microcassette recorders

Records a loud and persistant background noise. The Voice Activated Recording on my unit did not work. It records continuously even in a very quiet room. The microphone is not strong enough to record a meeting. Realized after I opened it that it does not have an automatic reverse function. I plan to return it to Office Depot.

Records mostly noise of the motor. Poor sensitivity and poor recording quality. My 5 years old (and stolen...) Sony recorder
was perfect. This one is useless.

I've had mine for three or four years now. I've used it for taking notes as well as recording meetings, and it's good at both. It's small enough that it doesn't draw attention to itself.

Now, it's not a supersensitive spy recorder; you're not going to record a quiet coversation across the room. But that's not what it was meant for. It's best for recoding voices within 6-10 feet, although in a pinch it will record (somewhat noisily) from twice that distance. Add an external microphone and you can increase that range. Add an inexpensive telephone pickup and you can record your incoming phone calls, too. Use the VOR function and you can record them automatically.

Microcassette recorders are somewhat a dying breed, as digital recorders and flash memory cards plummet in price. But it'll still be a while before you can get a digital voice recorder that can record 90 minutes as cheaply as you can with a microcassette recorder.