dictaphone needed - any suggestions?

[brotherS]

Hi,

I'm planning on doing interviews for a project and need some kind of dictaphone for that task. I saw some for about 20 bucks at ebay, but doubt that that would be a good buy.

Do you have any experience with such hardware? What would you recommend? The interviews will be person-to-person, inside of rooms, so I don't think I need external microphones and stuff - the smaller the better. I think something that will let me record directly to mp3 files would be best.

Oh, and it shouldn't look extremely cheap if possible

[alxwz]

How about using your cellphone for that?
I sometimes use my Sony Ericsson K750i for it (just for taking reminders-to-self) and have created a joystick shortcut for "record".
Your phone may vary, and sensitivity may be an issue (external microphone possible?), but it does the job for me. Recording capacity may be a problem, too, if it doesn't use a memory card for that.
Accessing the recordings and even seeing there are any recordings on the machine to remember sucks, however, on my phone.

[brotherS]

That's a good idea, but my cellphone is not up to the task. So I really need some other device...

[urlwolf]

I considered these devices for a while (didn't buy any).
I think the best when I looked would be the sony. It is horrendously expensive in the UK and rest of Europe.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/20INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=tL2-Nq03uMO9Oehtrim0PeI6iQmS2IsAARA=?ProductSKU=ICDMX20VTP&Dept=audio&CategoryName=pa_VoiceRecorders_DigitalVoiceRecorder
I tested it at the store and it sounds good. Probably not as good as I expected (but I only heard the small speaker it comes with, using a decent pair of speakers may be different).

[brotherS]

I considered these devices for a while (didn't buy any).

Thanks, I'll check out the details and compare it with others.

It's beyond my understanding though why they sell it for $299.95 and only offer 32MB capacity!

[app103]

Whoa! That one is like $300!

Maybe I can find a more reasonably priced solution....

Coby Electronics CXR188 16MB Digital Voice Recorder

4-in-1 256MB Digital Voice Recorder, MP3 Player, USB Drive, FM (I don't know who makes this)

Sony 64MB Digital Voice Recorder With PC USB Connect -ICDP320

RCA RP5030 64 MB Digital Voice Recorder With USB Connection

All of these are available under $50.

[brotherS]

Thanks, that's more in the price range I thought of

[urlwolf]

The reason it may be worth it to go for a good one is that it does pretty well when integrated with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Again, I have not tried this.

[app103]

The reason it may be worth it to go for a good one is that it does pretty well when integrated with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Again, I have not tried this.

I think that is only for recordings of your own voice...not when there is multiple voices in the recording or a voice other than what you have profiles for in Dragon.

Each person has to train it themselves. Dragon doesn't respond well to voice patterns it doesn't know.