RCA VR5220 512 MB Digital Voice Recorder (Black)

by RCA

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.5 inches ; 4.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001U5VND2
• Item model number: VR5220
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,079 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 1, 2003

Product Description

Use the VR5220 digital voice recorder by RCA for taking notes at lectures and seminars or to simply record important day-to-day notes. With 512MB of built in flash memory, you can enjoy up to 200 hours of recording. The digital voice recorder features a multi-function LCD display that shows the time, low battery indicator, recording countdown and other information. The built-in USB allows for direct PC connection, helping you listen, share, save and organize with ease. Enjoy worry-free recording with the Automatic Voice-Activated Record (AVR) mode which will sense sound and start recording automatically once sound begins and stop recording when sound ends. Choose from three different playback options: bookmark, variable speed and pitch correction for slow/fast play. By using the date/time stamp you can quickly find specific recordings without the hassle of listening to complete recordings. Additional features include editing functions, headphone jack/external microphone jack, selectable recording mode and key lock function.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good value for a simple voice recorder (Mac compatible is a +), March 26, 2010

By 

Arturo Ruiz "Mad About Animation" (Phoenix, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: RCA VR5220 512 MB Digital Voice Recorder (Black) (Office Product)

I bought this voice recorder because I needed an inexpensive solution to a lot of classes that I was going to have to take lots of notes on. I was looking for a digital recorder, and it had to be a recorder that I could plug into my computer for quick file transferring. As long as that was true, I didn't mind how big the memory capacity of the recorder was, since I could always fill it up and empty it at the end of each week.

· Price: the recorder is pretty affordable compared to some of the other products out there with far more bells and whistles than I need, so I felt it was great.

· Interface: The digital display is clear though swapping between folders is a little more time consuming than I would like, navigating through the brief menu is easy enough.

· Connectivity: This recorder has a built-in USB port which attracted me to it immediately. I didn't want to be carrying any cables around with me, so I was pleased by this. The port is great and sturdy. It hides away cleanly under a plastic cover so you won't worry about dust. When the USB port is out, it locks firmly so there is no fear of it being pushed back into the recorder when you are inserting it into the computer's USB port. Good job on that. An important thing to mention is that thanks to the USB port, you can transfer files directly to your computer. There are voice recorders out in the market which are "digital" in the sense that they do not require blank media such as minicassettes to record the audio; they store the audio in internal memory, but in order for you to archive that audio, you need to do it through playback in real time. You need to actually sit down and press play and sit through hours and hours of audio while it's recorded into your computer. This recorder produces audio files which can be quickly copied into neatly organized folders in your computer. One very important thing to remember is that the recorder must be turned ON before you plug it into a USB port.

· Files: The lower sound quality settings produce files in .VOC format, while the High Quality setting produces sound files in the .WAV format. This is important and I will talk more about it later.

· Memory capacity: This recorder doesn't have an enormous amount of memory capacity, but it was enough for me. It has 512MB of built-in memory. It cannot be increased or upgraded using additional memory cards, but you don't need to. It can record a little over 17 hours on high quality, more if you choose lower quality settings. So, although you're stuck with 512MB, it's plenty.

· Compatibility: Now, if you're using a PC, you're golden. This is totally compatible for PCs, it comes with some nifty software for managing your audio recordings. Both the .VOC and .WAV files work fine in Windows. If you're using a Mac, this is where you might have a little trouble. I use a Mac and at first I went with all the reviewers that said the recorder worked fine with their Macs. The .VOC formats don't work on Mac OS, but the .WAV format works fine, so I was happy about that. However, when I plugged it into my Mac, it just didn't work. I was disheartened, but I didn't return it because I could always use my wife's PC laptop and then transfer the files to my Mac. It would be a painful and bothersome process, but one I could live with.
The problem, though, was not the recorder. I was running Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger), and apparently it doesn't work with Tiger. I plugged the recorder after updating to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and the recorder just popped up on my desktop.
So YES, this recorder WORKS on Macs just like other reviewers have said, but they failed to mention what system they were running their Macs on!

· Sound Quality: The recorder works very well on High Quality. I always keep it on that because it produces the .WAV format files that I require on my Mac anyway. As I said, .VOC files don't work on Mac OS.

80 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good value voice recorder with WMA format, September 3, 2009

By 

Dmitry Sergeev "Halyva" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RCA VR5220 512 MB Digital Voice Recorder (Black) (Office Product)

I was about to return RCA VR5220 back to the store. The reason to return was a recording VOC audio format which is not a very common for an average user. A need to convert files from one format to another, often with a loss of quality was not an option for me.

Last night I opened a manual... To my surprise VOC recoding is only done in LP and SP mode, and HQ mode, the one I was going to use, records in WMA (Windows Media Audio). No need to convert files anymore, just copy them to PC and play with Windows player or any other player. Reading a manual saved me a trip back to the store.

With a recorder price under $30, ability to record in WMA format, play and edit options, easy file transfer via built in USB port, in my opinion, this recorder offers a really good value.

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Mac Users, September 20, 2009

By 

Just Me "justme" (Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RCA VR5220 512 MB Digital Voice Recorder (Black) (Office Product)

I purchased this despite reading the other reviews that said they could not get this to work on their mac. I run Mac OSX and had no problem with this voice recorder. The voice recorder must be turned on before you plug it into your USB port. After that it should show up on your desktop just like an other external device. Click on that and in one of the folders you will find a VOC file. To play this VOC file, you must download a converter. The one I use is SoundConverter, and it works great (make sure to change the output to your desired file type, such as MP3). If you are a Mac user, you are probably searching high and low (like I did) for an affordable digital voice recorder. This was cheap, and thus far I have been impressed with the quality and overall functionality of the device. I will update this review after I have used it for a longer period of time.

Overall, if you are a Mac user looking for something that is compatible, this does indeed work. You just drag the file onto the desktop, convert it, and you have your recording.