Customer Reviews
A very nice little recorder 
2008-09-16
I've been a heavy user of digital voice recorders in the past for noting down ideas when I'm in bed (and the lights are out -- no paper), and for when I'm driving. I don't use it for much else, but when I do use it, I tend to use it a lot.
I started out with Sony, then went to Olympus, and now I'm back to Sony again.
This little unit is my favorite so far. Transferring sound to my Mac couldn't possibly be easier. The size and weight are the best yet, as is the recording length.
Where I ding this little marvel is in a few areas: The buttons are too tiny, and too similar. The first Sony I use had a large and square record button, compared to small round buttons for everything else. Based on everything I've used so far, this is the "right" design; why Sony used all tiny round buttons for the UX70 I'll never know, but it forces me to check and recheck myself to see which buttons I'm really pushing.
Battery life is absolutely terrible. The worst I've ever used. And I don't mean continuous recording length (which is probably what the unit is designed to excel at). I mean the situation where you leave a fresh battery in the unit for a month, and then pick it up hoping to quickly jot down a voice note. I'm using high-capacity (2500 mAh) rechargeable AAAs, and these things can't even last *two weeks*. And that's with the unit on "Hold" the entire time!! This makes it completely useless as a "there when you need it" recorder, and I think it's going to make me get rid of it. My only option right now is to carry about the battery separately, but since the startup time for this unit is so long, it means I'm almost sure to forget the idea that I wanted to jot down in the first place.
The Olympus DS-2 shares this "passive life sucking" trait, whereas my first Sony did not. I bought this Sony thinking that I could count on them, but I guess my usage pattern is not very common?
The last negative is the internal speaker. Basically you should plan on never using it, or using it merely to confirm the fact that you did actually record something. However, the poor sound quality is unrelated to the quality of the recording itself, as playback on a computer will show.
If I could have long battery life (my first Sony would go 6 months without having to change two AAAs), then I would love this little guy. But in reality it just frustrates me that nearly every time I reach to use it, the battery has been completely drained. And this when it was supposedly "off" too. Leaving the display on, it doesn't even make it much longer than a week.
Sony Digital Recorder 
2008-09-15
It does everything I expected and more...And the voice recordings are so clear that no one has any problem understanding my voice because I am teaching English and Chinese both. Thank you so much for making this product available on Amazon. Nancy Aki
ICD-UX70 
2008-09-10
As stated in other reviews, the internal speaker is TOTALLY USLESS. I'm returning the recorder.
Awesome recorder 
2008-09-05
This recorder is great. I use it during my music class so I can record our session. Mic is sensitive enough to pick up the piano and my voice. It's a little sensitive so I lay it on the piano. Amazingly you don't hear the vibrations from the piano. I love that you can just plug this to your computer via USB and drag and drop the files from the recorder to my PC. This product works well for me. I love it.
Basically Not Usable, What a Disappointment 
2008-08-24
I was so thrilled with the idea of being able to record MP3 style. And, to a limited extent, I have been able to do this. But, I was up against my first problem when I went to instruction #1 and could not set the clock properly. Writing tech support was of no help. Now I am finding the instruction manual just does not correlate with how this works, and I am at a loss currently as to how to set the mic sensitivity, how to adjust the volume. I have owned many electronic products, but this is the first time I am up against either/or the manual or tech support being of no help in guiding me how to use this product. Sorry to say, but because of this issue, I am afraid this item will be junked soon. Too bad. It has so much potential. What a waste.
Great features, good value 2008-08-13
Plug the ICD-UX70 directly into your compatible PC and enjoy easy, drag and drop file transfers. Its built-in 1GB Flash memory lets you record up to 290 hours of lectures, personal notes and more. You can even play back your favorite MP3 audio files and listen on the included stereo headphones. This compact and attractive digital voice recorder features five recording modes, Windows and Macintosh compatibility and it's available in three fashionable colors.
Excellent Pickup - Could Make File Selection Easier 2008-07-28
I bought this model for recording public meetings and posting to my blog. The unit's ability to pick up sound is phenomenal, even at the lowest setting. I made 10 recordings of a three hour meeting. But it was difficult to select the folder or file that I wanted that segment to go into. Then it was more time consuming later to track which file contained which section. I had made a list as the meeting went on, trying to denote at least the time signature for each part. It would have been better if I could have had more control over selecting which folder the sound went into.
If the file naming were easier to do, it would have saved time. That was my first attempt, so it could have been my ineptitude more than the model's design. It was extremely easy to upload the files and, since there's no conversion necessary, you can simply edit in audacity, if necessary, and post to your blog.
I've already recommended this model to friends as a great recorder for this price.
Maureen - Asbury Radio
Very good product 2008-07-22
I lovethis product! The other reviews claimed the product could not turn off, but there is a power switch, the hold button makes it turn off so the battery does not wear out. Product was in excellent condition. I would buy more from this vendor.
Works with Linux! 2008-07-17
I bought the ICDUX70 to record debates, and it works great. The two features I was most interested, this one has: it records directly into .mp3 (not into some proprietary format like most Olympus' do), and data transfer works as a USB flash drive (not requiring some proprietary Windoze/Mac software). These two features mean that the ICDUX70 works like a champ with Linux (Ubuntu 7.10)!
I was also surprised how well this recorder works for podcasting (that is to say, listening to podcasts). The "easy-search" feature (10sec fwd or 3sec rev per button press) is more useful than a silent ffwd/rev, and (for catechism memorization), the A-B feature is super helpful. I haven't used for typing yet, but the DPC (digital pitch control -- slow down the speed without distorting the voice) works great.
The unit is smaller and lighter than I expected, but seems well made enough. The little endcap over the USB connector is pretty cool, but I bet I'll eventually lose it. Battery life is good -- I've had it for over a month now, recorded a debate, and listened to probably 20-30 hours of podcasts, and I'm still on the factory-supplied battery (a single AAA).
My one quibble (the only thing that my crappy old RCA Lyra did better) is folder/file management. When you create and nest folders to organize your .mp3 from the perspective of your computer, those hierarchies disappear from the perspective of the machine -- it's just a long list of all the folders that contain .mp3 (in creation order). And when you go into a folder, you cannot see the _names_ of the files, so if you have no id3/id4 tags, you can't tell what's what. Also, there's no shuffle mode for playback, and no concept of a 'playlist', so if you want a device for listening to music, this is probably not it.
But it's good at what it's made for, i.e. recording and playing back speech.
It's seems to work great for what I am using it for. 2008-06-28
As many of the people have stated, the internal speaker is pretty useless but the supplied earphones sound just fine and using some really nice headphones make the playback sound great. I purchased this because I wanted high-quality recordings since I am using it to capture sound effects and voice for my interactive projects. I was expecting the internal mic would be complete garbage (like most recorders) and assumed that I would always need to use an external mic but it actually does a pretty good job just with the built-in mic. The file system works well and plugs right in using a USB connection. The files are a lot easier to work with than Sony HD MiniDiscs (what I used to use for this). I'm very pleased with the quality of the recordings. This could easily be used for podcasting.
To be honest, my only gripe is with the MP3 playback. Since the recorder is also designed to be used as an MP3 music player, it might have been nice if they had added a random play option. Certainly not a deal breaker but something I hope they consider for their next model.
For $100 (or less) this is a great recorder and I consider it worth the money.
