Review on Sony ICD MX20 Memory Digital Recorder by Steve Brethorst

I bought this device because Nuance, the publisher of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9, gave it better marks than the Olympus DS-2 I already own. My review of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 appears elsewhere. Suffice it to say that the software is excellent with almost 100% accurate speech recognition. My dream was to transcribe a voice recorder from a voice recorder into a finished document. The Olympus DS-2 is a great recorder at a very reasonable price. Its performance with Dragon Naturally Speaking 8, the previous version, left a lot to be desired. With the new version 9 the performance is better, but far from perfect. So I had to decide to test the Sony ICD-MX20, a device that costs more than twice as much as the Olympus DS-2. My main interest in the device is the ability to dictate and then automatically transcribe. I won't be using it for recording lectures and meetings and the like, although I ran a few experiments to see how the device behaves in those conditions. The ICD-MX20 is shorter and thinner than the DS-2, but slightly heavier. The finish of the ICD-MX20 is very smooth; smooth in the sense of smooth and slippery. I am seriously concerned about my ability to hold the device securely. The surface is so smooth that it can be difficult. The controls of the ICD-MX20 are well placed. The mini joystick works surprisingly well after a few minutes of practice. However, switching between functions such as adjusting the microphone sensitivity is cumbersome. All side switches can be operated with one hand, and the hold switch on the back requires flipping the device. The LCD is sharp and doesn't display too much information at once. The device uses 2 AA batteries and first impressions are that the battery life leaves a lot to be desired. Sony says "8 hours" on top-quality recording - and they only seem to mean 8 hours when the device is on. It's not much: better use the hold switch. Ultimately, the sound quality is the only thing that made me buy such an expensive device. That's great. The MX-20 microphones can be set to mono or stereo. I only used mono as I'm most interested in dictation. Microphones are very sensitive. Hold the microphone too close to your mouth and even a low voice will result in crackling. But once you've downloaded your voice file to your computer, Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 does a trusted job of accurately transcribing it—no training required. The sound quality is excellent, significantly better than the Olympus DS-2. When using Dragon's recommended headset, the sound quality is simply outstanding. This device can be used in professional environments to create reports or podcasts. Put on a headset while you drive (knowing local laws, of course) and you can convert drive times while you dictate - and just automatically decrypt files in Dragon. Very cool. The ICD-MX20 shows promise as a conference recorder. I used it to capture audio from a TV talk show as I walked further and further from the set. The device's Voice Up feature, which amplifies distant voices, really works. The Sony documentation that accompanies the device leaves a lot to be desired. The English translation is terrible and shows all the signs of being translated from Japanese by someone who doesn't speak English well. It contains all the information you need, but it's hard to get out of the garbled syntax, to make sense of grammar and the sometimes strange use of language. Sony also insists on printing the documentation on a single sheet, which is very difficult to manage. The documentation of the supplied utilities is worse. It has very few details, but fortunately the software's interface is very intuitive. Overall, the ICD-MX20 is impressive. The sound quality absolutely deserves a 5. The overall design and construction deserves a 4,