Sony ICD-PX470 4GB Digital Voice Recorder -Black

First off I want to say that this is my fourth or fifth Dictaphone Over the years. The first two I owned were decades ago and used micro-cassettes for recording and were bulky, inefficient and with limited playback life of recordings. Then these digital ones came and suddenly voice recordings became better quality, easily searchable and lasted forever. I really use these hard and are indispensable for my work. So when it was time for a new one, I did a lot of research before settling on this model. And its simply worth the initial extra expense. The one thing I have learned from years of use is that when it comes to Dictaphones, the disposable battery models are far far better than rechargeable ones. Because no matter how good the internal battery is, after a year or so of hard use, even the best battery life is reduced to less than half. And models like this where you just buy normal AAA cells from the market can easily last a decade or more if you use it normally. Besides, the alkaline batteries last several times longer than any rechargeable ones anyway. Disposable battery models are the way to go. And now to this particular model. Why did I choose it? First thing was the ease of connecting it just like a normal USB drive. My earlier one needed a cable and specialized Sony software to transfer files. This one just plugs in directly and reads off all the files in normal MP3 format. The audio quality is pure Sony. If there is one thing Sony knows, its audio. I've been using their audio products since the original Walkman days and they have gotten only better. The sound is crystal clear on both PCM and 192+kbps MP3 formats. The specially designed low cut filter really works and common Indian noises like overhead fans and distant traffic are cleaned out by the filter. Even though the included 4Gb internal memory is more than enough for almost every use (60 hours recording time at 128 kbps), I purchased a Samsung 32GB SDCard and it works perfectly. With this SDCard recording at 128 kbps I get almost 500 hours of recording time. All in all, this is a great product and if you are in the market for a dicatphone like device, this is the one I'd recommend most heartily.

Good and useful stuff

Using it to record my own voice while reading books. Gives me focus on content and listen later. Very good product and has lot of settings for various conditions. For simple voice , mp3 40kb is sufficient for smaller file size. Using it daily and works as expected. Some time will take to adjust to recording output. We have to do some test recordings and stick to one that suits us. One downside is there is no backlight which is a kind of struggle during night time, need to adjust direction to see the screen under a tubelight. But you will adjust to it soon. Some might find AAA battery to be inconvenient, but I feel it is better to replace battery when ever possible. Good product and if we carefully use will last for long.

good product

Very convenient and recorded as mp3 file. Has good battery life and displays available charge. Use it to record music lessons, spiritual discourses on tv and can record silently as it has line in facility with a 3.5 mm socket from any device

Product is not up to the mark it could not fulfill my Requirements

Wonderful recorder. Sound capture is good and listening to whats recorded is wonderful. Two AAA batteries are provided with the package. The inbuilt USB makes data transfer an easy job. Only issue is I didn't receive a protective casing which was mentioned in the product description. Also the packaging was damaged when I received. The recorder per se is easy to use, sleek and perfect to carry around enabling recording of ideas as and when it pops in our mind. The operating instructions sheet makes it easy to understand the functions. Overall a perfect product in the price range. I wish the protective casing was delivered with the product. That remains a dissapointment. I have reduced one star for that.

Very useful for those who want to record a crystal clear sounds of any thing. A must buy product from sony.

very nice unit

Großartiges Produkt von Sony! Liebe das Design und Einfachheit! Funktioniert super! Ein großer Fan von den internen Speicher, das ist ein Plus!

فاق توقعاتي ممتاز

Fácil de manusear e qualidade é excelente! Vi muita gente dizendo que a desvantagem desse gravador era fazer gravações de, no máximo 44,1MHz, não alcançando os 48MHz. Sinceramente: zero problemas! Arquivos 44,1MHz tendem a dessincronizar com gravações de vídeos a 48MHz, mas não foi o caso! Produto que vale super a pena pela qualidade, além de ter um ótimo custo benefício!

Although this is a memo taker it actually reaches into other areas by virtue of it's stereo capability and CD resolution recording setting. It can be used for recording music and has some useful settings to accomplish this. It's not quite up to studio quality and the built in microphones are a basic but decent quality, I have been using it with a Roland CS-10EM binaural headset to record my audio experiences when I'm out and about and the results are uncannily good! The headset works perfectly with the Sony recorder (as will any external microphone requiring plug-in power) and the recording quality is excellent, clean and low noise. Plenty of dynamic range available for most situations. For use out and about it is extremely convenient as it its about half the size of an old (non smart) mobile phone and the batteries last for more than enough time for a days roaming around. It transfers to PC easily enough with the built in USB connector. However, this arrangement does seem a bit vulnerable to being knocked out of place and I worry it might break! I think I would have preferred a socket and cable arrangement. It can take Micro SD cards but will store more than 5 hours of high quality WAV recording using the on board 4Gb memory so this device comes pre-loaded with a usable amount of memory. It does also record in MP3 format in which case you can store over 39 hours at 192kbps. The only possible negative is the display which has tiny text and can be difficult to read at times. But once you've got it set up the controls are easy so shouldn't present a problem. Altogether a very neat, high quality device.