All About Digital Voice Recorders

Note To Self...

Since Michael Keaton’s Character used his voice recorder in Night Shift in order to remember a scheme to create instant tuna salad by feeding mayo to the aforementioned fish, Americans have had a mixed relationship with the voice recorder. While other technological advances have moved from being seen as affectation of privilege into common use, voice recorders are a technology that has remained largely in the closet.

Strangely, we do not see as many of the devices in use as their numbers might suggest. Despite the thousands of dedicated digital voice recorders, or transcribers, sold by manufacturers like Olympus, their are hundreds of thousands that come as an accessories to cell phones, PDAs, and devices such as Blackberries.

Key Features To Look For:

- Storage: Top models of digital voice recorders have as much as 1 gigabyte of storage. This translates to as much as 277 hours of record time on long play monaural and 13 hours of high quality stereo recording.

- Connectivity: A digital recorders should have some sort of PC connection. This may be in the form of a USB connection or a removable flash card and reader. This allows you to archive and label recordings on your computer.

- EQ Settings: Preset equalizer settings create preset frequency levels at which to record either voice or music. Many specialized labs, such as Dolby and SRS, are listed in relation to the EQ settings, meaning that the device will have superior performance to those lacking this type of expertise.

- MP3 Player: If you enjoy listening to music or books on tape, be sure that the device you purchase is not just a digital transcriber but also has music playback functionality.

- Speaker: Make sure you have a model with an external speaker.

- Slow Speed Mode: It may make you sound like you have a mouthful of oatmeal, but it can make the typing of a transcript much easier and more accurate.

- Avoid: Look out for a recorder that requires proprietary software.

These devices can be very handy. Whether you want to replace that big leather day planner or you need to start getting more organized and want a method that you will stick with, a digital voice recorder is an essential tool. Most also offer the ability to carry files of any type so that the player doubles as portable storage.