Top Five Digital Voice Recorders

Digital voice recorders have come a long way, from the prehistoric days of taped reel to reel, to traditional cassette sized, to micro-cassette. Today's voice recorders are exceptionally small, lightweight, cordless, easy to use, and because they are digital, no longer involves messy tape media. Digital voice recorders have an amazing capability to pick up sound, and the recording quality is amazingly crisp. To top it off, today's digital voice recorders are extremely affordable.

Using a digital voice recorder is a godsend for students in the lecture setting, or for anyone who has a need to record the spoken word. This technology is also handy for musicians (or in my case, budding musician) in practice mode. Today's digital recorders make storing and organizing your voice recordings a snap.

If you are in the market for one of these practical devices, look for one that has enough memory for your application. Even the smallest devices have room to record 60 hours, and the larger ones can record over 256 hours.

Some digital voice recorders are not PC-compatible, meaning that transferring the recording to your computer may require cables and software. Today, many recorders come with built-in USB ports, making data transfer and storage a no-brainer, even for the most computer challenged user.

Sony and Olympus lead the pack in the manufacture of digital voice recorders, although other brands can be found. Following are five digital voice recorders of varying capabilities. All have USB connectivity. The prices listed are quoted from Staples.

Sony ICDP520 - $59.99 (after rebate). Sony is a reliable company, and this device records up to 130 hours. This recorder has a large LCD display, built-in speaker and is capable of separating your recordings into four separate folders. There is 256MB of internal memory. This recorder comes with a microphone jack, ear jack and power output.

Olympus WS-110 - $79.99. This digital voice recorder has a much smaller display, and only records up to 69 hours. However, it has 256MB of internal memory, has five storage folders and can time and date stamps each recording. It also has a voice-activated feature.

Sony ICDU60 - $99.99. This Sony product does double duty as an MP3 player. It can record up to 251 hours and has 512MB of internal flash memory. There is a digital pitch/playback speed control, and three recording modes - HQ/SP/LP.

Olympus DS-30 - $149.99. This device, like the Sony above, is also an MP3 player. This device contains a noise cancellation feature that reduces the buzz of noisy surroundings. It supports WMA files, and records in STXQ mode for superior sound quality.

Sony ICDMX20 - $269.99 without software, $299.99 with software. This recorder might only have 11 hours of recording capability, but it's packed full of technology. It uses a hybrid storage system of both flash memory and Memory Stick Pro Duo. The crème de la crème of digital recorders, this device has three microphones, two for stereo, and one directional microphone. There is voice-to-print capability, voice email, and stereo long-play mode (2 hours, 45 minutes recording time).