Livescribe 2 GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack (APA-00009)

by Livescribe

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 2.5 x 5.1 inches ; 8.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0050AFFWI
• Item model number: APA-00009
• Batteries: Lithium Metal batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #5 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Accessories > Keyboards, Mice & Input Devices > Digital Pens
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 23, 2011

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Take the stress out of tests and meetings with an Echo™ smartpen from Livescribe. Record everything you hear, say and write, while linking your audio recordings to your notes. Quickly replay audio from your Livescribe paper, a computer, or a mobile device – all with a simple tap on your handwritten notes. It's never been easier to take notes and stay organized.

For a limited time only, anyone that purchases and registers a Livescribe smartpen will receive a free one-year subscription to Evernote® Premium! Get access to more online storage to easily organize and play back all your Livescribe pencasts on the go.

*Redemption code delivered upon smartpen registration. Offer valid through 4/30/2012.

A pencast is a digital version of your notes
and audio. Pencasts allow you to hear and see your notes exactly as they were captured.

It's never been easier to share notes and audio.

Record and Play Back

Smartpens record everything you write and hear so you’ll never miss a word. Replay your meetings or lectures simply by tapping on your notes¹.

Save, Search and Organize

Livescribe™ Desktop saves your notes and recordings to your computer for fast, easy access to what’s important. Search for words within your notes and find what you need fast.

Send and Share with Livescribe Connect

Easily send notes and audio to people and destinations such as Email², Google Docs™², Facebook, Evernote®, Microsoft® OneNote, Google Sites™², MyLivescribe, your mobile device or your computer³ — all from your paper or Livescribe Desktop!

2GB of Memory: Room for Recordings and Notes

When digitizing your notes and audio you'll need storage space; with 2GB of memory, your smartpen has it. A 2GB smartpen can hold over 200 hours of audio* or 32,000 pages of notes.

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Included Smartpen Applications

Your Echo smartpen comes loaded with applications ready to work right out of the box:

• Livescribe Connect Basic: Easily send and share notes and audio to Evernote®, Facebook, Microsoft® OneNote, MyLivescribe, your mobile device or your computer
• Quick Record: record audio without using dot paper with just a press of a button
• Quick Calc: Write an addition, subtraction, multiplication or division problem on dot paper and get the answer on your smartpen screen
• Launch Line: launch your favorite app by writing it's name
• Password: protect your recorded paper replay sessions with a 4-digit number
• System Utilities: multiple language support, time, date, storage info, and battery charge

Livescribe Dot Paper

Livescribe dot paper uses regular paper printed with a unique pattern of tiny microdots. This tiny pattern works a lot like a GPS system for your smartpen. It allows a smartpen to capture everything it writes or draws on dot paper.

Livescribe smartpens only work with Livescribe Dot Paper, so we've created a variety of dot paper sizes and types: College-ruled Notebooks, Lined Journals, Blank Journals, Mini Journals, A5-sized Notebooks, Grid Notebooks, Flip Notepads, and Sticky Notes. You can even print your own dot paper for free from within Livescribe Desktop on many printers.

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What You Get in the Box

• Echo smartpen with 2GB of memory and included applications
• Livescribe Connect Basic: Facebook, Evernote, MyLivescribe, your mobile device, and your computer
  – an upgrade pack for Email and Google Docs is available separately
• Livescribe Desktop software for Mac or Windows (download)
• 500 MB of personal online storage
• Starter dot paper
• Micro USB Cable
• Interactive Getting Started Guide
• Smartpen Tips and Tricks
• 1 Smartpen cap

What You Need: System Requirements

• Windows XP® 32-bit SP2 or higher, or Windows® Vista 32 or 64-bit, or Windows® 7
• Intel Mac with Mac OS X® 10.5.5 or higher
• 600MHz CPU or higher
• 300 MB minimum free disk space
• Available USB 2.0 port
• Livescribe Desktop 2.7 for WIndows or Mac OS
• Smartpen firmware version 2.7 or later
• Internet connection

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Total hours of recording time*	200	400	800	800
Livescribe Connect Basic Evernote, Facebook, Microsoft OneNote, MyLivescribe, your mobile device, and your computer	•	•	•	•
Livescribe Connect Premium Includes all Connect Basic connectors plus Email, Google Docs, and Google Sites		•	•	•
Smartpen Portfolio				•
3-D Recording Premium Headset				•
MyScript® for Livescribe Software Converts handwritten notes to digital text				•
Livescribe Desktop software for Mac® or Windows®	•	•	•	•
500 MB of personal online storage	•	•	•	•
Livescribe Starter Paper	•
Livescribe Starter Notebook		•	•	•
Micro USB Cable	•	•	•	•
Rubberized Grip		•	•	•
Ink Cartridges	1	2	2	2
Smartpen Caps	1	2	2	2

*Actual recording time varies by audio quality setting.
¹ Livescribe paper required – don't record without permission
² These connectors are available only with Livescribe Connect Premium
³ Mobile device access requires Pencast Player App or Flash®—enabled web browser

Product Description

Taking great notes has never been easier at work or in class. The Echo smartpen records everything you hear and write, while linking your audio recordings to your notes. Get quick access to important audio by simply tapping on your handwritten notes either on Livescribe paper, on a computer or a mobile device. It's easy to send your notes and audio as a pencast to destinations like Evernote, Facebook, MyLivescribe, your mobile device or your computer using the included Livescribe Connect Basic software. Upgrade to Livescribe Connect Premium for more sharing options, like Google Docs and email. 2GB of memory can hold over 200 hours of audio. Actual recording time varies by audio quality setting. Record and Play Back Smartpens record everything you write and hear so you'll never miss a word. Replay your meetings or lectures simply by tapping on your notes.1Save, Search and Organize Livescribe Desktop saves your notes and recordings to your computer for fast, easy access to what's important. Search for words within your notes and find what you need fast. Send and Share with Livescribe Connect Easily send notes and audio to people and destinations such as Email,2 Google Docs,2 Facebook, Evernote, MyLivescribe, your mobile device or your computer.3 All from your paper or Livescribe Desktop! Customize with AppsGet more out of your smartpen by adding productivity, education, and entertainment apps. Even convert your handwritten notes into digital text.1 Livescribe paper required. Don't record without permission2 These connectors are available only with Livescribe Connect Premium3 Mobile device access requires Pencast Player App or Flash - enabled web browser.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best digital note-taking system on the market, June 2, 2011

By 

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Livescribe 2 GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack (APA-00009) (Office Product)

In my line of work (Theoretical Physics) I tend to write a lot, mostly mathematical formulae, graphs and other non-standard material. This tends to create piles of papers, and getting it all organized can be a challenge. I tried using tablet PCs in the past, but the buggy software and the small, unresponsive, screen could not match the experience and effortlessness of writing on the real paper. There had been some electronic-paper solutions over the years, but they all had many flaws that made them unappealing to me. That's why I got really excited when I found out about LiveScribe. Unlike all the other solutions out there for digital note taking, with LiveScribe you actually use real paper and real (albeit technologically advanced) pen. There is no learning curve for using the system for the basic note-taking, and all the more advanced features are easy to learn after just a very short tutorial. The pen works with special software that imports all of your files (both your writing and the audio recordings) onto your computer. The files are in a special format that can be shared online through LiveScribe's community websites, and thus it is easy to share your notes with others who might be interested. The written files can also be saved in .pdf format, and can thus be shared with an even wider audience. In fact, that way they can even be incorporated in PowerPoint or similar presentations. The desktop software can be easily installed on both Mac and Windows computers.

The pen fits pretty naturally in your hand, and it's very easy to use. It is much larger than a regular pen, but it actually fits rather comfortably in your hand. In fact, it is probably more ergonomically kind to your hand than a regular pen.

The in-pen software is pretty cool. Your LiveScribe pen can read out what you had written, and even translate limited vocabulary into several other languages. Since I had bought the pen LiveScribe has opened their platform to the outside developers, so it is likely that we'll see many more interesting programs that take advantage of this remarkable pen.

In order for LiveScribe pen to work you need to buy notebooks that have been lined up with a special pattern. The paper in these notebooks looks just like any other regular paper to the naked eye, but if you look really closely you would be able to notice a minuscule pattern on all the pages. This pattern gets recognized by an infrared camera in the pen, and this is in fact the way that the pen recognizes and records what is being written. This is an amazing technological trick, but a slight downside is that you need to keep buying only notebooks that are patterned in this special way. The notebooks tend to be quite a bit more expensive than the regular notebooks, but overall they have totally been worth the investment for me. The combination of the pen and the notebooks is definitely much, much cheaper than all the alternatives, and it is way more effective and convenient as well.

The pen also needs special cartridges, and from what I have experienced thus far one cartridge does not last too long, especially as compared to the regular pens. However, I still find this to be a minor annoyance compared to all the benefits of LiveScribe system.

One day we may truly have a real electronic paper with all the look and feel of the regular paper, plus all the convenience and power of using a digital format to store your creative and other information. Until then, LiveScribe pen and paper are the best products out there that help you with these goals. I have been extremely satisfied with them thus far.

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pen Pretty Cool and Efficient, Software needs major work, September 28, 2011

By 

Publicagent "Publicagent" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Livescribe 2 GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack (APA-00009) (Office Product)

I had no idea what it would be like using a smartpen. I decided to get one for two purposes: one, for taking notes in notebooks as a math student, and two, for uploading notes online to my students as a math teacher. I am going to break down my experiences on some different aspects of the pen:

1) Wow Factor - 4 stars - It's really fun having new technology. When I received a request from a student to have an official notetaker due to a disability, I immediately asked if anyone had a smartpen in class. No one had any idea what I was taking about. It's also fun to show off to friends and family and to make devious plans to use it as a secret recorder that will never come to fruition. Although I do love the idea of having a discreet recorder.
UPDATE: It doesn't look as cool without the pen cap.

2) Writing Functionality - 4 stars - I have no complaints on the ink, though mine has yet to run out. I bought back-up ink due to the complaints. The ink cartridges do seem on the small side and a little too easy to take in and out. As a result, depending on how you hold the pen, the ink cartridge can slightly wobble. I merely adjust it, meaning I hold it at a slightly different angle and it's a non-issue. Overall the pen itself seems solid. This pen does not have the gripper, but the fingers get used to it after a few tries. It feels just like normal note-taking to me.

3) Camera Functionality - 5 stars - When I transfer my notes to the computer, it looks exactly like what I have written. At first I was a little worried about this since I have very messy handwriting. There are an insane number of little dots on the paper to record where the pen is actually striking the paper. It never misses a noticeable beat on my handwriting, math symbols notwithstanding.

4) Audio Recorder Functionality - 3 stars - It would definitely be nice if the audio recorder worked better. People have returned theirs for this alone. I recorded myself alone in a parked car in the evening where there were no noise distractions. I was leaving a little message for my wife to give her as an audio gift. The recording there worked great. Now in class, where I am a student, I sit near the front and it's a small classroom. It's not easy to hear the professor on the playback, although I can hear him and get the essential information. It picks up on some other noises as well, though the pen is the most obvious one. You have to adjust a little so that the pen does not strike the paper with too much force. I can hear the pen, and I wish I didn't. In essence, it gets the job done if the job is just to pick up on something that was missed in lecture, but to replay an entire lecture, it does not work as well. I find the pen noise on the audio playback to be more of a nuisance than a deal-breaker.
UPDATE: I brought my pen to record live audio for some Occupy Wall Street interviews. It worked very well.

5) Software - 2 stars - The software is bad, as many have mentioned. It uploads my notes, but when I try to upload them to livescribe connect, it always crashes. Also, the uploads don't work. I have to download to my computer, and then reupload them to livescribe connect, and then suddenly it works. I don't do anything to the file, so I don't know why it doesn't work the first time. Also, it crashes way too often. I don't understand. Do they not have enough funding to make the software efficient?

6) Sharing Notes - 3 stars- Assuming you can get the notes online, which I sometimes can using the method above, you can merely click to have it displayed free to the public with a link. This is what I use to display lecture notes to my students. What's great is that the audio is embedded with the notes, and the viewers can click ahead and then hear that part of the lecture. This is a huge plus. Also, the livescribe websites are a good size and the ink is green. You can kind of see it in the background with light gray, but then it comes to life as it was written for the viewer along with the audio exactly when it was spoken. I had some trouble with the audio a couple of times on this, as did one of my students, but for most it seems to be working fine. It's not perfect, but it's an excellent platform. I don't know why the software doesn't get up to speed with this.
UPDATE: I downgraded this part as well because I have wasted way too much time trying to share lecture notes. I have a student literally waiting for them right now.

7) Notebooks - 4 stars - Sure it's a little annoying to have to buy notebooks for these, but they are top quality. I have the standard notebooks, and two of the smaller unlined hardbound notebooks. Both are some of the best notebooks that I own. They really made a solid effort with the notebooks. Also the pages are real pages! 100 pages does not mean 50, it means 100, so 200 if you use front and back. I wish they had more unlined options, but I'm really impressed with what I have seen. My wife also complimented them.
UPDATE: My only reason for taking off one star is that it has not been easy to keep them in the spiral bounds. I'm not a fan of spiral bound. I wish livescribe would make the composition style notebooks the composition style size. If you look around, you can find pretty good prices on the notebooks ($5 each).

8) Pen cap - 2 stars - This is a minor detail, but you can't appreciate how useless the pen cap is until you use it on a regular basis. It's nice to have a pen cap, but there is no place to hold it and it's very small compared to other items. So there's not a good place to put it in my backpack. I have tried placing it in the binder of my notebook. It has already been accidentally knocked across the classroom floor twice. I felt a little foolish when this happened. I wish there was a better way to deal with the pen cap. Even more to the point, I currently don't know where mine is, and I have had this for about a month.

Overall I am happy to have this smartpen. It is a bit of a financial investment since you do have to buy the backup ink and the notebooks, so you have to have some extra money to spend. On top of that, they say that you can print out the paper for free if you have the right kind of a printer, so I think that they are trying to keep costs reasonable for people. I tried it on mine and it didn't work. I could only justify the cost myself by thinking of it as a fun gadget, in addition to a useful tool for education. I am hoping that it will come in handy for archiving notes long-term and in reviewing for comprehensive exams.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea atleast, August 27, 2011

By 

Andy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Livescribe 2 GB Echo Smartpen Starter Pack (APA-00009) (Office Product)

It is a known business practice for a third party PR firm to be hired to write amazing reviews for products on websites like amazon. The five star reviews above are great examples. Let this review set it straight.

the echo smart pen is a great idea, but it is a work in progress.
1.) the on board recording for the pen isn't very good. It isn't horrible, but not good. You hear more scratching on paper than real lecture.
2.) my notes are clean on paper and scribbles when I upload them. This is the worst part and whats so tragic about it is that it's not even all the time. Each time I upload I hope its going to work and sometimes its great. more often, though, its awful.

these are the only two things the pen is supposed to do and it lacks in both.