Sony ICD-SX25 Digital Voice Recorder

I am happy with the product. It is very handy for when I forget important dates.

I purchased the product for tape recording lectures in school. I sat right up close by the professor. I took it home and it was impossible to listen too. I could not make out a word the professor was speaking and that was at the highest volume. After much arguing I finally got my money back. It is totally useless. Dont waste your money!!!!

While this recorder is conveniently-sized and has plenty of on-board space, there is also plenty to complain about. With so many features, it is clearly designed for more professional applications. Then why not provide any Mac compatibility at all? At the very least, why not add a Mac driver somewhere down the road? Disappointing.The button control is very poorly designed. Buttons are loose and muddy, and recordings are often reset to the beginning when a user is trying to fast forward or rewind while manually logging data (yes, manual logs since there is no Mac support). The buttons are very close together, making it difficult for people with bigger-than-baby hands to operate.Audio, even in the best settings (which severely limits data space) is, again, disappointing at best. Whether turned up to max-30 volume level or tweaked in other ways, it is hard to interpret captured audio. Headphones have not helped me either.I gave an extra star for strong battery life and large on-board space when recording in economy audio settings. With the button problems and a complete lack of Mac compatibility however, this recorder is not worth the cost and will be returned for a competing brand.

I purchased this voice recorder to record college lectures and then transcribe them to text. The SX25 has a pretty good amount of recording time for the low quality setting at around 12 hours. A few of the features include: VOR-a thing where the recorder supposedly starts recording when it picks up sound and stops when it stops reading sound (I could hardly ever get it to work), the ability to cut and divide recordings, four different quality settings, and a very informative LCD screen. The SX25 also is supported for Dragon Naturally speaking preferred. Included in the box is a set of earphones, a USB cable, a program to save recordings and a carrying bag.One would suppose that for over one hundred dollars you could get decent voice recording. In my experience the actual recording is the worst part of this product and ironically its primary function. After taking it to one class lecture at the second highest quality level sitting ten feet from the instructor, I brought it home and with the volume all the way up I could not make out anything intelligible. Moreover, I could not use it to transcribe to text. I was lead to believe by the general description of the product that it could record from a considerable distance. Most likely this would be better used for just personal voice records for notes, not as a long distance recorder, because the microphone is extremely weak.

6/4/05 - AddendumThere's no backlight on the LCD on this model (SX25) so you can't see the display in the dark or low level lighting (the ST25 had a nice green one).Handling noise is much higher on this model, so unless you're very steady-handed, go with an external mic to keep the noise from cancelling out your recorded material (don't bother trying to record from your pocket, or while it's in the velvet carry pouch). Sensitivity has been boosted for 1-4 ft. recording, so that's where the trade-off occurred. But the internal condenser mics (stereo) are not isolated from the unit's case, so every contact with the case results in noise.-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Everything you liked (or hated) about the ST25 is back in the new model, but this one's skinnier by a 1/4-inch, and the display has been changed to be wider but shorter - same displays. New STLP mode is like a ST (high quality mode) file but with less resolution, so you can pack a third more time in the non-expandable 32MB memory (still about 7 hours on SP, 15 hours on LP, 2.5 hrs on ST, say 4 hours on STLP).Don't expect to try to digitally record music on this unit because you cannot disable the automatic gain function (it's really designed for recording speeches or other presentation material, not recording concerts). In a pinch, I have used it to capture the audio line-out of a DVD, but it's not good with wide volume changes since it tries to equalize everything to an overall acceptable volume.I like/dislike the 4-way toggle button RW<- v ^ ->FF idea - it gets rid of one extra 2-way button, but it gets confusing if you were trying to manipulate it without looking at the display. On the other hand, if the settings are the way I want them, I don't usually have to touch that button. You just hit the Record to start, and again to pause recording (Stop saves and lets Record create a separate file). It's good at splitting and combining, and the USB port lets the proprietary software manipulate the sound files for general management (but very limited editing).Battery life is the same as the ST25 - about 16 hrs. per set of 2 AAA's. I miss the swivel microphone mount because I often used the ST25 sitting on the floor and pointed the mics upward, or in a shirt pocket pointed away from me.Bottomline - better sound quality than the $99 or less variety recorders. No memory card expansion available, so you need to dump off files to clear space. Speaker is loud enough to be able to hold it to your ear and hear playback clearly if at a noisy airport, so that's a nice feature. Can be used in a pinch to record music via line input, but with degraded quality compared with a true MP3 recorder. Smaller than most units of similar capacity. Since it was designed to function better when connected to a PC, why not make it rechargeable via USB as well?