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| Digital Voice Recorders |
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On The Road February 2006 • Vol.4 Issue 2 Page(s) 12-15 in print issue |
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Digital Voice Recorders A Guide To Devices & Accessories |
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 With all the hubbub that surrounds electronic gadgetry these days, we rarely hear anything about digital voice recording. Although they aren’t as flashy as the latest iPod, digital voice recorders are definitely useful devices. There is a wide range of digital voice recorders on the market today. What’s more, voice-recording features are often available in digital music players, multimedia players, PDAs, and smartphones. When might you use digital voice recording? Possibilities include recording personal reminders, business meetings, lectures, and presentations. Professionals such as inspectors, medical doctors, and realtors can record and store notes with a digital voice recorder, and journalists can use the technology to record interviews. On a personal level, you can record oral family histories, your children’s first words, and audio travel journals. To give you a feel for what’s available, let’s start by examining the digital voice recording features of digital audio and multimedia players, PDAs, and smartphones. Then we can dig deeper into devices designed specifically for digital voice recording.  Digital Audio & Multimedia Players Many digital audio and multimedia players include a built-in microphone and voice recording capabilities. Although some players offer different levels of recording quality, few come with more than basic voice-recording features. Recording controls are another issue. Rather than a dedicated recording button, for example, most players require you to navigate on-screen menus to start and stop recording. This makes the voice-recording feature hard to use on the go. Most players support file transfer to PCs via a USB connection. You can use Windows Explorer or the media management software included with the device to copy voice recordings to your PC. You can normally play the audio file with multimedia software such as Windows Media Player. Following are examples of players and their voice-recording capabilities. Unless otherwise specified, all the devices require the use of a USB connection when you transfer files. We should also note that the recording quality for each is on the low end with mono (not stereo) sound, and you will use on-screen menus to start and stop your recordings. • Creative MuVo Slim 512MB ($139; Creative Technology [www.creative.com])—records voice and FM radio in WAV format. • Creative Zen Neeon ($199; Creative Technology)—records voice in WAV or MP3 format; includes selection for different bit rates for better quality. Has a line-in jack to record music and other audio. • iPod 60GB ($399; Apple [www.apple.com])—requires an add-on accessory, such as the Belkin Voice Recorder For iPod ($49.99; www.belkin.com) for voice memo capability. Records voice in WAV format. • YP-F1Z ($179.99; Samsung [www.samsungusa.com])—a wearable player that creates voice recordings in WAV format. Despite its small size, the YP-F1Z also includes a dedicated record button. • T30 1GB ($149.99; iRiver [www.iriveramerica.com])—saves voice recordings in MP3 format. It includes controls for recording quality (high, medium, or low) and automatic recording by voice detection. Has a line-in jack to record music and other audio. • Multipod ($99.99; Octave Systems [www.octave.com/multipod])—a multimedia device that also offers voice recording in MP3 format. PDAs & Smartphones Whether a PDA or smartphone includes voice recording capability largely depends on the OS it uses. The common OSes for devices currently on the market are Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC devices), Palm OS (Palm PDAs and Treo smartphones), and Symbian (smartphones from manufacturers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson). Windows Mobile devices come in three flavors: Pocket PC (a standard PDA), Pocket PC Phone Edition (a PDA with added phone capabilities), and smartphone (a cellular phone with added PDA capabilities). All three types of devices come with a set of PIM (personal information management) applications that includes voice memo support. Some Palm OS PDAs and smartphones may not offer voice-recording capabilities. Of the Palm PDAs, only the more expensive handhelds include the feature, and it’s not available in the Palm Treo 600 and 650 smartphones. Most Symbian-based smartphones include voice memo features. How it works. With PDAs and smartphones, voice recordings transfer to your PC via the synchronization process. This is true whether you transfer the files by cable or wirelessly using IR (infrared) or Bluetooth technology. You can also beam and email voice memos to other devices. You can play the messages on the device or with its companion desktop software on your PC. The files are not usually in a standard audio format such as WAV or MP3. Because you can add software to PDAs and smartphones, you can upgrade a device’s voice-recording abilities. For example, ProTone Voice Recorder ($25.99; www.poccosoftware.com) adds voice activation, standard WAV audio file support, and voice-activated recording to Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PCs. As with portable audio players, most PDAs and smartphones come with few bells and whistles for voice recording. You may also be stuck with making on-screen selections to start and stop recording. However, most devices offer programmable application keys that you can configure to control voice recording. Here’s a summary of how voice recording works, based on the OS and type of device:
• Pocket PC PDAs. On these devices, the PIM applications (for example, Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts) include a Notes tab that lets you create an associated voice recording. A separate Notes application lets you create a standalone recording. You can also choose different quality levels, in mono and stereo. Pocket PC makes and models include the ASUS MyPal A716 ($399; www.asus.com) and the Dell Axim 51 (starting at $269; www.dell.com). The HP iPAQ hx4705 ($599.99; www.hp.com) comes with additional HP software that lets you associate voice files with photos. • Smartphones. The Samsung SCH-i730 ($799; www.samsung.com) is a Windows Mobile-based phone that offers a dedicated Voice Notes button. In addition to creating voice notes, it can also record your end of a telephone conversation. The Sony Ericsson P910a ($499; www.sonyericsson.com) runs on the Symbian OS and comes with an application called Sound Recorder. You can send recordings to others via email, use them as ringtones, and beam them via Bluetooth or IR. Digital Voice Recorders If you want to do more than simply record notes and reminders to yourself, a device designed specifically for digital voice recording is ideal. These devices have evolved from microcassette recorders, which are still available today. Similar to microcassette recorders, digital voice recorders are designed specifically for voice recording, and they handle the task quite well. What they can do. In addition to recording your own voice memos and reminders, digital voice recorders can handle recording meetings, lectures, presentations, and other events that don’t require the speaker to talk directly into the device. And these devices offer features that you won’t see on digital audio players or PDAs, such as background noise cancellation, amplification of distant voices, and dedicated controls for recording and playback functions.
Most digital voice recorders can transfer files to a PC through a USB connection. Some devices also store information on removable flash media. After you transfer information to your PC, you can use software such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking ($199.99; www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking) to convert the audio file to text. This can be especially handy for lecture notes and interviews. For transcriptionists, professional digital voice recorders include software for transcribing and editing dictation, and they even accommodate a foot pedal that controls playback so users can use their hands for typing. What they can’t do. Compared to microcassette tapes, digital voice recordings can be more work to access and store. Not all digital voice recorders let you transfer recordings to a PC, and you won’t get high-fidelity results when you record live music. For that, you need a different device, such as a DAT (digital audio tape) recorder or a device with a line-in jack that connects directly to the audio source. And although it’s usually quicker than handling it yourself, voice-to-text software does not always transcribe voice recordings with complete accuracy. What To Look For If you are shopping for a digital voice recorder, there are a number of critical features to consider. These include storage capacity, recording format, PC support, and recording quality. Let’s take a closer look at important features and some examples of digital voice recorders from Olympus (www.olympusamerica.com), Panasonic (www.panasonic.com), and Sony (www.sonystyle.com). Storage capacity and recording time. Most digital voice recorders store recordings on an internal flash drive. To maximize recording time and quality, be sure the device you choose offers ample storage capacity. For example, typical recording times for a player that creates WMA (Windows Media Audio) files and has 64MB memory is about 22 hours in LP (long-playing) mode, 10 hours in SP (standard-playing) mode, and four hours in HQ (high-quality) mode. Some recorders can use removable memory cards that offer capacities of 256MB or more. The Sony ICD-MX20 ($249.99) offers a mix of storage. It comes with 32MB of built-in memory and an MS (Memory Stick) Pro or MS Duo media slot. Removable media is especially helpful when you have a lot of recording to do and no time to transfer files to a computer.
Recording format. The three most common file formats for digital voice recorders are DSS (Digital Speech Stan-dard), WMA, and WAV. A DSS file stores information, such as author and record-ing length, within the file itself. It is common on devices designed for pro-fessionals use, and listening to DSS files on a PC requires additional software. WMA is a compressed, PC-compatible format that plays on Windows Media Player, and its quality is similar to DSS. WAV files, which are not compressed, are high quality and very large. Other formats are more suitable for entry-level devices. For example, the Olympus VN-2000 ($69.99) uses a format called Triple Rate CODER, which conserves storage space and offers less fidelity than the DSS or WMA formats. PC support. Not all digital voice recorders support file transfer to PCs, especially the entry-level models. How-ever, one of the advantages to using a digital voice recorder is that it gener-ates an electronic file. If you can trans-fer the file to your PC, you can email it or automatically transcribe it to text with the right software. The most common transfer method is through a USB cable or a direct USB plug on the device. Other digital voice recorders store voice recordings on removable flash media, which you can transfer to your PC with a compatible media reader. If the recorded file format is not natively supported in Windows, such as the DSS format, check your programs because in most cases the manufacturer includes software that can manipulate the file or convert it to a common format. For example, the Olympus DS-3300 ($349), a professional digital voice recorder designed for dictation and transcription, comes with DSS software for your PC. If you plan to send audio files to others, it’s important to consider whether their systems will be able to read the file. This might require you to convert the file to a common Windows format. Alter-natively, you can supply recipients with software to play the file. For example, Olympus offers a free “lite” version of its DSS software. Recording quality. The level of quality you need depends on the type of recordings you plan to make. A common specification that can help you determine quality is the sampling rate or frequency. This is the number of samples per second taken from the audio source to create the digital recording, and it is expressed in Hertz or Kilohertz. For voice, 8KHz is audible, but the quality is not great. For comparison, the sampling rate for audio CDs is 44.1KHz. Higher sampling rates result in a better quality recording. Recording modes and times. Another feature that affects quality is the record-ing mode. Many digital voice recorders offer different recording modes that trade off storage space for quality. The lower quality modes take fewer samples per second, require less storage, and offer increased recording time compared to the higher quality modes. Examples of recording modes are LP (lowest quality, most recording time), SP (medium quality, medium recording time), and HQ (highest quality, least recording time). The Panasonic RRUS380 ($99) skips the LP mode altogether, boasting 16.5 hours of recording time in SP mode. It also features HQ mode and an even better FQ (fine-quality) mode. Microphone. If you plan to use the digital voice recorder in a variety of settings, adjustable microphone sensi-tivity will give you better results. Some devices offer microphone settings based on the type of audio you are record-ing, for example, Dictation, Lecture, or Meeting. Others come with High, Medium, and Low sensitivity settings. A built-in stereo microphone or a stereo microphone jack is also helpful. Multiple folders for storage. Many digital voice recorders have multiple folders to help you organize your recordings. Some let you name the folders, while others provide folders already labeled with letters (A, B, C) similar to PC drives. Most digital voice recorders limit the number of files you can store in each folder to between 100 and 200 files.
• Adjustable playback speed for note taking, understanding a speaker, or skipping unnecessary information • Voice activation to automatically start and stop recording based on the speaker’s voice • Digital pitch control for minimizing distortion during playback • Digital voice enhancement to increase the volume of a speaker’s voice • Voice-to-text and editing software • File locking to prevent accidental erasure of voice files • Repeat playback to repeatedly play back a portion of audio • Erase, append, insert, and overwrite audio file segments • Alarm and timer • Index function, for marking important points in the recording • Fast forward, rewind, and scanning to help you locate audio content • Long battery life and an AC adapter
Design and usability considerations. If possible, you should find a retail store to examine digital voice recorders in person. This lets you get a feel for how easy the device is to use and whether it’s comfortable to hold. Doing this also gives you a chance to check out each device’s overall design. Some things to look for include:
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