Others say...

"Perfect buy"
I was skeptical about any recorder that could transcribe as well as straight from Naturally Speaking but I am no longer. I love this thing. Just load up on batteries and have a great time.


"Editor"
I would like to share my view for this product between [1 - 10 it is a 7]

"Good "Mid-range" Consumer-Grade Recorder For Voice Recognition"
If you're interested in dictation and voice-recognition, the Sony ICD-MX20 is an excellent "midrange" consumer-grade recorder. It's expensive, but nowhere near as expensive as the high-end professional-grade Olympus or Philips recorders, and I've been getting good results with it. The Sony's joystick and other controls are small, but not that difficult to use once you get used to them, and I didn't think the enclosed instructions were hard to follow at all. I'm not a real heavy user yet, so I can't say anything definite about the battery life, but personally I don't have to change batteries that often as long as I remember to put the recorder on Hold when I'm not using it. My only complaint with Sony recorders in general is that they don't come with a decent carrying pouch. The one provided with the recorder is useless and I ended up having to search around until I found a cell-phone belt-pouch I could use.

I use the MX20 strictly for dictation, so I have no idea how good it is for recording lectures or music and the like. I do most of my dictation while driving around in my car and I always use a high-end noise-canceling headset mike (the Knowbrainer Hand's Free mike which is basically the same as the more expensive Sennheiser ME3 which I use for dictating at my laptop). With this setup, I've been getting around 98 percent accuracy with my transcriptions (using Dragon Naturally Speaking v9.5 and the recorder settings specified by Nuance). Personally, I think you almost have to use a good noise-canceling mike if you want to get decent results from transcribing dictation, so if this is what you're interested in, you should count on spending another $50 to $100 or so in addition to the price of the recorder. All in all, the MX20 is probably not the best recorder for speech-recognition, but it works pretty well and it's a reasonable compromise if you can't afford $500 for a Philips 9600 or an Olympus DS-4000.

"Transcribing we will go..."
This is one of a number of electronic devices designed for all human beings with toothpick fingers. The little teeny toggle switch on this device is insane -- the operation is difficult and the operating instructions are convoluted -- so why five stars!? Because when used with the headphone mike that comes with Dragon Naturally Speaking -- nothing works better with that software -- I'm up to about 88% accuracy in just two days. This is a most powerful tool for all kinds of writing.

"This is unbelievably bad"
As I watched the video on the Apple web site regarding the new iphone and its elegant simplicity, I could not help but ponder the last 3 months I have spent trying to understand how to use my new ICD-MX20 digital voice recorder. Several months before that I asked my secretary to review digital recorders and order me the best of the lot. She and our IS team came up with this recorder and I have come to dislike it intensely. I have no complaints about its operation. It is small, easily transported, has excellent acoustics, and seemingly will do many things. The problem is that it is a challenge to understand how to make the recorder do the simplest of tasks. For example, during the dictation of a document it is common to rethink a sentence after it is dictated and to rewind the dictating device to a specific point and redictate the section. In my mind this should be no more difficult pushing the rewind button and dictating over the text to be replaced. Sony, of course, thinks otherwise. In order to dictate over a segment it is necessary to activate a separate process. Let me read you the text in the instruction book to give you some idea of this process (and this is verbatim!).

"You can add a recording to the message being played back.
Notes
*At a factory setting, you cannot add a recording not to erase the message by accidental operation. To add or overwrite a recording, set the "Add/Over" in the menu to "Add REC" or "Overwrite".
* The added or overwritten portion of a message will be recording in the same recording mode (ST, STLP, SP, or LP) as the original message, regardless of the current recording mode setting. For more information see "Troubleshooting".

How's this for clarity? A double negative in one sentence would appropriately be interpreted as it is possible to erase the message by accidental operation. Fortunately, I had a hunch that the writer (if one can describe this as writing) did not really mean the double negative. So I spent the next 10 minutes searching the menu for either the "Add REC" or "Overwrite". After pushing almost every choice in the menu I found the correct button. Once this was activated I was actually able to overwrite a section of a previous dictation. However, the only way that I have found to rewind is to go back to the beginning and listen to the entire dictation. That is not a problem if the dictation is 30-60 seconds (although even that is inefficient), but more commonly my dictations are extended 10-20 min documents. So I am still trying to figure out how to make the device go back a short distance.

I would suggest that you not bother reading the instructions, but in fact it is virtually impossible to understand the thought processes of the people who designed the device without the instructions - there is no escaping the pain.

This brings me to my major point. This device, while a wonder of technology, was designed by someone who was intent on torturing the user by creating an interface that is at best unfriendly. To continue the process of torture, he (this could only be a male) then convinced his best friend to write the instruction pamphlet for this device. I can only imagine the glee they must have experienced as they concocted the perfect way to drive the unsuspecting purchaser mad. Caveat emptor.

  

Buy Cheap Software Now!
  Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder

List Price : $299.95
Our Price : from Too low to display

Why I buy this one ?
- Compact, handheld digital recorder
- Memory uses high-capacity IC chip
- Hybrid media card storage with Memory Stick Duo or Pro Duo
- Features advanced digital voice operated recording (VOR)
- Measures 1.18 x 0.67 x 4.23 inches (W x D x H)


It's better to buy this one too...

3-Year Extended Service Plan - Covers Electronic Items $0-$200 - Repair
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What our customer's say!

"Great recorder", I purchased this to work with Dragon Naturally Speaking and it has worked great with easy transfer of files then recognition almost as good as my headset. It is easy to use with intuitive menus. It is sturdy and has handled many trips to the floor and still looks and works like new.

"Great Product", Still have to try to find the best setting though.
Volume is a bit low...have to find a way to increase that but quality is awesome.
One thing i didnt like was the voice up. It doesnt work that well. It just increases everything including the noise.

"Solutions to inaccurate reviews.", This "review" is primarily to clear up some inaaccuracies I have read in many reviews for this recorder. First, you can turn off this recorder without removing the batteries. Second, Digital Voice Editor Software IS available!!!

Turning Off the Sony ICD-MX20:

Flip the hold switch on the back of the recorder -> wait -> the display will turn off. Further, even with the display "on" battery drain is minimal. Think of it as a digital watch. You don't have to turn off that display, right. The majority of battery drain on this device occurs during recording and playback.

Digital Voice Editor Software:

I had the same problem of losing the CD. I have owned this recorder for almost 2 years and have always been able to find the software for download. 2 years ago, however, it wasn't available from Sony. I had to do a deep search on google until I found a consumer who set up a download link.

Currently the software is available for download from Sony. I think this became publicly available after conflicts with Vista were discovered. If you do a google search for the latest version "Sony Digital Voice Editor Version 3.1.03" it should be one of the first results. If you find you need an older version of "Digital Voice Editor", try doing a google search for "Sony Digital Voice Editor download truckerphoto". This "truckerphoto" website has download links to older versions and some helpful installation troubleshooting tips.

Personal Opinions:

As for my opinion on this recorder. I wish it recorded directly to MP3 instead of the Sony proprietary format (which requires the Digital Voice Editor software to convert to MP3). I do like that it will record to a memory stick duo card. Since cards are cheap these days, this gives you virtually unlimited recording space. I can record an entire semester of lectures on my 1GB card (high quality settings enabled) without a thought of running out of space.

Sound quality is excellent for dictation. However, I purchased this unit for recording in a classroom environment. Sound quality is still very good if you sit close to the front of the class room. However, if you have a lecturer that has a soft voice and you sit toward the middle/back of the class room you will certainly be disappointed. The voice up feature increases the volume, but also increases the background noise. I rarely find the voice up feature to help. I am currently exploring my options for external, directional microphones.

Finally, the little "joystick" control is a bit cumbersome. You will get use to it, but I often get annoyed while toggling through the menus.

Overall, I am satisfied with this recorder. Don't be fooled by the "Date First Available on Amazon" on this page. Maybe that is the date that it was available from a particular seller, but this recorder has been available from Sony since 2005. While I still believe it is a very good recorder, I would encourage others to compare with newer models and other manufacturers.

Tip: Invest in some high quality rechargeable batteries. The Maha MH-C9000 Battery Charger is probably the best you can get. Along with the MAHA AAA 1000 mAH NiMH batteries (the higher the mAH rating the better, as of the time of this review 1000 mAH is about the highest you can get). Also, don't be lured into the new "Low-Discharge NiMH" batteries for this device. These "Low-discharge" batteries are great if you are only going to use your recorder once or twice a month because they don't drain/discharge as quickly while not in use. However, if you use your recorder daily or several days a week you'll appreciate the higher mAH you can get from the standard NiMH batteries. I have personally used both verities of batteries and I get longer play/record times from the standard MAHA 1000 mAH batteries over the "eneloop" & "Acculoop" 800 mAH "low-discharge" batteries.

"Device great but don't buy if you only have Macintosh", The device is great, audio quality and features fine, but their proprietary audio format and lack of ANY Macintosh software that can read it is infuriating. Fortunately I use boot camp but it is a pain. Sony should give you the option to recording uncompressed WAV or AIF, and not just their lousy MSV format. I knew before the purchase that the software they provide was not Mac compatible, but didn't know that the audio could not be read by ANY Mac software. Sony, get your act together.

"Junk - and Sony should be ASHAMED!", Can I give this a minus five stars? I received mine not long after they began making them, when they were running over $200. It took two months on backorder to receive, and then it broke within a month. I didn't drop it, expose it to water, nothing. So I called them to return it, and spent 3 HOURS being shifted from person to person, with no results. 3 people I spoke to were obviously from India (and I don't have an issue with that if they can solve the problem,)they didn't know what backorder meant and told me that since it was order three months before, they would only be able to give me a refurbished recorder. I refused and finally insisted on speaking to an America. They gave my call to some 'manager' who tried to sell me the same line of bull. I refused to accept anything less, so finally he agreed to replace it with a new one and gave me a work order#. About a month later I got the digital recorder with a refurbished sticker on it! I was pissed, but it worked, so I let it go. Not ten months after that the thing's broken again! Does some weird stuff and won't work. They tell me they'll fix it for $140, with a 30 day guarantee on their work! So for a mere $300 to $400 investment you can have a piece of %*! that works for somewhere between 1-10 months. Olympus gets great reviews, the only bummer is Sony directly interfaces with Dragon Naturally Speaking (awesome software, though it takes training time), and Olympus doesn't. I'm looking into a way to make those two play well together; I'll let you know if it works. It's my opinion that this branch of Sony makes it their policy to use excessive hold times and shift callers around to get them to hang up and leave them alone. I've now spent over five hours on the phone between the two calls, and I still don't have a working recorder. I don't really understand this, since their software department was Extremely helpful, when I needed assistance with Acid Studio. Do they not realize, anything with the Sony name affects their customer's opinions of them? Sony Acid - Great! this thing - not worth your headache.



 
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Read this reviews before You buy...

"Good recording quality, some flaws ", I bought this recorder to replace a previous Sony model that I'd been very happy with, but wanted longer recording capacity. The ICD-MX20 works very well in terms of recording quality, but it has a few design flaws I didn't notice mentioned in other reviews.

First, the main control is a very fiddly little joystick in the middle of the unit, and it's very easy to press the wrong direction (the main problem is that the main play/pause button is controlled by pressing it into the unit, whilst skip etc are up/down/left/right and it often fires off these by accident). The other thing (which is really quite a bit problem for me) is that even when the 'hold' button is on, the unit powers up when any of the buttons are pressed to tell you that the hold button is on. This means that you can't keep it in your pocket (which I did for my old Sony). You can put new batteries in the unit (I'm using 850mAH NiMH) and 2 days later the battery will be flat, even if you didn't use it and the hold button was on the whole time.

That said, I'm fairly happy with the unit. I keep it in my bag, and that fixes the 'hold' issue, but I wish Sony would fix the design issues. It's good, but could so easily be great.

"Unbelievably Difficult to Use", Technical devices are usually easy for me to navigate. That is until I met the Sony ICD-MX20. It is unbelievable! I have now owned this device for 3 months, have made multiple efforts to read the incomprehensible instructions that came with the recorder, and am now looking for a replacement. It is hard to comment on all the great features every one comments upon when it is not possible to get to first base! This product is only for super techies. Normal people should look elsewhere.

"No way to download Digital Voice Editor Software", I bought the ICD-MX20 a week ago. I was surprised that Sony does not provide downloads of the associated software named "Digital Voice Editor". Sony Customer Service staff told me that if you lost the CD that came with the box, you had to buy a new one. Only patches of the software are available to download.

This immoral policy violating the norm of digital appliance industries and should not be encouraged. Sony is demoting its brand name by offering poor post-sales services. Think twice before making your buying decision.


"No way to download Digital Voice Editor Software", I bought the ICD-MX20 a week ago. I was surprised that Sony does not provide downloads of the associated software named "Digital Voice Editor". Sony Customer Service staff told me that if you lost the CD that came with the box, you had to buy a new one. Only patches of the software are available to download.

This immoral policy violating the norm of digital appliance industries and should not be encouraged. Sony is demoting its brand name by offering poor post-sales services. Think twice before making your buying decision.


"No way to download Digital Voice Editor Software", I bought the ICD-MX20 a week ago. I was surprised that Sony does not provide downloads of the associated software named "Digital Voice Editor". Sony Customer Service staff told me that if you lost the CD that came with the box, you had to buy a new one. Only patches of the software are available to download.

This immoral policy violating the norm of digital appliance industries and should not be encouraged. Sony is demoting its brand name by offering poor post-sales services. Think twice before making your buying decision.


  
 
 

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