This digital voice recorder has very good sound quality, as would be expected for a Sony. At 192 kbps, the ST mode could work in a pinch to record music. the STSP mode, at 128 kbps, is a good general purpose mode. The LP mode, at 8 kbps, is the only mode that sounds at all bad, but compensates by being able to record for over 200 hours. Even in the ST mode, 12 hours will fit. Battery life is OK, but using lithium batteries will increase this. This is perfect for students who like to keep records of lectures. At 128 kbps (STSP), 2 days of classes can fit on 1 CD. At 32 kbps (SP mono), 8 days will fit on 1 CD with adequate sound quality. 32 days will fit at 8 kbps, but the sound would be hopelessly garbled. 53 days will fit on one DVD at 32 kbps.
Updated on Oct 11, 2009
This digital voice recorder has very good sound quality, as its from Sony. At 192 kbps, the ST mode could work in a pinch to record music. the STSP mode, at 128 kbps, is a good general purpose mode. The LP mode, at 8 kbps, is the only mode that sounds a bit bad, but compensates by being able to record for over 200 hours. Even in the ST mode, 12 hours will fit. Battery life is great. This is perfect for students, like me, who like to keep records of lectures. I would suggest to record at 48kbps (STLP mode), which's just perfect for learning...ALSO it has Voice Operated Recording as well as Digital Pitch Control which is just great...
Do not let deception higher price led you to believe this is better quality than lower-end models such as Sony ICDB600 series. Although these lower-end model records in mono mode, the equiped software can easily converts recordings to various formats including MP3 stereos. Day to day use taking notes or go to classes, the lower-end modles delivers much promising sound quality than this UX70.