Speech Blog

Have you ever wondered if the recorder you have been using is the right one for the job? Are you thinking about purchasing a recorder, but aren’t sure whether you need to spend the money on a professional device? Wish you could find a comparison between digital note-takers and professional handheld recorders to help you make the right decision? Although not easy to compare on a simple feature level, this will hopefully give you some insight on the capabilities of those products and what’s the best choice for whatever you are trying to accomplish.

Digital Note Takers and Voice Tracers

If recording voice and other sounds is your main objective and is related to any of the following activities, then a digital note taker and voice tracer is probably your best and also most cost efficient choice.

• Record an interview or a conversation
• Practice a rehearsal
• Record a lecture
• Record your latest song
• Learn a language
• Record toddlers (in case you ever need proof that they said that ;-))
• Record the bird songs in your backyard

Here are some of the most important features to mention for a Digital Voice Tracer:

• Records in MP3 and WAV – the most common file formats for audio recording.
• Works Plug & Play in Windows, Mac OS and Linux to easily download recordings to your computer.
• Plenty of internal memory for days of continuous recording, so you can also keep files on your recorder.
• Special zoom microphones to record sounds from further away.
• High-fidelity recording and stereo microphones for music recording.
• Easy USB charging.

Professional Handheld Recorders

Now, when would you prefer what’s typically called a professional handheld recorder or dictation device? Well, it all comes down to what you would like to do AFTER you’ve recorded your voice. If your main goal is to create a document or have the recording somehow transferred into written text, that’s when you should start looking into professional recorders and its great options to transfer voice into text. Here are a few use cases you might have or can think of:

• Create and file a report
• Write a memorandum
• Write a client meeting recap
• Work together with an assistant and team
• Record many reports a day over long periods of time
• Record meetings and create meeting minutes
• Needs to get documents done while on the go
• Wants to transcribe documents on the computer
• Wants to use speech recognition

Some of the most important features of a professional handheld recorder are:

• Special microphone technology geared for recording of the human voice and to create clear recordings necessary for optimal speech recognition results.
• Professional DSS and DS2 file formats for smaller file sizes and faster file transmission.
• Professional file editing functions on the recorder like insert, overwrite, and append.
• Ergonomic slide switch operation with the thumb.
• Docking station for fast battery charging.
• File encryption and device PIN lock for data security.
• Connected with professional workflow software to support voice-to-text processing and transcription.
• Works with professional accessories like foot controls, headsets or meeting microphones.

If you are still unsure what works best for you and would like more information or if you have a very special use case and would like to discuss your options, simply leave us a comment below. We are happy to hear from you!