Sony M-670V Handheld Cassette Voice Recorder - Small and Recording With Ease!

Author's Rating:

Pros: easy to use, good sound

Cons: no major ones here

The Bottom Line: 
The Bottom Line is this particular voice recorder is small and meets all my needs. 

Author's Review
My job requires me to voice record myself reading aloud stories to students.  The students do not have to listen back to my recording, but rather it keeps a record of what was read aloud in my room as well as any additional noises or voices that occur during the reading.  Since this is related to a secure, standardized state testing matter, the performance of the recorder is paramount.

After years of having subpar recorders that often failed to record our voices adequately, the school I work for purchased the Sony M-670V Handheld Cassette Voice Recorder.  I have used mine for 2-3 years now and continue to be pleased with its performance.  Though it does a lot more than we specifically use it for, it seems all in all a great purchase for many.

The Sony M-670V Handheld Cassette Voice Recorder is a small, slim, handheld silver recorder.  It requires microcassettes and is a mini recorder. It has a counter on the front as well as room for the microcassette and speaker.  The one side has well marked buttons for stop, play, record, fast forward, rewind and pause.  There is also a fast playback button.  The top of the recorder has inputs for Ear and Microphone as well as a Volume dial.  The opposite side has a Tape Speed switch with two speeds, an option to turn the Voice Operated Recorder on and off, and a 3V DC input.  Ours came with a set of batteries as well as an outlet plug.  The company states that the battery lasts for 15 hours, though due to state testing I have to keep the recorder plugged in at all times. 

Though I only use the play, record and rewind buttons mainly I appreciate the other features.  I especially think that the Voice Operated Recorder could be very useful - it only records when there is a noise/voice to record.  This could potentially save a lot of tape!  Again, due to testing mandates I have to allow the recorder to run throughout the entire session, whether someone is speaking or not.

Besides the ease of use, the thing I really like and appreciate about this recorder is the good sound quality I get when I play back the tape.  I can hear my voice and any additional sounds and noises clear as a bell. This is critical because my tape recording can get audited by the state and it is imperative that the people listening to it can clearly hear what was going on.  I appreciate the size and minirecorder because it takes up less space and is unobtrusive in my testing room. Often the children forget about it since it is so small.  (previous years the children seemed mesmerized by the large recorders and tape decks sitting on our testing tables)  Also, after testing, the tapes take up significantly less room in storage! 

The Sony M-670V Handheld Cassette Voice Recorder ismy springtime testing friend and I am so glad that my work purchased them for us.