Review on Aketek 8GB Multifunctional Rechargeable Audio Voice Recorder Dictaphone MP3 Player FM Radio (12) by Ricardo Thotti

Okay let me preface this review by saying that my experience with audio equipment is quite extensive as I'm an audio engineer. However, this handy portable recorder is useful for musicians and journalists. RANGE (built-in microphone): This recorder does not have a very large range. I was sitting right next to my friend (maximum 3ft from the recorder) and to be honest he had some trouble picking up his voice in a normal conversational tone. I do not recommend this product for students who want to record lectures unless they have a 1/8 inch boom mic. AUDIO QUALITY: Distortion is clearly noticeable even after files are downloaded to a computer. The built-in mic is extremely cheap, as are the built-in speakers, and unless you're hooking up a mic that can pick up some of the finer sound detail, don't expect to get away from full-blown music production with this mic. CONSTRUCTION QUALITY: Poor. The pictures on Amazon don't tell the whole story. This thing is pure plastic and it looks like it might break if you push it too hard. The buttons have a nice feel and click, but some plastic. Imagine those little toy cell phones you bought in 99 cent stores as a kid, yes the buttons look terrifyingly like them. The same goes for the accessories, they're all plastic and the build quality is very lame. several months before I accidentally sit down and break this thing). ACCESSORIES: One of the main reasons I bought this recorder was the lavalier microphone that came with it. It's a shame that such a microphone turned out to be DOA (Dead on Arrival). The included headphones are cheap and very plasticky, it hurts your ears after long sessions, but they do the job. I haven't had a chance to test the included landline phone recorder, and I honestly don't think I'll ever have a reason to unless I start working for the NSA. xFUNCTIONALITY: Well, I'll start with the menu. The menu on the device itself is a bit confusing at first. I was in the device settings or the capture menu and couldn't figure out how to get back to the main screen (hold down the MODE button for those of you who couldn't figure it out either). But after a few hours of recording and playing around with the device, you'll eventually get the hang of it. In terms of recording, there is a slight delay from the moment you hit the record button until the device actually starts recording. , but it takes no more than 2 seconds and is not intrusive. (Just look for the little red light at the top of the device and when it comes on, start talking.) It takes a while to boot up when it's on. If you are not recording anything on the device, the device will turn on fully in about 10 seconds. If you have almost exhausted your recording capacity, it may take up to 2 minutes for the device to turn on. One of the things I really liked was the ability to change the recording resolution. You can opt for a lower-quality recording and literally just record for hours, or you can use more memory and battery life and get a more polished sound (using an external mic, of course). CONCLUSION: Yes, it's all plastic, one of the included accessories didn't work at first, and some just wobble. However, this thing only does its job of recording audio, is surprisingly small and ridiculously cheap. Yes I would recommend it to my friends depending on the intended use and if it breaks I will probably order another one. Hope this helped you in some way! :)