good for pictures anywhere or video files on a small screen. (To be fair, for the price this isn't all that bad. I bought it for a bit less than "the price" on sale so I feel even better.)

The unit is small, about the size of a paperback book. I liked that it came with both a component cable (necessary because the player-side connection is non-standard) and an HDMI connector. The player display and menus have a polished look, unlike some low cost media players still available.

Image display is nice. There are a number of built in, nicely done, transitions, and you can configure it to use one all the time or select randomly.

Video display is where this thing falls apart. To test it I rendered the same short movie clip at three different MPEG-2 resolutions. VCD 480x480, PC 640x480, and HD 1920x1080. The VCD played fine but was fuzzy on my large screen. The PC version was sharper but noticeable slower. (The accompanying audio changed key... actually, several keys.) The HD version wouldn't play at all. (There was a pop-up message saying it was an unrecognized format.)

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The manual or description nowhere says that this player can play HD video files. It do has HDMI output, and can output a 720p picture, but it is only for player menu and image display. Video playback is purely SD (1024x576 is not a HD, it's just native 16:9 SD).

I've tried various video formats, here's the results:

DIVX AVI (DIVX3-4-5-6) All ok.

ISO MPEG2 (720x576) ok.

SVCD (544x576, 480x576) partially ok, while playback is smooth and in sync with audio, image gets distorted at regular intervals of time (approx once per 2 seconds).

RealMedia I had some old, QCIF resolution files, thrown them in, plays them OK. Have no idea, how it will handle larger resolution files.

Quicktime (.mov), both small resolution files, and higher resolution ones (640x480x30fps) were played nicely.

While this unit plays standalone .vob files finely, it does not supports DVD menu, navigation or chapters.

The only one drawback I've noticed is oversaturated colors at HDMI output (haven't tried other ones). I have to reduce saturation on my TV from 50 to 30, when using this player, to make colors look normal.

Another con in movies with AC3 audio, audio level is too low, and have to crank up it to max.

Another con #2 while this device recognises flash drives and hard drives easilly, it does not recognises external DVD-ROM.

Overall, this is nice product, and for $20 price tag, this will be the quite reasonable purchase.

UPDATE: Found a serious flaw with this device. Contacted avermedia support, but no answer for 2 weeks so far.

When playing .VOB files, which have audio track with LPCM audio in it (most musical videos and concert recordings have LPCM audio), video and audio playback speed increases, hissing and chopping sound is heard, and video and audio came out of sync.

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Pros: Small; NTFS for USB hard drives (meh); Remote; Wide range of outputs (will go from my HDTV to CRT in kids room to LCD in mini van).

Cons: No internal storage (meh); No exFAT (Biggie: no support for

New Cyber Acoustics AC-851B USB Stereo Headset Over-The-Head 180 Degree Microphone Ambidextrous

I originally picked this headset up due to the great reviewsit seemed to be the best one I could find for the price. I used this headset for a wellness company where I worked in customer service from home using it approximately 50-70 hours a week. I had a lot of issues with it picking up background noise or times when clients could not hear me very well. I also didn't find them to be very comfortable after hours of use as they seemed to be really compressing my ears with little padding. You are supposed to be able to use the microphone boom from either side of the headset but just after 6 months of use, the wiring in it wore out and it no longer works.

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Onkyo DV-SP506 1080p Upscaling Super Audio CD/DVD Audio/Video Player - Black

• Plays DVD Video, Super Audio CD, DVD Audio, Audio CD, CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL*1
• HDMI? Digital Interface (Version 1.2a)
• 5.1-Channel PCM Audio Output and Direct Stream Digital (DSD) via HDMI
• Simultaneous Output from All Video Connections
• Three Burr-Brown (PC1796) 192 kHz/24-Bit Audio DACs

I was on the fence with this player, I narrowed my choices down to this Onkyo and a Pioneer Elite DV-58AV and ended up going with the Onkyo since it was lower cost and new (I could only find refurbished DV-58AV's at the time for $100 more). I'm happy to say I was not disappointed with this player. It passes DSD bitstream over HDMI straight to my Onkyo Receiver (TX-SR706) and the sound is as good as my old Sony DVP-S9000ES for SACD's, passing DSD to a my receiver was key to this though as I found that using it's internal DAC's for SACD wasn't as good as Sony ES SACD player. DVD-Audio also sounds very good when using this unit's internal DAC's using the Analog 5.1 channel out, in this case it did sound better than having it pass over HDMI like the SACD's. I actually bought this to only play SACD's & DVD-Audio primarily, which it does very well (especially at this price) so I was pleasantly surprised when I played a DVD in it, the up-conversion is done very well, it even does a better job of up-converting than my BluRay player (Sony BDP-S500) with standard DVD's. If you're looking for a great up-converting DVD player you can't go wrong, If you want to use this as a SACD player I have to say I was impressed when sending the DSD steam to the receiver, as for DVD-Audio I really don't have another player to compare it to, it sound good, not as good as it does with SACD's but much better than the CD versions of the albums. To sum up, this is a great multi-format player for the price, I think the majority of listeners & movie goers would be impressed with the quality and performance.

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I purchased this player primarily to play SACD and DVD audio discs and I have been very pleased with it's performance thus far. It has a full feature set and a simple, yet intuitive menu. I have also had the opportunity to watch a handful of DVDs and have found its performance (sound, picture, scaling, etc.) to be on par with that of the more expensive offerings from Denon and others at a more pallatable price point. Some of these more expensive units offer a broader feature set and nicer remote, but honestly,I have no "real" complaints because as stated above, it's primary role in my ststem is for multichannel music playback. Since Blu-ray players have become the defacto standard for movies these days, there are many affordable options now if DVDs and blu-ray discs are your only media concerns. However, I definitely recommend this product for those looking for a player that supports multichannel music discs and you are not looking to break the bank in the process.

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I have previously owned the 502 and 504 models. Both lasted 5000 hours of use (this is at a cost of under five cents per hour) before they became tempermental. They had senior moments when I selected last memory location and they played some random start point instead. The 504 also got very picky about what It would and would not play. This is the "bad disk" and stopping for a few minutes then playing some material five or ten minutes further on.

Anyway, this is good value for the money which is why I have bought two more in the series. The 506 is new and so does not have senior moments or picky taste in what it plays.

It is VERY important to read the manual through several times and make notes in the margin before turning on the unit. If you are not using the unit in the default settings mode you could have degraded performance. In my case with only two stereo speakers I had to use the settings menu to turn off several of the audio features including surround sound, subwoofer, and center speaker.

As a quick test, I tried playing about six DVDs that the 504 either refused to play or gagged on in the new 506. All of them played flawlessly on the 506. I have no doubts that the 506 will meet the needs of ordinary people for watching their DVDs in a pleasant and nonirritating way.

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The player is super with all the HDMI connections. Excellent performance and resolution of non-HDMI DVDs as well.

RCA BRC3109 10-Inch Portable Blu-Ray DVD Player

• 10-inch widescreen LCD portable player for Blu-ray and DVD
• Built-in rechargeable battery - for use anywhere
• Outputs: HDMI 1080p and AV jacks; USB ports
• Ethernet for accessing BD 2.0 and BD Live
• AC adapter, car adapter, carrying bag with headrest attachments, and remote control included

First off: If you are only going to use this player as a portable device and never hook it up to an external TV, then it works pretty well.

My needs: I work for a company that is selling an audio device and we want a small Blu-ray player for demos. The RCA was purchased to use at customer sites so we didn't have to call ahead and check to see if they had a HDMI-capable display. For comparison, we have the Panasonic DMP-B500 which works very well, but it is twice the cost. We also have about a dozen different standard non-portable Blu-ray players we use.

Firmware used: 2.0.7428 (latest as of this review)

Issues:

Does not play BD-R discs. Some of our test material is on BD-R, so this is an issue. For a home user, if you ever want to play back HD home movies, this is not the player for you.

Huge lip-sync problem when using HDMI output. When playing back movies that have audio encoded in Dolby Digital or Dolby TrueHD over the HDMI output, there is a large delay between the video and audio. This one issue makes this product unusable for our needs. DTS Master Audio and LPCM content seem to be fine. Also, if you are just using the internal screen, it is fine. This is only an issue when you use the HDMI port. So, if you ever consider plugging this into a TV, you may want to reconsider.

Does not "bit-stream" HD audio over HDMI. Almost all Blu-ray players have a menu option to allow you to either stream the original high-resolution audio (like Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio) over HDMI, or have it down-converted into a simpler format (TrueHD --> Dolby Digital or Master Audio --> DTS). This player does not have that option and only sends the lower-grade down-converted audio over HDMI. So, if you have a sound system that is capable of these latest codecs, this player wont let you use them.

Conclusion:

If you just want to play Disney Blu-rays for the kids in the back seat, this gets it done. If you want to have a flexible solution that can be a portable player and work in the home theater, the only option is the twice-the-price Panasonic.

Other: Amazon seems to be showing the picture for the BRC3108, not the BRC3109.

Buy RCA BRC3109 10-Inch Portable Blu-Ray DVD Player Now

I have to say I was very worried about buying this item and regretting it. I was never able to find a demo model. I am happy to say I really like it. A LOT.

It has a fantastic picture. While I am sure that it is not a 1080P LCD screen it is far better than any portable I have ever owned. I have owned about half a dozen or more portable DVD players and this one is FAR superior in the picture catagory. It is stunning. I did some research before my purchase and was not able to get the specs for the LCD and that was my one worry. I am very glad that it was not an issue. And I am VERY piccky about picture quality. At 10" it is one of the largest screens in the portable catagory and it is great.

Sound wise we have an issue. There are no buzzing, humming, or beeping sounds out of this unit, but the volume is too low. I think some people will be upset with how low it is. It is very crisp when played through the speakers and is OK if there is nothing else going on in the background. I figured headphones would be better. And, they were. Barely. I will have to pick up some headphones that have a volume control on them. Don't get me wrong, with the headphones the sound is perfect but sometimes you want a little louder that what this unit can produce. It came out of the box and the volume was already maxed out. I thought maybe it was low and I was wrong. Not a deal breaker for me simply because headphones with volume controls can fix that.

I tested the unit with BD, DVD, and DVD-R and they all played great. BD takes a little long to load but not too bad. I am just too used to the PS3 loading immediately. I did notice that DVD does not look nearly as good as BD does. That is a great indication that the screen is far better than 480P. BD is extremely crisp.

If not for the low sound volume I would have given this unit a full 5 stars.

At this price this unit is well worth the purchase.

UPDATE: I am now on my 3rd unit. The first one stopped playing Blu-ray altogether after a few hours. It would still play DVD but not BD. I exchanged it for a new model.

The new one died within 2 hours. It stopped my movie at the very end and turned off and then back on. It became a cycle where it wouldn't stay on. It also made a loud noise like the motor was stuck. I exchanged it this morning for yet another unit.

I immediately noticed several things with the latest one. It was very quiet compared to the other 2. I don't mean volume either. The unit was very quiet and loaded my BD fast and with no strange noises. Second thing I noticed is that the volume was greatly imporoved over the last 2 . It was plenty load out of the speakers. I have no complaints about the sound now. We'll see if this one lasts. I will be purchasing the 3 year service plan from Target if this one lasts the next couple of days. I just think the Target I went to initially received a faulty batch. I still stand by my 4 star rating.

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This player has a nice LCD and looks great, you can tell you are watching blu ray in high definition, I usually don't use computer animation to test picture quality but can't help but to admire how "crisp" they look.

I have a few disc playing DTS-HDMA and it was able to decode or at least grab the downmix from it. I have tested the HDMI picture it works just fine, 1080P compatible. But I have not tested the HDMI audio whether it can pass the downmix or bitstream (I think not likely), there appears to be no options to toggle this. In most cases this is not an audiophile's player.

I noticed it seems to load BDs faster than my standalone BD player, which was Sony's 2009 model.

Although it may seem pointless, one of the reason I bought this player is because it comes with composite A/V cable output, which is important to send the picture to a car A/V system, or you go to a hotel with an older TV. It also comes with home and car adapter and a nice fitting carrying case/bag. You can convert the carrying case to strap behind a headrest in the car; I think it's a pretty crude setup, and there seem to be no room to plug in the side connectors with the unit sitting in the bag. A little flap that opens on the side of the case to make these connections would have been nice.

The built in speakers is a bit weak, as in not very loud, but still stronger than most laptop speakers by a margin, and it should work fine in a quiet environment. There are 2 headphone jacks which is a nice touch, be prepared to crank the volume control all the way up, the player plays full dynamite range so the dialogue is a bit soft and explosion is still loud, as intended. But I am concerned if the volume might be too soft on an airplane, but then again you are stuck on the plane with your own 10" screen and watching blu ray, I figure you are already ahead of most passengers. One might need to shop around for headphones with more sensitivity.

I have hooked up the headphone jack via a Y cable to stereo receiver, this is completely analog, the amount of hiss is acceptable unless you press your ears to the tweeter of your main speakers. I have experienced no buzzing. I have also used the A/V output in my car with good results.

A couple of things "cons" I noticed, the battery is not replacable, not officially anyway, but it is lithium so it should last nicely.

And it says do not charge using the car adapter. There is a charge/OFF/ON, so the car adapter can still power the player in ON position indefinitely.

In conclusion, this is a pretty nice product and surprisingly from a entry level brand like RCA. Still a hefty price tag for some. Most people who has not seen HD played on a small LCD like this will argue you cannot tell between DVD and BD, maybe if you walk 4 feet away, but I can definitely tell the difference. Target seems to have good customer service, but I won't be bringing it back unless something goes very wrong soon.

EDIT: Aug 18. I noticed the unit has problem playing the sound of a few Universal movie titles with DTS-HD-MA sound track (King Kong, Death Race, HellBoy 2), I would only get sound on the left side only on those movies. I went on the website () and found a new firmware which I put on a USB stick. This fixed the problem. The firmware was not there when I first bought the unit.

I put in the my latest blu-ray Avatar (2009), the jungle detail looks amazing, especially when the chopper first fly in to drop off the Avatars. I will have to try the included DVD to see the PQ differences. For equipment reference I have a 54" Panasonic Plasma for my "regular" viewing.

The only problem I have now with Quantum of Solace which have 4 vertical thin lines on the screen. The problem seem to only be with this title, I tried other Fox titles and doesn't have this problem.

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Had this product for 2 weeks and took it on a trip to Florida with me. During several movies the video would skip or stop completely, and this was when it was on the table in the hotel room and not in a bumpy car. Then after about 15 blu-ray viewings, the player would not read the blu-ray disk and would say "bad disk". Several disks were tried and many were brand new. Every time the player would read "bad disk". The dvd reader continued to work but the play would no longer play blu-rays. This item was returned and I will be purchasing another brand.

Just got done using for a plane trip. Worked fime for all the movies we took. Could use a vloume boost, but very good unit.

Marantz AV8003 Networking Preamplifier

• Brand New Cosmetics, derived from Reference.32bit DSP.
• XM HD Ready with discrete IR commands.HDMI (v1.3) Repeating: 4-In / 2-Out.
• Dolby TrueHD, DD Plus, Dolby Digital EX, Pro Logic IIx,
• dts-HD Master Audio, DTS 96/24, ES (Discrete 6.1/Matrix6.1)
• 192 kHz/24-bit D/A & A/D converters for all channels

Although presented as an audio/video controller, the AV8003 shines brightest on the audio side. The newest uncompressed codecs from DTS and Dolby are simply phenomenal when played through this unit. I'm using a Marantz DV9600 and an Oppo Digital BD-83 for my front end and they both sound awesome. I'm using an Anthem A5 connected to the AV8003 using balanced cables for amplification. Speakers are Paradigm Reference Studio 100 v2 L/R. Paradigm Servo 15 subwoofer. Paradigm Reference Center and surrounds.

If you are looking to use this unit to do video scaling, look elsewhere. Fortunately for me both the Oppo and Marantz players have excellent video and the Oppo has a plethora of video scaling options so that I just set the AV8003 on pass-thru. The AV8003 uses Anchor Bay's video scaler which is the same one used in DVDO products so its not a bad choice. Its just that the audio is what grabs attention.

Using the Audyssey MultEQ® setup is a breeze and the results are terrific. The Audyssey system creates multiple equalization curves that you can toggle through and select the one that pleases you most. Each channel can be manually calibrated and equalized if you like tweaking things. You can even display the curves on your TV which I found entertaining, especially comparing my settings to those of the Audyssey system. If equalizers leave you queasy, just choose source direct and bypass the tone controls completely. I personally believe that this is the way to go for stereo sources in particular. The DV9600 has some really good DACs so I play my CDs using the analog connections to the AV8003. I'm no expert on analog stages, but the 8003 trumps the SR19 by a small margin and to my ears, equals the sound quality of some expensive 2-channel only controllers I've listened to. Where images wavered from side to side with the SR19, the AV8003 locks each instrument and voice into place and holds them there. The depth and width of the sound stage equals that of the SR19 which also had the ability to make it seem as though the sound is coming from somewhere beyond your speakers.

I replaced my Marantz SR19 receiver with the AV8003 after spending many a night agonizing over the prospect of retiring the SR19. It was absolutely the best sounding receiver I've ever listened to. The opportunity to reduce the cable clutter behind my equipment rack was the straw that tipped the scales in favor of the AV8003.

My only gripe with the AV8003 is the remote controller. If I had been unable to find a suitable replacement for it, I would have sent the whole unit back. It is that bad! There is not enough space on this web site to describe the frustrations I experienced trying to program and use that thing! It is, by far, the worst remote I've ever used. Nothing about it is intuitive. Programming it to control your system is an exercise in futility. If you decide to purchase the AV8003, do yourself a big favor: Buy a Logitech Harmony remote control. I'm using the Harmony 890 and I love it.

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g8 two piece pre/power amp first I'm using onkyo 989 I want to upgrade the system for today hd formet first I chose denon avcai hd and select for the demo nice but the sonic performance is not so good my ears and mind still have question after denon I chose yamha z11nice sound but not what I'm looking for yamha don't have basic. For today recever auddsey setup also hd format not impress my ears .I'm bit confuse which system I chose then one of my friend confirm me about new marantz two piece system I search the dealer and fix the time for demo my first reaction after first look of av8003&mm8003 wow killing look and when we on the system with DTs 7.1master audio blue ray the performance and the sonic of the marantz twin system blown me the sound is so smooth just like some one put hot burning knife on the butter..after spending 2hrs in demo I decide to purchase the system .now I'm using marantz pre/power av8003 in my home theater with jamo d6thx

speakers & results you are in a heaven after this setup

my speakers have new life if ur are serious movie lover this system is right choice the sonic performance of the system is far far far far better then denon and any other receiver of this class really GR8....

one thing first propely auddsey mic setup and used best brand 1.3hdmi cable and use blue ray player who forward all hd formet in bit stream to marantz twin system u realy amazed and I'm sure you will spend most of time in your home theater

8GB Smoke Detector Hidden Spy Camera DVR with motion detection

• Motion Activated Auto Recording! (3 to 4 meter range)
• 720x480 resolution / 30 fps / 2 megapixel
• Records for 2 hours continuously
• 72 degree viewing angle
• Includes 8gb SD memory card

Well I got it, I charged it, I found a good place to mount it followed the instructions and set the camera on motion detection mode and when I went back and checked it the only video I had was the video of me putting it on the wall... After that nothing at all, I set it to continuously record and it did fine for about 2 hours and 30 minutes when the battery died it records sound forever and takes pictures ok. I have been playing with it for a while and still can't get the motion detection to work other than that everything else is great

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Wow, now this is one cheap piece of Chinese garbage. The detector is incredibly cheaply made and the instructions are a joke. After leaving the camera plugged in and charging for two days, it still will not turn on and the lights flash as though it is still charging. When unplugging the camera, it doesn't turn on at all.

My personal favorite was the packaging for the SD card that states "All in One Menory" and calls it Menory all over. It also has the following line at the bottom of the packaging saying "TF Special High-speed spread to steal".... no idea what the hell that even means lol. Apparently the manufacturer wrote the instructions and packaging in Engrish instead of English.

I've bought plenty of stuff from Amazon and Ebay, including some other cheap products from Asia; however, they all worked perfectly. This thing is by far the worst product I've bought.

If I could give this a 0-star rating, I'd still consider it overrated.

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What Jessie said, got mine yesterday, charged it up this morning and have spent 3 hours so far today trying to get it to work. The lights don't follow what the manual says and I've tried 4 times to get it to work on motion detect. When I remove the flash card and insert it into my computer, it's empty of any photo or video. About 10 minuts ago I turned it on and now the red and blue lights are still on, turning it off and trying again to get it to follow the instructions does not help.... Do not waste your money on this like I did.......

Day two, I have had it pluged in ( charging ) into my computer for the last 6 hours. Red Indicator light is still flashing which suggests it's still taking the charge... yesterday it took 4 hours to charge and the 3 hours I spent yesterday trying to get it to work ( it was off most of the time ) seems to have emptied the battery of all of it's charge. If I can get the thing to work I'll keep it otherwise I will request a replacement or a refund.

Day 3 will not / does not work, requested permission to return for refund.

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I have purchased "cheap" hidden (spy) cameras before, and the problem is the image quality is not very good, especially in low light. I decided to give this product a try based on the two mostly positive reviews of it. I will say that the image quality is not too bad, especially in good light. But other than that, I really can't say anything positive about this product. As a spy camera it is pretty much worthless. As a toy it is kind of fun to play with, at least until you get frustrated with it. The instructions that come with this say the continuous recording times is "over 12 hours", but on the Amazon website, and on the box the unit comes in it says "Records for 2 hours continuously" and "work time about 2 hours". The 2 hour time might be accurate for audio recordings, but I am having a hard time even verifying that. The problem I have is it seems the unit goes into some sort of sleep mode after a period of inactivity. So, if you set it to motion detect mode, it will detect motion and record video for a few minutes, then nothing. If you set it for video mode, the same thing happens. When you go back to the unit and press the button on the remote which is supposed to stop it and save the pics/videos, no lights come on or even flash, unless you press the power button. So it is like the device went to sleep and stopped recording. The picture thing works OK if you want to stand there and click the button on the remote to take pics, but that kind of defeats the spy camera aspect. Also, even in picture mode it seems to go to sleep, so when you come back you need to hit the power button on the remote to wake it up, and then you can take pics. I tried charging the battery, but even that doesn't work like the instructions say. The instructions say to hook the device to your computer with the USB cable, and the blue light will flash when it is charging. But when I connect it to the computer, the red light just keeps flashing. I guess it is charging, but I don't know. I will keep playing with it and see if I can make it work better, but I have played with it for a few days, and so far nothing seems to work as advertised in the instruction manual.

OK, so I have had time to play with this some more. I still don't have any positive comments to add about motion detection, pictures or video. However, I was able to do a good audio recording test and verified that it will record just over 13 hours of non-stop audio in an unattended mode, when the battery is fully charged. So if you are looking for something to record audio, this might be good for you, but I suspect you can find something smaller and cheaper that would do the same thing. I can't really vouch for the quality of the audio recording either, as I wasn't trying to verify the quality, and I just left it turned on somewhere where this isn't a lot of talking. Another thing I will add is not to waste your money buying a higher capacity memory card. The unit comes with a 8 GB SD card. I bought a 16 GB SD card thinking I could record more stuff. The 13+ hour audio recording only used 361 MB of space. And as previously mentioned, you can't record very much video because of other limitations of the device. So the 8 GTB SD card is more than enough.

I received the item and had a problem reading the directions (small writing) plus directions didnt say anything about how to open the door to battery compartment but I figured it out product worked as advertised love it will buy another

EnjoyGadgets 5-Port Remote HDMI Switch (Switcher Selector), 5 In 1 Out, Support 3D, Remote Control,

• Able to connect 5 HD sources to just 1 HDMI port on your HDTV/monitor
• Avoid frequent plugging or unplugging of HDMI cables which also wears out your precious HDMI connector
• Support FullHD 1920x1080p and 12-bit deep colour, retaining the crispy clear images
• Support audio: LPCM, DTS/DTS-HD, Dolby Digital/Dolby TrueHD
• Remote control

When my TV and cable box are connected via this device, the sound and/or picture cuts out every time I change the channel on my cable box from a standard definition channel to a HD channel. I only have to turn my cable box on and off again to get it to work, but it's very annoying.

I tried switching back to my old 3-way HDMI switch, the Portta PET0301S 3x1 HDMI Switcher Support 3D, and that worked fine, so it's definitely this 5-way switch that has a problem.

This switching function works fine for me, but like I said, even using just one input, I can't change from a 480p to a 1080i channel without losing sound and/or picture.

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I am giving this item 5 stars because of mostly the quick and efficient service so far. I truthfully have not been able to try out the switch because the wife " put my extra hdmi cable in a safe place " . Only wished item came with one.

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Works really nice and makes it very convenient to add more HDMI ports to your TV. You can just plug in additional devices at a convenient location without having to look at the back of the TV for the ports. My TV is wall mounted which makes it difficult to locate the HDMI ports, not anymore because of this gadget.

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Great little device. It comes with an IR extender so the wires can be completely hidden. No loss in picture quality. However, with my Panasonic GH2 camera, and my Panasonic 3D TV, it won't recognize the 3d files. Maybe something to do with Viera Link.

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Came as described.

Did not take that long coming all the way from China.

Did notice that there is a spot for a 5w power cord not supplied, however as described it is powered by the HDMI cables plugged into it. No external power cord needed. Love that. As for the remote mine works like a charm. I am sitting about 10 feet from the IR receiver included with the unit. I push the button and it changes source.

I highly recommend this product it fills the need of the short sighted manufacturers of today's TVs.

If yours did not work I am sorry you should return it for a replacement.

Amending my review.

Recently my audio has intermittently been cutting out. It is the same problem others have had.

I still like the switch and until it gets worse and I have to replace it.

I will continue using it, but buyers should know there is some defect in the product that may not present immediately.

Transcend 16GB MicroSDHC Class10 UHS-1 Memory Card with Adapter 45 MB/s (TS16GUSDU1E)

The Actual product being offered and shipped by Amazon is the same model number, but the manufacturer (Transcend Taiwan) specifications are actually different. This is probably why there are a few reviews with people saying the speed is not as fast as expected/advertised. I have attached some photos of the actual product received on (2) separate occasions that confirm the true spec is up to 45MB/s sequential read (20MB/s sequential write). If you compare the photos I supply and the ones on the Amazon web site, you will see the Amazon photo does not show the printed speed rating to the right side of the device packaging. Regardless, the speed is fast enough to handle any phone and/or tablet read task which often peak at 15MB/s or less.

I have also attached a quantified benchmark using CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 within Windows 7 on a high-end Dell Precision M6600 workstation. The results are within the specification guidelines so I have concluded the Transcend 32GB MicroSDHC is snappy and as advertised on the *packaging* even if it is not on the Amazon web site. Therefore, the product receives 5 stars from me and Amazon should correct their error. Lastly, as with all memory, 32GBits = 29GBytes once you do the real world conversion so do not concern your with any discrepancies there.

I bought this due to the Crystaldiskmark posted by Transcend. I've posted my own tests, and while the card is nice, it's not the fastest out there, and at least when I bought it, it was priced at a premium to cards like the Sandisk ultras.

It's totally functional and a lot quicker than most, but I wish it was faster for what I paid.

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Very good speed for its price, faster and cheaper than Sandisk Ultra 32GB U1.

Bought for video on Gopro Hero3

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Works fantastic with new gopro hero 3. No issues whatsoever like the san disk one. On par or better with the other known brands.

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First off, I'm not going to tell you I gauged the speed of the card because I didn't. What I can tell you is that it works fast and has a lot of memory. There's little delay between pictures and movies are easily recorded for considerable lengths of time. That's what I wanted from the card, so I'm happy.

Sony DVP-FX750 7-Inch Portable DVD Player, Black

• Portable DVD player with 7-inch screen and stylish black textured cover
• Supports multiple DVD and CD disc formats, plus JPEG photo slideshows and MP3 audio
• Share the entertainment with 2 headphone jacks (35mm) and an A/V output to a TV or external monitor
• Built-in rechargeable battery provides up to 3 hours of continuous viewing
• Includes car power adapter and AC adapter

I purchased my unit on sale at Target. I have seen these units on sale or online for about 40 percent off list price and Amazon usually has a similar discount but Amazon's prices "float" all the time so be sure to comparison shop and shop weekly or even daily on Amazon if you are price sensitive. While I purchased my sample of this review unit from a "bricks and mortar" retailer, in the past I have purchased other items from J&R, the seller currently listed for this unit, through the Amazon Marketplace program and they are a very reliable Amazon Marketplace seller. You can also log directly onto the J&R Music website, comparison shop, and use your Amazon account to place your order directly through J&R which is very convenient.

I am very happy with this 7" Sony. It has the "standard" resolution (which is to say, 1/2 DVD level) of most portable DVD players. Subjectively speaking, the image quality is about the same as pre-digital TV broadcasts which is more than enough for entertaining kids, the most common use of these players. The sound quality through the built-in speakers is also pretty decent, enough for kids watching DVD's at home in their room, and there are dual headphone outputs for better quality listening (or listening in a car without annoying parents).

If you want higher resolution, this is the only unit I know that offers true DVD resolution (800 x 480 pixels):

Sony DVP-FX950 9-Inch Portable DVD Player

It costs a lot more due to that higher resolution and the bigger screen, and it is not usually discounted as much, proportionately, as this smaller unit.

(I searched and found two different 9"/high rez models, the FX950 and the FX930 and I am not sure of the differences; I think I have the FX930; currently these are only offered by Amazon Marketplace sellers, but Amazon usually stocks them.)

This 7" unit has excellent "on machine" controls which should suffice if the remote is lost; the remote makes access to some buried adjustments (as noted by another reviewer) easier. The remote is as large as a TV remote, much larger than the small ones that come with most regular DVD players (that hook up to TV's) these days, and in fact much larger than the remote that comes with the 9" high rez edition.

Battery life is sufficient unless you are taking a long flight (not many portable DVD players go on flights anymore, what with netbooks and iPads and Touches). The player comes with both a home charger and car charger. I don't think the unit will charge and play at the same time, but it WILL play on external power, either on the home charger or the car charger, which is probably the most important issue.

Build quality is EXCELLENT. My wife picked up an RCA 7" portable player for only 10 dollars less than this one at Target around Thanksgiving and the build quality on the RCA is very disappointing in comparison, as are the controls.

Colors and brightness are EXCELLENT. More importantly, this Sony has good view angles. The RCA my wife bought has a peculiar view angle you have to tilt the screen slightly toward you to get optimal image contrast and brightness. The Sony has MUCH better viewing angles.

All in all this is one of those instances where paying a little more (perhaps) and buying a brand name (Sony) is well worth it. I highly recommend this Sony portable player.

Also, if you don't really need the higher resolution, there is no point in getting the 9" edition, since the difference in screen size doesn't add up to much at typical viewing distances. The 9" is much larger and heavier if you have to lug it around.

Finally, I really like the "resume" feature which lets you re-start DVD play where you left off after powering down, assuming you haven't changed discs in the meantime. It means not having to search for the spot where you left off.

A note on how I use mine: I have bunches and bunches of instructional DVD's I like to watch. I have been searching for an easy way to watch them, since I usually only watch 5 or 10 minutes at a time (it's the most I can absorb before brain freeze). Resetting the main home TV center from whatever device it has been running last (Roku? Apple TV? DVD?), and turning on the TV, player, amplifier, and pulling the last DVD left in the player (and finding where it goes) and putting my current one in, are steps that add up to more trouble than they are worth. Using this DVD player means I can turn it on with one switch and watch anywhere in the house...or in the car...or in a mall while the family is shopping. Turn it off, and it resumes on last chapter I watched. Very handy for golf players, tennis players, martial arts, or hauling to the patio or spare room for an aerobics or yoga session etc. These things aren't only for kids and Barney.

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This is a great portable dvd player. I bought this for my boyfriend so he didn't have to watch his dvds on his laptop in bed. The volume is loud! I can hear it in the other room, and I have had to ask him to turn it down a couple of times. It's lightweight and easy to carry. The picture quality is great as well. Overall, I am very impressed with this, and coming from Sony, I knew it would be a dependable brand. I ended up buying one for myself (except I got the white one).

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3 stars for quality of playback, remembering place on DVD when powered down elegantly.

However if you are using this for your kids the DVP-FX750 has several very serious design flaws, especially if you are using this in a vehicle:

1. The player will charge only if powered off (it will not play a DVD and charge at the same time).

The unit is frequently without power when out of the vehicle, unless we bring it inside to charge overnight. (our 12v accessory ports are not powered when the vehicle is off).

2. The (huge) remote has no on/off switch.

The only way to turn the unit on/off is using a switch on the side of the unit (can be hard to get to when mounted in a vehicle)

3. The hold button is directly adjacent to the POWER button. We frequently end up turning the player off when only trying to turn off/on the hold.

4. The hold button does not disable the eject button.

The hold button is useless for preventing kids from interrupting playing.

5. There is no easy way to adjust brightness

Our other players have a button to adjust brightness, for this player it's buried in the menu tree.

6. There is no easy way to adjust screen width

Our other players have a button to stretch 4:3 content, this player buries it in a menu tree.

7. The unit is very finicky about how the disks are loaded. Until we got used to this, we would often get the "could not load dvd" message because one side of the DVD was not properly pressed in to the spindle.

8. Battery life is short compared to our other player.

Most of the above problems would not be a big deal for an adult, however if you are getting this for your kids there are much better options available.

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I bought this to replace my old Phillips brand, which was starting to do funny things as it played--sound and visual out of sync, skipping, etc. The new Sony is excellent, it runs quieter (the old one always had a"hum" as it ran), and is easier to use. I highly recommend this product.

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I bought the older model 730 from Sears on close out and recently bought the 750. Only diffii battery life ( as per Sony) is the 750 is 3 hours and the 730 was 5 hours. Easy to use features for my 9 &10 yr olds who now avev their own DVD for trips...no more fighting over what movie the both will watch. Got a car seat hanging case so teye can watch with the DVD in full flat open position. Resolution is perfect for the size. Cheaper models like Coby and the others have big pixel res that's annoying, not this Sony. highly recommend this unit because it even includes a REMOTE!!

Nokia E7-00 Unlocked GSM Phone with Touchscreen, QWERTY Keyboard, Easy E-mail Setup, GPS Navigation

Update 27th May 2012

It has been a year plus of using this phone. I have been tempted to change to another phone but some things keep holding me back. Maybe I am just sentimental. Maybe it is regret that Nokia decided to prematurely abandon the platform, which is actually pretty good.

But mostly I just loved the fact that I can tether it to my laptop to access the internet without paying extra smartphone tethering plan / jailbreak / etc.. (for some reason, some telco considered this phone a dumbphone thus I can use the unlimited data plan for dumbphone. Which is cheaper. WIN!!)

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This is a good phone. But no gadget is perfect and I will go into the pros / cons. Hopefully this will help those who are on the fence to make up their mind.

(Really, the Symbian / Nokia users need not much convincing and are already very aware of the phone; while the android / iOS fans will probably just stick with what they are comfortable with).

First, I have been a Nokia / Symbian user for a long time. My wife has an iPhone; so I can appreciate both. Played a bit with android but did not spend too much time with it to give a fair opinion on it. On to the review:

What about the Hardware?

First, the hardware is very nice and is a major selling point. The OLED screen with 'Clear Black Display' really looks nice on the eye. If people are impressed with 'Retina Display' they should be equally impressed with E7 screen with the vivid color and unparalleled contrast. OLED also draws less power and have tricks with the sleeping screen (check Nokia Beta Labs Sleeping Screen app).

The form factor is another reason to consider E7. For those like me, who prefer a hardware keyboard... Let me say that the keyboard is one of the best. The slide mechanism is solid and impressive too.

The GPS function can easily replace a dedicated unit out there. Especially since you can sideload map from all over the world free using the OVI Suite.

USB on the Go, HDMI output, QuickOffice offer great flexibility in sharing / viewing / moving your files and media. The media / music player is an included standard feature as well.

Do I need to mention that the E7 cover all the international variants of GSM / HSDPA frequency band? This means you can access 3G pretty much all around the world where they are available. (Most other phones cover all the GSM frequency variants but not HSDPA.)

In a nutshell, the hardware is a solid five. Some may disagree on the camera though. Being a fixed focus with EDOF (Extended Depth of Field), you will not be able to take close up picture. This is a trade-off for the slimmer body. Still, the picture is usable (I suggest to change the color to vivid and use sharpest setting the camera processing seems to produce a very subdued picture). You may want to check Nokia N8 if camera is more important to you than a hardware keyboard.

What about the software?

Symbian^3 is a major step up from the earlier version. Still, to really enjoy it, one has to actually go into it and learn the intricacies. So yes, it is not as intuitive (simple) as iOS. But some may actually prefer the flexibility that comes with this. Here is a couple of tips (things I always do when I get a fresh Symbian phone):

Give accompanying OVI suite a try (try the beta version.. it's faster). I mostly use it as an easy way to tether my laptop (yes sir, big reason why I love unlocked Nokia phone) but some of the other features are nice too.

Update all the firmware / apps.

Reorganize the icons into folder structure that make sense to you. It is a hassle the first time but will make a difference as to how you use the phone. (Option > Organize)

Play around with the setting. (Seriously..)

If you really have to have iOS style interface, you can customize multiple shortcut widgets on your 3 home screens. Frankly, I never see the need to do this.

The search widget is quite useful... but do go to the setting to exclude items that you don't want it to index.

Here is a tip... touch and hold is like a mouse right click. It brings up context menu for many items in the phone.

What about the apps?

Sad to say, this is a major con when it comes to Symbian. If you come from Android / iOS, the first thing you will notice is actually the lack of it. This is especially a concern now since Nokia announcement to transition to Windows Mobile. It makes for less incentive for software developers to further develop apps for the platform.

That said, thus far, I am still seeing new apps every now and then. And Symbian is feature rich enough that you don't necessarily miss them. Still, here are a couple apps you should get if you do get the phone.

Opera Mini / Mobile : Trust me, this will make your browsing experience much, much better. Nuff said. (also, please tinker with the setting.)

Swype : You don't really need it for this phone because of the hardware keyboard. But if you are lazy to flip it open.

Gravity : Facebook / Twitter client

JoikuSpot : turn your phone into mobile WiFi HotSpot.

Nokia Internet Radio / Tunewiki : Good for listening to Shoutcast radio.

Try out any of the apps from Nokia Beta Labs / Check out Ovi Store...

If you are adventurous, scour the net for various app out there in the net too (I typically go to allaboutsymbian.com for tips, etc)

Frankly, there is not much essential apps to mention for now.. I do wish we have a kindle app for the phone (are you listening Amazon?). Maybe Evernote. And maybe more games too. Again, here is an area where I have to say that I envy my wife and her iPhone.

What about the performance?

So far, the phone is snappy enough. The only time it sometimes seems to freeze is when I am installing new apps (it will resume to normal if you leave it, I just feel apprehensive whenever that happens).

So there you have it. The phone does have potentials. Whether it will meet your needs or not is another. I am done tinkering with my phone for now to make it works the way I want and am quite happy with it.

First, I want to say, this is my first Symbian OS phone and it has it's issues. The UI is not as intuitive as an iPhone for example. There were several times I had to read the Help guide in order to figure out how to do some relatively easy things (like adding a non-predefined shortcut to an App onto the home screen). There are fewer apps available for Symbian and there's no SD memory slot. However, once you get used to navigating the Symbian OS's settings screens and get the 3 home screens setup the way you want, this phone cannot be beat. It is relatively quick, the switching between 3G and WiFi is flawless, the calls sound great, the video quality is the best I've ever seen on a phone (try uploading a digital copy of a blu-ray movie) and the keyboard is a joy to type on. Battery life is better than most and the 16 gig memory is sufficient. The Exchange integration is excellent and the OVI maps are awesome (The Trip Advisor integration is a nice touch too). It feels solid and looks great. After using various Android phones and an iPhone 4, I have to say this phone has them beat by far. Yes, there are some things that Android phones or iPhones do better, but overall, feature for feature, this phone is simply the best smartphone on the market at this time. If you want a phone just to play games on, buy an iPhone. If you want a phone that's more than a toy, buy the Nokia E7.

Buy Nokia E7-00 Unlocked GSM Phone with Touchscreen, QWERTY Keyboard, Easy E-mail Setup, GPS Navigation Now

Combined touch screen and full slide-out keyboard...Nokia has put elegance into this form factor

The slide-out keyboard is quite comfortable. I can also touch the screen to get the cursor where I want, no need to tap the scroll keys or reach for a mouse.

Push mail is now more convenient than ever (use multiple email accounts, choose Ovi Messaging, Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, Mail for Exchange, Lotus Note Traveller, IMAP or POP).

Maps works even when you are not connected to any network (just pre-load maps of the geographic areas you need).

Camera gives excellent quality 8MP pictures and HD video. The lack of auto focus simply means I can't take close-ups of documents or displays.

MS Office documents can be created and edited (.doc, .xls and .ppt) while waiting at airport terminals and on airplanes.

Now I don't need to carry my laptop around for meetings and presentations.

Just an HDMI cable to connect to LCD TVs or projectors.

E7 can connect to external HDD...I have not yet been able to get it to work with my HDDs, but that may be due to my HDD partitioning scheme and filesystems.

Nokia looks to be at a crossroads of the mobile mindshare.

If Nokia wants to improve the User Experience or UX...they should seriously take a look at the MOAP UX used on Japanese Symbian smartphones.

In 2007, a long time ago in mobile mindspace, these Japanese phones with MOAP UX wrapped around the Symbian OS, had rich media, DVB-TV and push email.

The Nokia E7 shows that Symbian can still beat any phone OS available today with features like:

Networking

Multitasking

Efficient CPU and Memory Usage

Longer Battery Life

Multiple form factors (touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, T9 keyboard, or any combination)

There's a lot of BS going on about Symbian being 10 yrs old technology.

Technically, most "modern" mobile operating systems are repackaged with graphical interfaces wrapped around "old" operating systems.

Very few companies can claim to come up with a "new technology" mobile phone operating system...a lot of the "innovation" is the user interface.

Under the hood, Symbian is a solid tried and tested truly mobile phone OS kernel.

If Symbian is 10 yrs old then...

Android is even older (with the 20 yr old Linux kernel)

Apple iPhone iOS is 25 yrs old (iOS contains the Unix Mach/BSD kernel)

WP7 is 15 yrs old (WP7 contains the Windows CE kernel)

Besides putting in great graphics, animations and eye candy for the GUI...Nokia certainly need to take better care with doing a "task analysis" of the user interaction on each phone model (since Nokia have an abundance of phone models that are most likely designed, built and shipped by different groups within the company).

This should help bring about consistency with the key press and screen taps for

....different operations for related user actions

....steps to perform similar types of operations.

Read Best Reviews of Nokia E7-00 Unlocked GSM Phone with Touchscreen, QWERTY Keyboard, Easy E-mail Setup, GPS Navigation Here

This phone is a best looking phone on the market right now. I was so excited to get the phone and I set it up similarly to my N8, which I decided to keep as a backup. The hardware on this phone is exceptional better than any phone I've had before and it puts the iPhone to shame in terms of its looks, beautiful flip up screen and amazing keyboard which is so easy to use, but the O/S on this phone is not nearly as smooth or user friendly as it should be.

Basically the problem is that they have modified Symbian^3 from the Nokia N8 for this phone and whoever has done it has made a real mess of it. Once you have a decent number of apps on the phone ( incidentally much less than I put on my N900) the phone constantly lags, and even after a hard reboot, unless you turn off the online widgets freezes and needs rebooting all the time on average I am rebooting it 6 times per day with the widgets on. After hours on the phone with Nokia support they really can't offer any solid suggestions.

Until Nokia gets their act together on their O/S I would say that this phone will only serve a niche market and that really is a shame because it feels wonderful in the hand and has a marvellous display, but without a decent O/S it basically doesn't completely do what it's supposed to do!

Note: I have revised this review as I realized that the problems I was having relate to using the online widgets in a non-3.5/4G environment I will still keep this phone for the moment but will likely upgrade to the new Meego Nokia N9 phone when it appears.

Want Nokia E7-00 Unlocked GSM Phone with Touchscreen, QWERTY Keyboard, Easy E-mail Setup, GPS Navigation Discount?

I'm writing this review from the perspective of someone who's had a Nokia epiphany with the E71 (some time ago) and a somewhat muted (at least, at first) yet ever-growing blast with the E72.

Essentially, the jump from a non-touch ~2" screen to a truly gorgeous 4" AMOLED touch screen (and the wonderful freedom it allows for Symbian to finally let loose) is just short of life-changing, and thus, if you're making the leap into the touch screen arena for the first time, you can expect to be just as -if not more -blown away as I am now. For those of you who've been playing with touch screens for ages now, even I can admit (and, so far, a good number of iPhone and various Android users, too) that this screen's size and brilliance is definitely at or near the top.

One more thing before I cover a few, select details: I had heard that Nokia's earlier ventures into the touch screen market didn't quite measure up to the fast, responsive, and flowy moves of iOS (e.g. N97, X6). This was a major worry, because I just couldn't imagine anything worse than being stuck with a physical button-less screen that jolted and froze as I poked around the Symbian interface. However, due to the difficulty in finding independent retailers that had any of the newest models of touch screen Nokias available for demos, I took a very cautious step out, bought the E7, and was most pleasantly surprised! It's a breeze, and even after the wonder of the screen's beauty wares off, the sensitivity, responsiveness, and class (yes, it's classy) will continue to make you ponder how Nokia's E7 could possibly still even have one of the best mobile keyboards ever built!! It's overwhelming...

Now, time to be short and sweet and name just a few ups and downs:

The fact that Nokia managed to squeeze the keyboard and screen into a mobile device whose hardware (as usual) is impeccable and truly some of the best Nokia's ever put together (which is saying something, trust me), and whose form factor is as fresh, slim, and eye-catching as a concept phone that's come out 6 months too early, is just unheard of in today's somewhat mundane mobile marketplace. And plus, the whole brick-like "communicator" style seemed to be out, but now Nokia has given it more than enough new and improved life to make the E7 also an incredibly unique piece. Tired of having to come up with new tricks and apps (what is that one.. Swype?) to type on a virtual, touch keyboard...and dealing with an unfortunately steep learning curve (which many times doesn't have a top)? Well, why don't I just pop up my screen to this curiously comfortable 30 degree angle and type on a real keyboard! How refreshing...

As always, phone's tend to seem they could use a bit more power. And, like any phone, I wouldn't complain if there was just a little more kick here as well. It's fast, but you'll notice just the tiniest inkling of lag when you're installing new programs (and, ofcourse, new software updates and whatnot, as mentioned by another reviewer here). I have to admit -being used to Symbian -I have become patient and understanding when my phones have seemed to freeze for a second or two when introducing new software to them, but it's not the end of the world.

Now that Nokia's officially jumping ship (or "platform"....) to Microsoft's mobile OS, one would (reasonably) assume that Symbian's essentially dead in the water. This idea went through my head for a second, but I've put it behind me. First of all, I think Nokia's done a really good job with Symbian^3, and considering that I've only come onboard a few months after the E7's release, there've been a good handful of serious software updates, and I have had nearly zero problems at all with the OS thus far (with only a minor problem installing some updates to Ovi maps and the Symbian search: they'd download, but would continue to fail in installation...but nothing a restart of the phone couldn't fix ... which tends to be an easy and simple fix for most things when it comes to Symbian). Therefore, I have a good feeling that this switch to Microsoft's WP7 will not be much of a problem at all (considering the following Nokia has in the Symbian world), at least, not as much as what it will probably bring to the OviStore (which is also debatable). **UPDATE: Symbian "Anna" will be available for the E7, sometime soon (as of April '11)**

Also about Symbian: for those of you who know the OS, I think Symbian^3 on the E7 will be a lot of fun; although I'm definitely used to the ins and outs (however, I'm surely not a pro), I still had to do a little internet research for the usual hidden tips and tricks, and some basic how-to. Those who know Symbian will know what I'm talking about. Symbian isn't about dumbing things down so that everything is as clear as day (and simultaneously taking the customization and uniqueness to the chopping block). There is no one place for all your phone's preferences, for instance. So if you can't find how to change something, don't give up. It's part of the fun and once you figure it out, it'll slowly all make sense, and a wonderful map of a world known as Symbian^3 will slowly form into a coherent, simple, straight-forward and truly logical OS.

I'm still discovering plenty on the E7, and I'm still doing double takes at it's distinctive elegance, refinement, and true artistry, as it sits on my table with it's slightly tilted, thin, brilliant face looking up at me over a streamlined keyboard and award-worthy body. If you have yet to jump into the world of Nokia, this is the top of the top and one hell of a place to dive in. For those of you who have anything at the level of an E72 and below (essentially anything but the N8, C7, and, perhaps, the C6), this is definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

I'll be back with some pointers!

Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder

I purchased this unit because Nuance, the publishers of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 gave it higher marks than the Olympus DS-2 I already own. My review of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 appears elsewhwere. Suffice it to say that the software is superb with nearly 100% accurate voice recognition. My dream has been to be able transcribe dictation from a recorder to a finished document.

The Olympus DS-2 is an excellent recorder at a very reasonable price. It's performance with Dragon Naturally Speaking 8, the previous version, left a lot to be desired. With the new version 9, performance is better, but still far from perfect.

Thus I was brought to decide on testing the Sony ICD-MX20, a unit that costs more than twice as much as the Olympus DS-2. My primary interest in the unit is in being able to dictate and then transcribe automatically. I will not be using it to record lectures and meetings or the like, although I did a couple of experiments to see how the unit would work in such environments.

The ICD-MX20 is shorter and slimmer than the DS-2, but slightly heavier. The finish of the ICD-MX20 is very slick; slick in the sense of being smooth and slippery. I am seriously concerned with my ability to hold the unit securely. The surface is so slick that it may be difficult.

The ICD-MX20 controls are well laid out. The mini-joystick works surprisingly well after a few minutes of practice. Swirtching between functions, such as setting the microphone sensitivity, is cumbersome howevr. All of the switches on the sides can be manipulated with one hand and a flip of the unit is required to maneuver the Hold switch on the back. The LCD display is clear and doesn't present too much information at one time.

The unit uses 2 AA batteries and my first impression is that battery life is poor. Sony says " 8 hours" at highest quality recording and it appears they mean simply 8 hours if the unit is powered on. That's not a lot: better use that Hold switch.

Finally to sound quality, the one thing that motivated me to buy such an expensive unit. It's superb. The MX-20 microphones can be set to mono or stereo. I used only the mono mode since my primary interest is dictation. The microphones are very sensitive. Hold the mic too close to your mouth and even a low voice will result in pops. But once you load your voice file onto the computer, Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 --without training --does a credible job of accurate transcription. The sound quality is excellent, clearly superior to that of the Olympus DS-2.

Using a headset, as recommended by Dragon, the sound quality is absolutely outstanding. This unit could be used in professional settings for reporting or creating podcasts. Put on a headset while you're driving (being aware of local laws, of course) and you can transform drive time into dictation time --and simply transcribe the files automatically in Dragon. Very cool.

As a conference recorder, the ICD-MX20 shows promise. I used it to record the audio of a television talk show as I walked further and further away from the set. The Voice Up function of the unit, which amplifies distant voices, really works.

The Sony documentation accompanying the unit is poor. The English translation is awful, showing all the earmarks of being translated from Japanese by someone who doesn't speak English well. All the information you will need is there, but it is a struggle to wrestle the meaning from the mangled syntax, grammar and occasionally strange use of language. Sony also persists in printing the documentation as a single broadside sheet which is very difficult to handle. The documentation for the included utility software is worse. It is very sparse in terms of detail, but fortunately the user interface of the software is very intuitive.

Overall, the ICD-MX20 is impressive. Sound quality absolutely deserves a 5. Design and construction overall merit a 4, the toggle and its functions being a bit too cumbersome. But the slick and smooth texture of the unit which makes handling a bit anxiety-provoking brings my overall rating down to a 3. Documentation is a 2. In all, I'd give the unit a 4. But for its prime purpose in my case, of recording audio that Dragon Naturall y Speaking 9 can automatically transcribe, my rating is a solid 5.

Jerry

In short.-

Things I don't like:

-Proprietary codec. Not universal format (like say mp3)

-Not (standard) UMS

-No Macintosh version of the companion software (but Virtual-PC OK)

-The included pouch is awful

BUT. . . I do like:

-Unlimited recording size. The recorder uses a built in 32 MB FLASH as well as removable MEMORY STICKS(up to 1 GB). The stick format however is PRO-DUO.

-Excellent recording quality, comparable to the one found in $500 to $1000 recorders.

-The built in speaker sounds well, and (with Voice Up activated) distortionless and very loud.

-Three high quality microphones

-USB connectivity.

-Stereo Long Playing mode

-Excellent software (and WMP plug-in available) can convert Sony formats to wav (but the mix of compression and conversion can result in unpredictable quality files). Conversely, the recorder plays mp3 and wav (by first converting automatically to Sony format via software).

-Line-in (Mic), and stereo out (Ear) separate jacks (2)

-Voice Up feature is amazing.

-3 Volts AC/DC adapter input jack (adapter not included) .

BOTTOM LINE: I got one and use it successfully for very important live recordings. By far the best in this area.

However for direct encoding high quality music, I use my iAudio i5 (2 GB). DITTO.

If the price is not an issue and you need PRO quality recordings . . . buy it.

Buy Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder Now

This device is lightweight and sensitive.

I bought it for recording memos to myself while driving, and for recording meetings & lectures. Amazing recording quality from such a small device even when in my pocket.

It does take a little reading and tinkering to get used to the various recording modes trade off highest quality stereo for longer record times, and for choosing the additional memory chips (optional) instead of the onboard memory.

While this does record in a proprietary format, the management software is easy to configure and can automatically save every audio file to your PC in a universal format like wav or mp3.

The management software can do a lot more, like changing sampling rates and merging or separating files. The software does more than I expected and more than I have use for (so far.)

It also comes with plug-ins (also available at Sony website) so you can play the proprietary format audio files using Windows Media Player. I'm not a fan of the proprietary format, but it is a huge space saver over other formats.

I have even taken to using it as an mp3 player since I usually have it with me.

Others complained about no voice-recognition software. There are 2 different models of this device; only one ships with the software. The model with software costs more but less than if you bought the software separately. I bought, but have not tried the Naturally Speaking setup.

Someone else said the pouch was no good okay, it's only minimally useful to prevent the recorder getting scratched. I've adopted a good cellphone belt carrier. I carry extra batteries and any additional memory I might want in there, too. I don't think the pouch has anything to do with the function of the device but yeah, it is pretty useless.

so my pros:

lightweight

expandable

excellent recording quality

auto-save feature whenever I plug into my PC

cons: I have 3 issues that would otherwise make this a 5 star + device. (Batterylife, proprietary memory, tiny interface)

this thing eats batteries, and like a Palm it never really shuts all the way off.

(get the AC adapter and a good set of high MAh rechargeable AAA batteries.) I have gone through top-of-the-line alkaline and super lines in 3 hours of recording and 5 days on stand-by. Rechargeables are used up in less time. Rechargeables with less than 850 MAh aren't strong enough the device just says "change batteries" even when fresh.

requires proprietary SONY or compatible memory sticks for expansion. Make sure you get the exact "memory stick pro" or "pro duo" sticks, or something compatible. ( Only up to 2GB the 4GB is not on the compatibility list.)

also, the tiny interface is a necessary compromise. The device is very small, so the menus and choices aren't always intuitive. It's not hard, after you spend some time reading and tinkering but don't expect to use it as soon as you unbox it.

( I don't consider the pouch a con it is too insignificant in the overall price and use.)

I definitely recommend buying this if you want easy digital recording and archiving.

Read Best Reviews of Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder Here

Having used voice recorders daily for 20 years, I always find Olympus brands to be more sturdy, ergonomic, reliable and have better warranty policies and service. The reason to buy this Sony was better voice recognition with Dragon Naturally Speaking and ease of transfer files to computer.

Controls in this unit are not very intuitively placed although not so bad that they are difficult to use. Accidentally pressing the record button is very easy and so is inadvertently deleting all files, instead of one file, in a folder on the recorder. After making that mistake once, now I do all deletions on the computer because there is no way to recover a deleted file from the recorder. Editing a file, say inserting or deleting something, on Sony recorders is very cumbersome, if not impossible.

Voice recognition is good and that is really the only bright spot about this recorder. Manual is so awful that it is almost unusable. There is no software for Mac and the software for Windows is very slow, buggy and freezes a lot. Then, of course, Sony uses their proprietary memory Stick instead of more prevalent SD card.

My previous Sony Digital voice recorder (MS515) lasted less than a year the microphone stopped working. Sony won't send a replacement unit within the warranty period unless I produced the original receipt; otherwise they wanted $166 for a refurbished unit to replace $239 original recorder!

Contrast this with Olympus. I sent them an out of warranty micro-cassette recorder ($300) for repair whose micro-cassettes were getting tangled. And for $80, they replaced it with a brand new unit! I was flabbergasted and my next 2 digital recorders were Olympus which were very sturdy. The only problem with them, compared to Sony, was the requirement of their proprietary software to transfer files to computer.

My experience with Sony VAIO Laptop was somewhat similar. In my experience Sony electronic items are not very reliable and durable and using their warranty is a big hassle. As a general policy, I do not buy Sony products unless there is an overwhelming reason, which for this recorder, was 6 stars voice recognition rating by Dragon. You may want to look at the Nuance web site for updated voice recognition ratings of different recorders with Dragon Naturally Speaking. But Sony recorders shine when it comes to voice recognition. Next come the Phillips and Olympus recorders.

Want Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder Discount?

The Sony ICD-MX20 is an amazing little stereo recorder. It is well worth the money if you understand recording devises and can handle more complex type devices. The sound quality is very good, 60 to 17,500 Hz.

FILE STRUCTURE: The proprietary file compression process Sony has is nothing short of fantastic. It is hard to understand how they can squeeze so much into such a small file size. The Sony files can be converted into Wav files with very little effort. Yes, you need a secondary program to convert into mp3 files, but anyone serious about high quality recorders would already have this low cost software.

NAMING FOLDERS: I have read other reviews saying you can not name the folders. This is true if you try from the recorder; however, it is very easy to name them, using the Sony software that comes with the unit. They display on the recorder with the same name.

BATTERIES: As far as eating batteries, if you make use of the "Hold" switch on the back of the recorder, batteries will last a fair amount of time. You can also turn off the record LED, and the display back lighting if you wish, to conserve battery life. I consistently get at least 11 and sometimes up to 12.5 hours of recorded time per set of standard alkaline AAA batteries. If you plan not to use the recorder for an extended amount of time, remove the batteries.

MEMORY: You do NOT have to use Sony proprietary memory sticks. I have two of SanDisk 256 MB memory stick PRO Duo that work fine in this recorder. One of these 256 MB memory sticks is good for more then 11 hours of record time at the highest quality sound.

SUMMERY: If you think you might want to buy this recorder I can understand how some people would be disappointed, if they just picked it up and tried to use it. I believe that reading the manual on this recorder is a must. It has a large number of options on how it records. If you pick the wrong options, you are almost guaranteed to have poor results. If you read through the manual and set things for the type of recording you really want, this little machine will do a fantastic job. It will deliver near CD quality sound, with no recorder motor noise, no microphone background hiss, or pops, just clear clean sound.