Product Reviews

The market for dictaphones has been eroded in recent years by the appearance of mobile phones and MP3 players with built-in voice recorders.

However, if you regularly record lectures or interviews, a standalone device offers some advantages.

Sony's latest recorder has a nifty stand to prop the device at a convenient angle, can record at the click of one button and has three microphones.

Its 512MB of internal memory may seem meagre, especially when you consider that you can't add more, but it's enough for 185 hours of audio on the lowest recording setting.

This makes it a convenient option - until you transfer files to your PC. Despite its ability to play MP3 files, it records in a proprietary format, requiring bloated software to convert files to anything more useful.