ICD-TX650 IC Recorder (16GB) - Black

This could be the exact device you are looking for ... IF you understand what it is, and what it is not. First of all, this is perhaps the tiniest recorder I have ever used. Not much larger than the size of a pen, it fits neatly in a top shirt pocket and you'll never notice it: and likely, neither will anyone else. It is highly stylish looking, with a mixture of modern and retro that only becomes apparent once you have the device in hand. It has mechanical buttons and rocker panels on either side of the device to perform device operations, and a USB port connection at the bottom of the device, under a rubber panel (you will need the supplied cable, though, to make the connection to your computer). I've used a number of portable audio recorders over the years, and this one certainly is one of the more unusual, due to its size. What it is for is recording voice, either in linear pulse code modulation (i.e., lossless .wav format) or mp3 (either 192, 128, or 48 kbps), with three selectable levels of mic sensitivity, and an optional "Clear Voice" function to improve the sound dynamics of voice recording. What it is NOT, however, is a device that records high-quality sound for musical applications. You might wonder, well, if it can use LPCM, then why not? It's because of the built-in microphones. They simply are not up to the task of recording music at high-quality levels. There are many devices in this price range, or perhaps just a tad higher, that will do just that, but this device is not one of them. This device was made, pure and simple, to record lectures, meetings, personal notes, on the smallest device that is both light and has good battery life (the device uses a built-in rechargeable battery, not AAA batteries. And it does this pretty well. I've used it to make a number of recordings in a lecture setting, and the results were perfectly usable, and no one had a clue I was recording anything due to the small size of this device in my shirt pocket. This means you can make recordings without being disruptive or having people's attention repeatedly drawn to a recording device in the middle of the room. You'll pick up shirt pocket noise now and then, but if you sit reasonably still, it's not a problem, and if you want to lay the device on the table, chances are no one is even going to pay attention to it, due to its size. It has 16Gb if built-in memory, so even if you record using lossless LPCM, you'll get a large number of hours on the device before it fills up, and if you use mp3, the battery will run out long before the memory will. This is a unique device. I actually like it quite a lot. It has a fair number of customizable features, and it has a headphone jack at the top if you want to listen to your recordings that way, or if you want to throw a little music on it for occasional listening. You can change the language and can change the display to show remaining time. (Originally, I gave this a four, rather than a five-star review because I could not find this important function, but if you look the comment to this post from "AS," you'll see just how to do this.) Five stars!

This is the smallest recorder I've ever seen. The quality is top notch, with a crystal clear recording that wouldn't disappoint anyone. I'm a college student with professors that speak at 200 miles/sec, so I need to recorder my lectures to fill-up my notes as needed. I sit in very big lecture halls that can accommodate around 500 students, and I usually sit in the middle of the room. I've tried to sit anywhere in the room, front, back, sides - I was hearing the lecturer (speaking with a mic) at the same quality every single time. I use the 192kbs settings since the WAV files are ridiculously large (50 min lecture was about 600MB per a file but the quality is even better than 192kbs in which I get around 120-140MB/file). 16GB is a lot of space even if you record on the highest quality (I would say around 10MB/min on the highest CD quality and 3MB/min on the second highest (192kbs). It has a clip on the back, so you can clip it to your backpack, side pocket in your shirt (yes it fits well!) and many other places. The clip is strong, so you won't lose your device. The previous generation of this device is the Sony ICDTX50 Digital Flash Voice Recorder in which the buttons were small and not comfortable to touch/press. This was fixed in the TX 650 and the buttons are big enough to not confuse anybody. About the English vs. Japanese version, yes most of the sellers here (this item isn't sold directly from Amazon, yet...) sell the product with an interface in Japanese. However, if you look closely, some sellers would indicate in the notes (if you press the "New" button under the description for more sellers) that they sell the item in English. I paid about $30 more and received my device with a full English interface. It's also a good idea to send a message to the seller you're trying to purchase from and ask if the device is in English. The sellers usually would say "yes" but confirm it by telling them to look at the package: if the package of the item is in English --> You have the English version. If it has anything in Japanese on the package, then the item is NOT in English. I've purchased mine from the seller "NewItemExpress" and it was shipped from Japan. I've received my item in two weeks. Hope it helps.

This. This is what I've been waiting for. The greatest ratio between awesome audio quality plus good build quality, and small size. I always record with it's high quality wav format. There's a handful of MP3 recording formats as well. Not quite a Zoom H2 in terms of audio quality, H2 is also is a tad cheaper. But try tucking that in your pants pocket. Happy to see me? This Sony recorder has a clip which is probably "MEH" for some but for me is a deal maker. When it's off, you can press the record button and it will begin recording; when it's OFF! If you turn it on the old fashion way, you know, with the power button, it powers on very quickly. In the settings menu they are various recording options like record format, preset location recording modes, limiterdy audio gain control stuff (the limiter is pretty good), changing the stereo field, eq low feq roll off types of things. Nothing too fancy. The main screen is bright and easy to read given the size. The side buttons are definitely small, I have big hands and don't have too much trouble pressing them. WAV files are huge. Duh! This ain't no fake reduced quality WAV. The recorder I received was only formatted for Japanese, and formatting it to English wasn't and option, so make sure if you need English you get English. I've learned how to use the recorder in Japanese with the help of the online manual and now I can pretend that I read Japanese. I love this recorder.

I’m sure this product is great- I wouldn’t know. I ordered this product last month and just received it today. The listing shows the product in an English box, no indication in the product description that this product was not English. What I received was a Japanese model. Not an issue, right? Wrong. This is a geographic specific model to Japan, which means that there is no option to change the language from Japanese to English. No changing firmwares, no such setting. It seems like this listing sends out whatever unit they have on hand hence the mixed reviews, so it’s a marble out of a bag what you get. Unfortunately, this is useless to me because I do not understand the settings, memorizing the settings is not an option as I need these for team members. Highly disappointed and misleading.

I bought this in 2019 and have been using it ever sense. In spite of some bad reviews you CAN switch the menus from Japanese to English, there are instructions online on how to do this and it worked for me. The pocket recording feature is amazing, the DSP's settings work incredibly. This recorder gives me the best pocket recordings of any digital recorder I've ever used. And it's quite discreet. It also works good for meetings. Also the "Voice Notes" Scene works very well for taking dictations, and I've found that the files work pretty well for Dragon Naturally Speaking/Dragon Professional/Dragon Dictate etc. Almost as good as the Philips Voice Tracer. But the form factor is a little inconvenient for me to use regularly for dictation. But it is my backup voice recognition dictation taking replacement Dictaphone. I dithered for months looking at the few reviews out there before dropping the money on this recorder. It's more expensive than other SONY recorders out there, but worth it. For the life of me I don't know why SONY never officially released or supported this for the North American market. It's a wonderful machine.

I've twice tried clipping mine to a second person's lapel, but I haven't felt safe leaving it there. I'm using a Sony ICDUX560BLK with a Purple Panda lapel mic. That feels secure because the lapel mic is clipped to my collar (securely), the wire goes down underneath my shirt, and the unit is in my pocket. The ICD-TX650 just doesn't feel like it will stay there. Perhaps, it is my unit. Once, I tried to put it on a fellow bicycler. Once, I tried to put it on my wife before she climbed into a wet rice paddy. Both times, the TX-650 just felt loose. Maybe I just need to plug a lapel into it and use it as I do the ICD-UX560. The mic seems good. I'm not knocking the mic internals or the sound. I haven't used it yet, so I don't know. I just can't use the mic the way I intended. I should have read the reviews more thoroughly. Perhaps, though, it is just the clip on mine that doesn't seem so strong.

Very neat, but delivered from Japan Walker in Japanese menus only. There is enough English on the screens to just get by, but you have to go to this online Help Guide: [...] and then copy the section you want into Google translate here:[...] and then you can run your cursor over the words on one side to see which set of Japanese characters matches the English command or setting you need. Then you go to the recorder and scroll laboriously through its menus till you find that set of Japanese characters (and make a handwritten copy if it's a command you need in future like "Delete this file" as you will have to identify it by Japanese characters again each time you need it. There is no way to change this to English on the model they sent to me when I ordered from Amazon US to a Florida address and no way to ask them to send an International Language model, which is apparently available. I can get by because all I do is record voice notes to myself and later erase them, but if I needed to change other settings often this would be virtually unusable.

I really don't think I could love this microphone more than I do. As a professional videographer who shoots outdoors 90% of the time, this has been my saving grace. I can hide it easily inside jackets, shirt pockets, and more to avoid the wind and the quality blows me away every time. It's so easy to run and gun for live events, interviews, and more. The battery life is amazing as well - It recorded as backup for 8 solid hours and still wasn't dead, and the memory card still wasn't full. I have purchased multiples after the first one because they are THAT good. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!