Digital Voice Memo Recorder


I wish I knew the brand/model of this device, but I bought it on eBay and it has no identifying marks. It says "Made in China" and "AG13x4" on the back (indicating it takes 4 x AG13 batteries), but nothing else. I've remove the batteries, and nothing under there either. I've even taken it apart, and there's no marks inside.

I've tried to find a supplier on the internet, but there's a million and one key chain voice recorders out there, and I wasn't able to find one that looked like this. So I'm going to write about it, but if you want one, the only thing I can suggest is trying the same eBay supplier. If you do happen to know the brand of these things, please let me know.

I was looking for a voice recorder for those occasions when I couldn't make notes in the small pad I carry for that purpose. For example, on my daily commute. I'm always thinking of things, and forgetting them by the time I get to my destination. Since I started following the organizational techniques in David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) I realized this was all the more important.

Digital Voice Recorders seem to fall into two categories. The $100+ professional models that can record hours, and the <$15 models that are integrated into key chains or pens and record <20 seconds. I just needed something that could record a few thoughts on the drive, so I didn't need the professional model. But some of the cheap models got really bad reviews about sound quality (for example, the integrated pen model that Radio Shack sell) and others only let you record a single memo.

This model let's you record multiple memos upto a total of 20 seconds. Voice quality isn't great, and a couple of times, when there's been a lot of background noise, I've not been able to tell what the message I recorded was :( But in general for what I wanted it for, it's been great. Very simple to use, with one button for play, and one button for record. They record one after the other, and there's a button for rewind to go back to the beginning to play or record over.

I don't know how long the batteries will last (no problems yet), but for what I wanted, it's been great. Just wish I knew what brand/model it was.