Review on 🎙 Enhanced Sony ICD-PX820 Digital Voice Recorder (Black) by Homer Reed

First bad news - the recorder died. Yes, I carried it in my pocket when snowshoeing, but it didn't get wet and both the digital camera and cellphone survived. I've also seen other reports that this model suddenly stopped working. I'll give him ventilation (sometimes bringing wet phones back to life), but I think he's dead. If it was moisture damage or shock, the phone and non-waterproof digital camera just about survived. It says nothing about reliability or simplicity. Assuming you are luckier or keep your recorder indoors, this is a great recorder. First, for Mac users or people who just need MP3s without fuss, the device records MP3s directly. There's no need to use Sony's clunky (and Windows-only) software. You can import the recordings straight into iTunes (don't forget to copy them) or into Windows Media Player or whatever. You can record a meeting and instantly email it to attendees without installing any special software. Entries are even saved by date so they're easy to find. MP3s even have ID3 tags. Second, the sound quality is excellent. I've recorded meetings that are completely chaotic and voices come through. Music recording is good enough even with the built-in microphone. A disadvantage is that sometimes when recording from a mobile phone, beeps can be heard. Third, ease of use. There are two buttons on the front panel - record and play. There is a thin stop button in the middle, unfortunately between the other two buttons. The voice recorder is easy to use without looking at it. The only thing I would wish for is a recessed play button (so it doesn't suddenly start talking when it's in your pocket) and a more prominent stop button. Fourth, the battery life is amazing. It requires two AAA batteries that last forever. When you reach a bar on the battery indicator, you don't need to insert another battery. I accidentally left the recorder on for 8 hours and it only used 1 or 4 batteries. Fifth, unlike almost every MP3 player I've seen, it actually adds metadata to the recordings. The "name" of each entry is yymmddnn (where nn is 1 for the first entry of the day, 2 for the second, etc.). That means if (if) you import them into iTunes, you can at least know when they were recorded. UPDATE - After a month without a battery, it suddenly came back to life. All recordings on it were still there and it worked fine (although some LCDs didn't work). About a year later he had some kind of convulsion (possibly due to static electricity) and erased all records on it. I was afraid to use it afterwards.