SONY ICD-PX470 Stereo Digital Voice Recorder with Built-in USB

When I first started college back in 2011 during my first degree, I had bought a Sony voice recorder similar to the PX470 but a much earlier version. For that model they had a separate cord to connect to your computer to download the recordings. The earlier version had helped me so much back then that I knew immediately that I needed to get another right away this semester when I realized how quickly my professor moved through material (Finishing my second degree, Hence the long time span!). I really love That the USB is within the voice recorder, making it unnecessary to keep track of another cord. The sound quality is impeccable, I sit about 20 to 25 feet away from my professor with the microphone facing him (I sit in the last row) And I'm clearly able to hear everything he says when I playback the recording at home through my computer. It makes taking notes so much easier and less stressful since my professor talks SO FAST! One quality that I found super useful especially was the directional pad with the back button, options button etc. that made it so easy to flip between the various options for the sound recorder, folders that contain the Recordings, and going to the actual record function without any hassle or confusion. I really appreciate that you can record in one format (MP3, In different kpbs) to save some memory space, and convert them into higher quality versions (WAV) using the sound organizer software. The software allows me to easily transfer my lecture recordings to my laptop, organize them into folders, edit them (Cutting them down, splitting/combining them, etc), and even transcribe them! The sound quality is unbelievable, and there are so many different options based on the situation that you need this recorder for, whether it's recording lectures, music, or meetings etc.. This is why I stick to Sony, I am amazed and delighted every time!

I have an relic SONY recorder I used at university and required a new one for my business and after surfing the internet for the best for my purposes, this was the highest rated. I can say I'm impressed and support the fact it is a superior device that not only is easy to use but provides amazing audio.

Used successfully with a Bluetooth lapel mic receiver to record audio for a wedding video. Worked great. Stereo recording and lots of space on a micro SD card.

Theaw new certainly the best, The batteries last 60 hrs plus, I know because I've had them on none stop, I got it 3 days ago, I would say you could get 90 hrs of battery life... It's a plus plus,

Playback is exceptionally clear with little to no background noise. Small enough it's not in the way and easy to operate.

Very pleased with the purchased of this, my second SONY digital voice recorder. The first was purchased 5 years ago. SONY is never a company to side idle with their product. This is a big improvement over the previous model, which was very good. This new model is superb, outstanding engineering.

Unfortunately, the USB stem stopped working after a couple years. This has happened before to a similar item. I even bought a USB extension cord so I could plug the USB stem from the unit into it so there's no tension on the USB stem. But i guess after using the USB stem lots of times, it wears something out internally and then it starts failing to make a connection to the pc. The unit still records ok, but without the USB stem working, I can no longer transfer song ideas to the pc.

I got this for my narration during kayaking video productions so having a external mic jack was paramount but finding a suitable lapel mic was a challenge. But I found the Sony ECM-CS3 lapel stereo mic which solved all my problems. The recorder is well designed with exceptional features. The audio was imported into a audio program to see if the analyzed audio would make many changes. To my amazement only a very small amount was suggested. So I played the analyzed audio then the raw audio and could not hear a difference. Having the USB connector builtin is a plus because all I need is more cords. This product deserves 5 stars but I would have given that if the recorder was voice activated. Being I use this while kayaking; to start the audio I have to pull the recorder from my PFD take it out of the case and hit the record button then reverse the process to store the recorder. Not a big deal but would be a nice to have as my cameras are voice activated to have everything voice activated would be a plus.

this item is not what I expected does not have the same features from the other Sony recorder I had before.

Nowhere does it state that the microphone input is MONO, not stereo, which makes this device useless for actual field recordings. I expected better from Sony, but I guess they're not the company they used to be.