You Get What You Pay For!
Written: Jan 10 '03 (Updated Jan 11 '03)
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Pros: Lo-o-o-o-ong recording time for the price. Small enough. Decent features.
Cons: None, for the price.
The Bottom Line: This unit is an incredible value with great features, not the least of which is the 2.5 hours of full-quality record time. Excellent choice for a low price.
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| gretax's Full Review: Sony ICD-B5 (8 MB, 2.5 Hours) Handheld Digital Voi... |
I had seen this unit around town and the web for about $59 and was just about to buy it from Sears for that price when I took a quick look on eBay: a lady was selling it new in it's box for $29 shipped. The unit being half off retail, I bit.
I have been using the unit steadily for some days now, and must say that I am very pleased with it. First of all, the unit offers 2.5 HOURS of recording time. That's a lot; comparably-priced units offered only 1.5 or so hours on the low-quality setting (the Sony ICD-B5 only has one setting) and ridiculously low times on the standard settings (one has something like fourteen minutes). For the price, you get the most "standard-quality minutes" with the ICD-B5.
I've seen complaints elsewhere about the sound quality. First off, this unit is more than good enough for recording "notes to self." When I listen to my voice, I am able to clearly hear myself and there is no question as to what I am saying. I don't have to strain to hear it, nor does anyone else who listens to it. The unit can play it's recordings very loudly, so if you are hard of hearing, you will not have a problem. You can also listen with headphones, which further increases the clarity by eliminating the speaker noise.
As I move away from the microphone, so long as I keep the "high" mic sensitivity on, the recording remains intelligible, but it becomes less so. The problem is this noise floor that the recorder seems to have: when the speakers is "on" ready for action, it has a touch of a whine and a more substantial "rus-s-s-s-s-h-h-h" to it. When the recording plays back on top of that, you get the mic noise floor (a similar "rush") digitized into this garbled hash that drags against the clarity of voice recording. In any event, though the sound is certainly not of the utmost quality, it is useable if you, for some reason, must be across the room from your recorder.
The unit has a variety of features found in more expensive recorders, though you get somewhat less of these in quantity per feature. For instance, you get folders, but you get only two. I use one for school (assignments, lectures, etc.) and the other for person reminders and ideas. Though I would like to be able to further sub-divide those, I can certainly live with this and since this unit was only $29 I am definitely not complaining.
The unit gives you the ability to split messages into two or more parts, as well as the ability to do the reverse, and combine two messages (either ones that you split or two messages that were separate in the first place...you can continue and go so far as combining all of your messages into one, if you wish).
With this unit, you have the ability to append extra recording(s) onto the end of a previously-recorded message. Say, for instance, that you've recorded forty messages, but on message thirty-eight, you would like to add some more information. You can and it's simple to do.
You also have the ability to set one alarm that beeps and then plays the message of your choice. For instance, if you have a meeting at four o'clock, you can set the alarm for 3:30 and have it play the message in which you've said "meeting at four o'clock" or something to that effect. Very nice.
The unit has a "hold" safety feature which I keep it constantly in. This prevents it from starting to record or erase messages accidentally.
I have heard complaints on the web about this unit feeling flimsy, with light, flimsy buttons, etc. I must say that while these criticisms are, in a way, correct, the main idea I believe Sony was aiming at was making a very light recorder, which this unit very much is. I barely notice it's there in my pocket. It is pleasantly very light.
The ICD-B5 has no VOX (voice-operated recording) feature, where it will start or stop recording based upon sound or silence it picks up, respectively, in order to save memory. If you feel you must have this feature, look elsewhere. I have no real use for it, as even if I would try to record a school lecture, I can fast-forward through it just the same. It would be nice to have it, but, again, for $29 I'm not complaining.
This unit has no slower- or faster-than-real-time playback. You can either listen to the message as recorded, or you can fast forward through it, where you will hear short segments of it, about a quarter second for every three seconds recorded. After ten seconds of holding down the fast forward button, the machine fast-fast forwards, at an accelerated pace and without playing back any sound. It would be nice to have the faster- or slower-than-real-time
playback, but for $29...oh, you know what I'm going to say.
I originally wanted a unit I could connect via USB to my computer and was going to get the Olympus DS-330, as it has a USB dock and works with Macs. I decided, though, that the only reason to do that would be if you wanted the original, full-quality voice files from the unit on your computer to do what you will with them. You can still, in effect, do that same thing with this Sony unit, as it has a headphone output. Simply plug in a male-male minijack wire between the unit and your computer's soundcard, open up your recording program, hit record and press play on the unit.
Being a fussy audiophile, this sort of practice is against my ordinary standards of full quality, as the sound degrades somewhat in the process, but come on: it's not like we're talking about DVD-Audio-quality music here. Any small digital recorder like this is simply built for the task of making quick notes to yourself and unless you need one of the high end Sony's that will do voiec-to-text transcription, you don't need this feature.
Finally, you can move files from one folder to the other if you wish, delete files and delete the entire contents of a given folder. As mentioned above, the mic has high sensitivity (for longer-distance recording) and low sensitivity (to reduce background noise when you're speaking close to the mic) settings. It also has a microphone-in jack, so you can plug in your own microphone with a cord for distance.
I was ready to spend $120-ish on the Olympus DS-330, but after finding such a sweet deal on this Sony ICD-B5, I dove in and haven't looked back. I really am very pleased with it and now I can use the remaining money to go buy some new music.
For $29 shipped, this unit has more features than a fellow could ask for and I am extremely pleased with it in every way. It can do anything any of the more expensive unit can do, when it comes down to it. Check on eBay and you might just get as good a deal as I got.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 29
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Epinions.com ID:
gretax
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Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 5 members
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