Sony 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.

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.