Is there a digital voice recorder I can wear on a lanyard?

January 7, 2007 7:01 PM

I'm after a digital voice recorder / dictaphone type thing that I can wear round my neck on a lanyard.

I want it for quick capture of musical ideas, things to do, verbal notes to myself etc.. Hence wanting to wear it on a lanyard, so it's right there all the time.

About 3 or 4 years ago a guy I worked with had one that was about the size of a credit card, something like that would be ok. Or the size of an ipod shuffle would be even better, come to think of it.

Any recommendations mefites?

posted by chrissyboy to Technology (10 answers total)

Many small MP3 players have voice recorders built in - my old 512 MB MPIO did, but I never used that function. It wasn't much bigger than the AA battery that powered it.
posted by rfs at 7:07 PM on January 7, 2007

I use an Olympus voice recorder that could easily hang round a neck. It's light, easy to use, and I recommend it, but actually records to .wav not .mp3 -- you could convert the format if you wanted of course, after uploading to a PC. (There's no Mac upload except in their most expensive model - shame on Olympus)

I haven't got the thing here but if you want details, email.
posted by anadem at 7:41 PM on January 7, 2007

My Sandisk Sansa (E200 series) has voice recording and a dedicated button for it as well. It is about the size of a Nano but it might be a bit big to wear around your neck.

I'm pretty sure that their lower end, C100 series of MP3 players also has voice recording and they are even smaller than the E200s. You could probably pick up one of those for around $70 if you looked around.
posted by Diskeater at 7:46 PM on January 7, 2007

The credit card sized device that you saw was probably a Voice-It VT-90. I got one in 1996 and it changed my life. I retired it (into my girlfriend's eager hands) only when I got a cell phone in 2003 that had a good UI for voice memos (good UI = single button action to make memo). There was also a VT-300 but it was considerably thicker and had silly PC interfacing capability. Just gimme quick record and playback ...

You haven't been able to buy Voice-It's for years. MP3 players with voice recorders are OK, but still too big for me. Although they're getting close I suppose. The Olympus recorders are far too bulky for what I (and I believe the OP) want: a device that is always with us.

Double check your cell phone. Many have voice memo capability, it's just a matter of how streamlined the take-memo-NOW action is.
posted by intermod at 10:08 PM on January 7, 2007

I loved my voice-it and wish there was something with a decent interface that integrates seamlessly with a mac.
posted by craniac at 10:34 PM on January 7, 2007

My Creative Zen Nano Plus (mp3 player) has a voice recorder. It's about the size of the iPod Shuffle. I don't know anything about the quality, as I only got it for Xmas and haven't tried out that feature yet!
posted by srah at 5:52 AM on January 8, 2007

I've got the Zen Nano Plus as well and I've tested out that feature by holding directly up to my mouth. The quality was not so good, though my voice was audible and understandable. Not sure how good the mic is from a longer distance away. Great little mp3 player though!
posted by lyam at 6:37 AM on January 8, 2007

My Creative MuVo Micro has proved to be a pretty handy little voice recorder. The Nano Plus appears to be more or less the same thing. The only annoying thing about the Creative players is that they need a cable instead of having the USB jack built in (unless someone knows a version that doesn't?).
posted by teleskiving at 8:19 AM on January 8, 2007

instead of having the USB jack built in

Of course I mean the USB plug is not built in.
posted by teleskiving at 8:22 AM on January 8, 2007

MPIO FL300 with the hang-around the neck earbuds. Pick it up cheap on ebay.
posted by Brando_T. at 10:35 AM on January 9, 2007