Olympus VN-7200 Digital Voice Recorder (Black)

I would have given it a five but my older version did not include beeps and I preferred that.

It's compact, runs for days, records multiple files and has good sound quality. What more could you want for this price? For recording there are general files (A, B, C and so forth) but within those files you can also record more than once (so you can record 1, 2, 3, meaning you could have recordings A1, A2, A3 and so on). It's incredibly handy for when you have interviews or meetings with long breaks in between and it also helps so that you don't accidentally delete a file. It's incredibly light weight (to be honest, it feels a little cheap without a battery in it, an iPhone 6 is probably twice the weight of this recorder). The battery power lasts forever. I've recorded nearly 7 hours of notes over the span of a few months on this thing and it's still got full power. For best sound quality, aim it towards whatever sound you want to record. I used this in an interview outside on a horse farm on a windy day and there was definitely obvious background noise BUT I could still hear what I needed to, just with a faintly irritating wind sound. My only major complaints are how difficult it is to scrub through recordings and how it does not easily transfer files to the computer. When you record over an hour of a meeting and you need to run through and transcribe the key points it's a real pain having to go back and forth through the file. While you can scrub through sound in various slower and faster increments, if you accidentally press the play button or the forward or backward button too many times it sends you back to the beginning of the recording and you have to start all over again. Also I wouldn't call this device computer friendly. If you're looking for a device to transfer recordings onto your laptop this is not the product for you. However, for the price and the sound quality, this is a great little gadget. I would definitely recommend.

I was going to miss a few days of my Spanish class, so I needed an inexpensive recorder to have another student in the class record the lectures for me. I researched for hours trying to figure out what the best recording device would be for me within my budget. I was really torn between not having a usb connection versus one that does, just in case I would need to upload files later. I decided that probably won't be much of an issue for me, and went with this one, which I'm really glad I did. I figured if I really need to upload files later, I'll use my phone to record instead. It's a good size, comes with a soft case, easy enough for me to figure out how to use, and speaker playback is very clear and understandable. I also used it to record my music classes, which really came in handy. The battery life is good, been using it about 4-5 times a week for about 1-3 hours for a good two months and haven't had to change out the batteries yet. It also does a good job of picking up voices, while canceling out background noise. When I first received it, I tested it out by sticking it in my bag, and went out doing errands. Usually you'll hear the rustle and bustle of the bag and it's contents, but you can barely hear that in playback. My interactions with people/customers with sales clerks were clearly understandable, even though the recorder was in my bag. Although having no usb connection is a downside, it wasn't a requirement for me, so I don't mind it. One thing to note was that when you plug your headphones in, the sound only comes out on the left side of the headphones. I just put a two-way headphone adapter into the headphone plug and used two headphones. It may be silly to go through all the trouble, and there may be a simpler way to fix this problem... but again it works for me fine, so no matter. I only used headphones while on the bus, and honestly one side working didn't bother me much either. Serves it's purpose well, and didn't cost a whole lot. I'm not gonna throw a fit over it. I recommend it to others who also don't throw a fit easily, and find their own solution for small problems.