This recorder provides surprisingly good sound quality with good sensitivity for voice recordings. I have tried it with the Sony powered external microphone, but I find that the recorder itself provides a better recording without using any external mike. There are sensitivity levels you can play with. Dictation or personal notes will probably be a little better with low sensitivity, since you are speaking right into the microphone. High sensitivity works good for room recording, such as lectures, meetings, etc.
In addition to sensitivity, you can choose the recording quality or resolution, up to LPCM 44/16. The tradeoff is that a lower quality recording uses less space on the chip and a bit less battery, but on a 8 gb chip at full LPCM 44/16 you can record about 12 hours, which is about the limit of a good rechargeable battery. I recommend the highest quality recording if strictly for your notes, but the highest quality recording will easily exceed 25mb for even a short recording, which can limit your ability to send it as an email attachment. If you want to keep the file smaller to be able to send it by email, you can have the recorder record in various resolutions of MP3. You can also have Windows media Player take a .WAV file and dumb it down to MP3 or .WMA, and the software that comes with the recorder will allow you to convert the original .WAV file to an MP3 file. I used to have an Olympus digital recorder, which recorded in a proprietary format. Although you could work with files and send them, you needed the proprietary software to play them. These recordings are in .WAV or MP3 format, so you can immediately copy them or send them by email, and they will play on any computer. This is a big advantage compared to a proprietary file system like Olympus.
It has a speaker and earphone jack, so you can play back immediately. You can use a patch cord and play through your car's aux input to listen to recordings on the way home. Playback through a computer or sound system will be superior to what you hear through the recorder's own speaker. Since it is digital, you can simply jump to the next file. There is no need to move through a linear recording, as with a tape. You can use five folders for storing files, so this makes it easier to find what you want. For example, you can use a separate file folder for each subject. It comes with software that will let you split tracks, so you do not have to save an entire recording if you only want to keep a certain part. You can also combine tracks with the software.
It has its own USB plug, so it connects directly to a computer USB port to import files. If you have rechargeable batteries, you can also use the USB port for the charging, but you have to tell the recorder that you want to have it charge batteries (and of course don't charge non-rechargeable batteries.) I recommend rechargeable batteries if you will use it a lot. You can get after market rechargeable batteries with a bit more capacity than the rechargeable battery that comes with the recorder, and a good rechargeable battery will last 10-12 hours at the highest resolution. It works well for telephone recordings if you get a patch cord that connects to your phone line and set the input to audio in. If set for voice activation, it will stop after about five seconds of silence. Voice activation recordings will be one continuous track without the blocks of silence. I would not recommend voice activation for anything important, as you may miss the first half second before it starts recording, and it may stop recording when the subject is at a very low level, even though you would still get a recording if set to constantly record. You have the option to turn off the LCD backlight and the red recording light, which will save the battery and also make it less conspicuous. You can format the chip directly from the recorder, you can use a low cut filter for noise reduction, and you can play at a variable speed if desired. The recorder is solid state (no moving parts) so it is completely silent when in use. However, be sure to keep the volume at zero and slide the hold switch up when recording, as handling it could stop the recording and start the play function. I am not reviewing or recommending this for music recording, as good quality music recordings are a different beast, but this is great for voice, including use by students, professionals, and investigators. This is a high quality, versatile and compact recorder for the price for any voice recording use. You might find it cheaper in a different color if you look around Amazon, but be careful of the ones sent directly from Japan as they may have Japanese menus (check the pictures).
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This Item  Sony ICD-UX533BLK Digital Voice Recorder - Black | Recommendations  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | -30% $69.99 List: $99.99 | -28% $35.19 List: $48.71 | $159.98 | $39.99 | $79.99 | -22% $69.95 List: $89.99 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Monday, Dec 2 | Get it as soon as Monday, Dec 2 | Get it as soon as Monday, Dec 2 | Get it as soon as Monday, Dec 2 | Get it as soon as Monday, Dec 2 | Get it as soon as Monday, Dec 2 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sold By | Newfront USA | Amazon.com | Recording-Solutions | G TANYI | Stavvy Sales | Amazon.com |
| hardware interface | usb, microsd | usb micro b | usb | usb | usb, pci express x16, pci express x16, pci express x16, pci express x16 | usb2.0 |
| memory capacity | 4 GB | 4 GB | 1024 MB | 48 GB | 4 GB | 32 GB |
| format | wma, mp3 audio, wav | digital | wma, mp3 audio | mp3 audio, wav | mp3 audio | mp3 audio |
| battery quantity | 2 aaa, 2 aa, 1 lithium ion | 2 aaa | 1 aaa | 1 lithium ion | 1 c, 1 lithium ion | 2 aaa |
| weight | 58 grams | 0.25 pounds | 46 grams | 0.17 pounds | 0.11 kilograms | 77 grams |
| mic form factor | Built-In | Built-In | Built-In | Built-In | Built-In | Built-In |
| mic operation mode | Stereo | Noise cancellation | Stereo | Stereo | Mono | Speech recognition mode |
| headphones jack | Minijack | 2.5 millimeters | — | 3.5 millimeters | USB | 3.5 millimeters |
| battery average life | 30 hours | — | — | 38 hours | 10 seconds | 68 hours |
A wonderful recorder for he semi-professional
I bought this recorder two years ago. Reviews said it was good but I was shocked and just how good. I do semi-professional interviews to record older Americans' personal history. When I position the built-in stereo mics on this recorder in the center of a table facing each of us, it easily picks up what we both say. It does this clearly and distinctly even if there's a bit of background noise such as a somewhat quiet cafe that has no street noise. Not only are audio levels excellent but the recording circuits almost seem to have some noise-cancelling effect if both the interviewer and interviewee speak regularly and clearly. I would highly recommend this also for amateur music recording because the record options are so versatile. Last, I'm shocked that, even after two years, I haven't had to replace the rechargeable battery.Most of all I was really sold on the fact that the audio MP3 format is the default recording format. That makes this the perfect choice for preserving archival quality recordings that are easy to share via the net. I highly recommend this digital voice recorder.
Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Good sound capture machine - robust and great !
Reviewed in India on July 19, 2017DY from Stoon
Solid device records in friendly format
Reviewed in Canada on November 20, 2016