Sony ICD-P17 Digital Voice Recorder with USB Connectivity Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pros:
- Large 278 minutes recording capacity at the highest (and only) recording quality mode
- Good recording quality
- Lightweight, but feels substantial
- Small learning curve
- Informative LCD display
Cons:
- Does not include software for Mac OS X
- Play/stop toggle button is not very tactile
- Memory not expandable
- No carrying case, batteries not included
After looking at digital voice recorders in similar price range and feature sets (USB connectivity, long recording time), I chose the Sony ICD-P17. While it's not among the smallest recorders out there (Olympus takes that honor), it has a *usable* recording capacity of 4 hours and 38 minutes (keep in mind that each recording takes up minimum of 9 seconds worth of space). The ICD-P17 has one and only one recording mode (mono 150 to 3,500 Hz), optimized for 16 MB flash memory capacity. Almost all other recorders specify the LP (long play) recording capacity, which in most cases sound poor. Their SP (short play) recording capacity is often less than half the LP capacity.
The ICD-P17 is not tiny (about as tall as an average-sized palm and about half-an-inch thick), but it fits comfortably in anyone's palm. Located at the top side are connectors for external microphone and earphone.
To the right side are record/stop and pause buttons, rewind/play/stop/forward toggle switch, hold slider (sliding up disables buttons and turns off LCD), volume knob, and USB connector.
Located on the front face are microphone, speaker, LCD display, folder button to toggle between 5 folders (each folder can have up to 99 recordings), divide button for dividing/combining recordings, display button to toggle between elapsed time/remaining time/date/time, menu button, microphone sensitivity button (high for quiet environment, low for noisy environment), and erase and stop buttons.
The ICD-P17 takes two 2 AAA batteries (not included), which are good for about 10 hours of recording and about 8 hours of playback. Included are USB cable and Digital Voice Editor 2 software that runs on Windows. Connect it to your PC's USB port and you can download recordings for archival purpose (or convert them to MP3 or WAV format). Since ICD-P17 is a USB 1.1 device, transferring 1-hour worth of recording will take 36 secoonds or so.

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Sony's slim ICD-P17 portable digital voice recorder gives you up to 278 minutes of recording time using its 16 MB of built-in flash memory. Other key features include USB 1.1 connectivity for easy hookup with your PC and speedy data transfer, overwrite functionality, and five different message files with up to 99 messages per file. The recorder is compatible with Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, Me, and XP.Overwrite is a professional dictation feature that lets you listen through the last correct word of a recording in playback, then--at the press of the record button--pick up from that point with additional content. All the dictation from that point is automatically erased and replaced with the new dictation.With the author-name function, your name can be part of the file structure so that every dictation includes your name. You can activate this function using the supplied Digital Voice Editor software when the ICD-P17 is connected to your PC via the USB cable.Other features include an informative LCD, a built-in microphone (with high/low mic sensitivity), a built-in playback speaker, add-recording (resumes recording from the end of a given message; not availableduring overwrite), alarm-play (which lets you to record a message and then set a date and time for it to automatically play), a battery-saving hold switch, and jacks for an external earphone and an external microphone. The unit derives 10 hours of recording (8 playback) from two AAA batteries (supplied).
What's in the Box Voice recorder, software CD, two AAA batteries, a USB cable, and a user's manual.

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