Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder
by Sony
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Our Price: $369.87 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $149.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder
Customer Review: Sony Digital Recorder
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great product, it takes some work to figure out all the features, it's pretty pricey, we are testing it with Dragon Naturally Speaking-Medical.Customer Review: Editor
Summary: 4 Stars
I would like to share my view for this product between [1 - 10 it is a 7]Customer Review: Good for Voice Recognition; Ergonomics Need Improvement
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Excellent Sound, Awful Software
Summary: 3 Stars
I have had this recorder for four years now. I have had the opportunity to use it frequently lately due to my interview-based research. Based on my experience:
PROS
* Sleek design
* Lightweight
* EXCELLENT sound recording
* Good display screen
* Great memory capacity
* Easy navigation
CONS
* AWFUL, I repeat, AWFUL battery life - I keep the hold button on when not in use, yet a set of two new AAA batteries are completely drained after less than eight hours (so, about three interviews).
* Proprietary file format
* Conversion to WAV file is only possible if the converted file is less than 2GB - no option for compressed file. You have to split the original file in several portions so that it does not exceed this size.
* Dragon Naturally Speaking Software package would be great if it wasn't outdated after a year and the slightly older versions become incompatible with new operating systems. I have this issue. Nuance, the makers of the software, suggest purchasing a new version (or "update" package)... which would cost more than the price of the recorder.
Hope this helps!
Customer Review: Won't Sync with Naturally Speaking if You Have Vista
Summary: 3 Stars
The recorder itself is excellent. Just be aware, though, that a compatibility problem with Vista will prevent you from training a user profile for the recorder in Naturally Speaking 10:
[...]
There is a work-around for now. Hopefully, the problem will be resolved fully before long -- maybe just in time for a new round of problems under Windows 7. :)