( 9 reviews )
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Posted: Apr 29 2009
Bought this three weeks ago. The sound quality is so muffled that it is almost unintelligible. I now have to buy a replacement after using this model for 8 hours or so. Do not buy this Sony "Made in China" product.
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Posted: Feb 5 2009
I almost did not buy this product after reading all of the negative reviews but my experience has been that you need to take reviews with a grain of salt. I have much experience with many recorders over the last decade. I own a high end Olympus L250, Panasonic, and other misc analog recorders. I also own some high end digital recorders. I prefer micro cassette for their ease of use, easy archive, independence from other electronic devices such as a computer! And partly because of nostalgia. This Sony is better suited for close dictation then for lecture. For lectures you might be disappointed unless your professor talks loud. For classroom use I would recommend either a higher end Olympus digital, the sound quality and sensitivity are incredible on those. An analog unit with an external microphone would be my second choice, this Sony model does not have a microphone jack. I also own the Sony M-670V which has better clarity and more sensitivity. It is better suited for classroom use. This Sony unit has decent sound quality, there is slight motor noise but this is the case with most affordable recorders. I do not experience any problems with the sound quality as other reviewers have stated. It was recently exposed that Belkin sales reps were paying people to leave negative reviews on Amazon of competitors products, I wonder if this Sony product has fallen prey to a similar fate? I can't imagine people being so disappointed with this unit! The features of the unit are decent, I especially like the tape counter, a must have in my opinion. The unit has a nice solid feel, hinged battery compartment, attractive finish and nice compact size. Sensitivity is good, low background noise and an easy to use feature set without a bunch of gimmicks. I'm actually interested in buying another one to have as a backup. I recently bought an Olympus J300 and returned it and got this Sony. Compared to the Sony the J300 seemed flimsy and cheap but it did have an external microphone jack and performance was similar. I would normally give this unit a four star because it does not have an external microphone jack or fast playback option, I gave it a five star to compensate for all of the ridiculously bad reviews that this unit got. I bought mine at Staples, although I really like Amazon I sometimes found that they seem to get some bad batches of certain products. Sony designed an attractive, affordable recorder which performs well. I would spend a few dollars more and get the superior Sony M-670v, if you need it, otherwise for close dictation the 570 should work fine.
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Posted: Jan 18 2009
I bought this recorder as a sort of security device to record sounds made during the night. It would not pick up noises, just voices. May be useful for recording lectures but for anything else I would not recommend this product at all.
