Customer Reviews
Play Back Sound Too low 
2008-05-23
The playback sound was too low. I used the built in mic and also a phone pick up which I know works well with other recorders and I could barely hear what was going on on the phone.
It is going back.
Will not work on MAC OS X 
2008-05-20
Sony has made a good product, but it does not support MAC. This means that even though you can plug the recorder into your Mac with the included USB cable, it will not show up as an external drive. There is no way to access the files on the recorder, and therefore no way save your files other than what's available on the 512MB internal memory.
I had to borrow a friend's PC to install the included software, transfer the files, burn a CD, and uninstall the software. If you have a newer Intel Mac with Windows installed, you can install the software on the 'other side.'
Also, I lost the manual, and the manual Sony has linked on their website is NOT the correct manal - it is for another device. I have spent 20 minutes trying everything I can think of to try to "erase all" of the files (after transferring them), but I can not seem to find a way to make that happen. Maybe an "erase-all" feature doesn't exist, which means you would have to erase them one by one. If this is the case, I would only give this 2 stars. But because I don't have a manual and I don't know this for sure, I can't make a conclusive statement on this.
The pro's - Intuitive interface (for the most part) that Sony usually is good at . It will record over 100 hours in high quality, and it responds to the record command very quickly.
Fascinating device 
2008-04-10
Voice recorders are an interesting thing -- you may have noticed that even Sony has difficulty distinguishing between the higher end ($300+) and the lower end models. (One of the extra features, incidentally, was "An On/Off Switch"). Usually the higher end models have better sound, supposedly, but we all know how insignificant that is in the scheme of things, unless we are idiots (i.e. "audiophiles"). Memory is not an issue -- I still have 50+ hours left on mine. Sometimes, the more expensive ones come with a metal housing, which I suppose is nice.
I use this for recording notes, and it does a superb job. I wish it had a backlight, but it has a small light to tell you whether its paused (blinking) or recording(red) or playing(green) and so it works well in the dark.
I thought I needed a rewind and overwrite and append function (which this recorder has -- but there is a trick to using the overwrite quickly -- you have to make sure its not the very last "track", so you can start rewinding from the start of the next track) but I end up using it very little. It has a pause function, which lets you pace yourself as you think.
The main thing that makes this better than the Olympus recorders is the overwrite/append function (but no insertion), but I really don't use it that much, I could probably live without. But, other than that, it seems as if digital voice recorders have reached a plateau, so that even these cheaper units are extremely useful, almost indistinguishable from the more expensive ones.
So, from the standpoint of someone who wanted to get away from the journal or the computer, and go for walks while thinking, this is great, and I can honestly say it has changed my life.
Disappointed in sound quality and ease of use 
2008-07-02
I bought the Sony ICD-P620 to use for voice memos, etc. The sound quality is not very good, even though I have tried holding the recorder at various distances. When playing back messages, everything is usually understandable, but the sound is garbled and irritating to listen to. In addition, the unit is not user-friendly in my opinion. I wanted something simple and easy to use, with decent sound quality. This recorder does not meet my needs.
Sony Voice Recorder 
2008-06-04
Excellent item, works great, not too complicated to operate. Onboard mic works good for my purposes.
VERY EASY TO USE AND GREAT SOUND QUALITY 2008-06-03
I decided to purchase this Sony instead of the Olympus VN-4100PC Digital Voice Recorder (for lectures, conversations) and I am so glad I did! In less than 45 minutes, I had recorded a 5 minute test msg, installed the software, copied the test msg from the recorder to my pc, converted the test file to mp3, and burned it to a cd. The msg played in full and as clear as the original when I tested it in my cd player. The sound quality is great too. I hightly recommend this product.
easy 2008-06-02
This is light weight and very simple to use. the software s powerful and allows you convert to multiple formats. Much easer to use than my old Olympus.
Handy, but not very intuitive 2008-05-28
This is a very handy product to have if you are recording speeches, have to do dictation, or remember where you parked. It plays back easiy and the sound quality is pretty good. I haven't tried it with an external mic yet, but I will probably do that. It's fairly sensitive for a built-in mic, but I wouldn't use it to record podcasts or anything like that.
Where it gets weird is, it has no off switch. So you burn down the batteries whether you are using the thing or not. That is really annoying. The USB and software is handy, but it fails to tell you or give you a choice about where it is dropping the MP3 files it creates. It's been two weeks and I still can't find them.
Nonetheless, I got three days worth of meetings I partially zoned out on captured for later transcription. That alone was worth $50! Great for ADHD folks--discreet and professional.
