Voice Recorders - What do you get for your money?

Voice Recorders - What do you get for your money?

Considering that technology is rapidly developing everyday it is naturally quite confusing to keep up with it all. Voice Recorders are no different. I remember when I first saw the talkboy being used by Macaulay Culkin in the Home Alone movie and I thought it was the best bit of kit I had seen in years. Of course the more money you spend the more advance the product is going to be.

So, what can you get for your money? Well, good quality voice recorders start from about £141.00 inc VAT and trust me that is a great price for an exciting bit of technology. For £141 you get the usual gadgets, gizmos, and features that you would expect to come with a standard voice recorder ie: mp3 player, FM radio, full digital interface, USB connection amongst a few others.

Add another £100 or so onto that and you will find some amazing progressive and innovative features added including a true OLED display, smaller design, higher performance, password protected access, in-built time and date calendar, voice activation, scheduled recording and even special modifications for further enhanced audio quality that cannot be reached through standard manufacturing capabilities. For roughly £280.00 you can get hold of Solar Powered Voice Recorders or super small Miniature Voice Recorders. Some of the smallest voice recorders in the world are offered for this price and are even smaller than a 50p coin!

The more you pay for voice recorders the more advanced, unique and creative the design will be. Each voice recorder starts with the same basic features applied to all of them however the difference between paying £141.00 to £280.00 upwards is the extraordinary design innovation and technological advancements you really wouldn’t expect to find.

Here are two of my favourite voice recorders!!

USB Datastick Voice Recorder
One of the most reliable selling voice recorders with superb specification! This USB Datastick Voice Recorder is a great d…
Our Price: £141.00
More Info…

Stereo Voice Recorder
One of the smallest, professional voice recorders in the world! This Miniature Model is one of the smallest, ded…
Our Price: £276.13
More Info…

Covert GPS Mobile Phone Tracking

Im really quite excited about writing this subject topic because there are absolutely no negative points about this awesome Covert GPS Mobile Phone Tracking. Sure, there are many tracking applications out there and in further detail I will explain but for now be prepared for the brand new release of OSS Technologys groundbreaking Covert GPS Mobile Phone Tracking. I will explain just why this application is far superior than any other on the market or very much I am likely to see in the future.

I was informed just over 2 weeks ago I would be presented with something quite special to get my teeth into and surely enough 2 weeks and 3 days later I was asked to bring any Symbian handset with me that had in-built GPS. My trusty N95 8GB was the subject of what was to be something really amazing. At the OSS office I handed over my N95 and was promptly handed it back less than 5 minutes later. I was then asked to check the handset for anything unusual in appearance and if any settings had been changed - nothing unusual I could see!

I was then instructed to take a drive or walk for at least 30 minutes and during that time to make a few calls, check the screen display and look for anything out of the ordinary like the handset running slow on applications etc. OK, so obviously SOMETHING was on my beloved N95 and I guessed it was a tracking application with being sent on my way so here is an accurate description of how this went..

Setting off at 10:50am I made a short stay trip into Stockport Town Centre followed by a drive towards Manchester City Centre along the main A6 road at 11:14am. I took a call from OSS asking me to park on any road as they could see I was driving! I made a few detours around the back streets before parking up. ”So where am I then I asked eagerly”

‘Your parked on Macferren Street around number 16?” replied OSS. At this point I looked across the door numbers to see I was parked about 30 feet from the given location and with a blank expression I knew this product was going to be something special. Let me just clarify what is going on here. My handset is out of my possession for just 5 minutes then I go on a brief drive where I am asked to find anything unusual with my phone. I can hardly believe that I am accurately being tracked to street level and not have a clue about it!  With excitement I headed back to OSS where they were expecting me (seen as they could see I was in the carpark from their PC). Although I was gone just under an hour I was amazed to see the tracking console had actually pinged my location every 20 seconds on the Virtual Earth platform but better than that, every 20 seconds it gave a detailed location of the street name and door number!

On further examination and with frustration to try and find an answer on my phone I was not able. My N95 showed absolutely no indication I was being tracked. I could see no icons, no draining battery, no slow applications, in fact I had no idea I was being tracked so accurately. Next, the software was explained in greater detail how a simple software file transfer to the handset followed by one simple SMS command (which incidently is not acknowledged on my N95 or even logged) actived the in-built GPS receiver to ping my position back to the OSS tracking console. I have NEVER seen this kind of tracking and so covertly accurate it is frightning!

You will find there are 2 types of tracking applications available. The first is GSM based tracking which is much cheaper however the accuracy is not very good and can be at the very least many miles away from the handsets true location. Further to this, GSM based tracking is not covert and a 3rd party service provider is used which also randomly sends SMS messages to the handset to acknowledge that they are being tracked. The second type is GPS based tracking and this can be as accurate to 2 meters however I have never seen a GPS tracking application which is completely covert like this one. I would be very interested to know if any company has anything similar in terms of being covert, this software is COMPLETELY covert and I mean Ziltch, Zero, De nada presence.

As if the tracking software wasn’t good enough, the software can be remotely activated and deactivated without giving any indication on the handset or even logging that any SMS had been sent! The software is completely invisable and untraceable and words cannot put into context just how good this product really is. The possibilies are endless with this type of application and my first thought is aimed at concerned parents especially those who have children who stay out late and want peace of mind. I also expect children who go missing could be tracked quickly, and spouses who disappear amongst other thoughts.

The software exchanges protocols with a great tracking console with features that include an Auto Refresh button (you can actually see the balloons drop on the street name where the handset is located in Real Time), a time and date calender, a geo-fencing feature which puts an invisable ring around the handset and will alert you once the handset moves out of that invisable ring plus many more fantastic features. This package has it all - a brilliant tracking console with accompanied covert tracking software which is implimented with adavanced hidden background features to operate at optimum performance, this sure is one hell of a product.

I could write much much more about this product, it is a brilliant slice of technology far more advanced than any other tracking application available today. This product deservedly receives top marks in every way for ease of use, performance and stealth like features and operation.

Verdict:

Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder

A Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder? Hmm, either it is or it isnt right? I mean whats the point of a SEMI COVERT pen voice recorder! In a previous review I did get to grips with the COVERT PEN RECORDER and that really was a supreme piece of kit however, I feel if a surveillance product is to be developed then the word ‘covert’ applies top of the list otherwise it’s just your average voice recorder. Having said all this negativity, there are 2 valid reasons for advertising this product:

1. The long 17hr recording time
2. The audio quality

A 17hr recording time is very good for any voice recorder and this Semi-Covert Voice Recording Pen does deliver a solid 17hrs recording time due to a decent in-built fully rechargeable lithium. It’s easy to be misguided by recording times as many advertisers state 36/64/128/260 recording times and this is a crazy assumption as even the best recorders in the world do not have a battery performance to carry this through without compromising on audio quality however, not only can this Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder perform to 17hrs but the audio quality is absolutely fantasic. This device is easily on par with the audio of the Covert Watch Voice Recorder.

This Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder was tested out for useabilty and a bold step was taken to wave this in the face of innocence without causing the party to ask what the 4 buttons were! Unfortunately, whilst the Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder is a black colour and doesnt have any markings, it does let the side down with 4 buttons on display and this device simply isnt good enough to pass a visual examination. My recommendation is to use this device as a pure recording facility only suitable for the jacket pocket or leaving out of sight. The microphone is good enough to leave the Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder in an environment where an audio pick-up of 20ft is very acceptable.

The pen cleverly unscrews in the middle (the bottom half is the shortened ink cartridge) and the top half is the integrated flash chipset which allows you to connect the device directly to your computer and is absolutely visually impossible to know this secret compartment. Simply connect into the USB slot of your computer and it will be immediately recognised (Windows XP) as a mass storage device. The options to playback the audio files are now available. To back up the claim this device works on Windows Vista PC’s is also true however you do need to go to START MENU/MY COMPUTER, and then double click the REMOVEABLE MASS STORAGE DEVICE to get the same effect. Once a voice recording had been made, an automatic folder named ‘Voice’ is visible and inside this folder are your saved audio files.

This Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder is available in a 2GB version to offer maximum storage capacity. Charging is as easy as plugging it into your computer where it automatically recharges the internal lithium battery and the mechanical operation of this device is just as described - ‘Plug and Play’. There are no drivers or software to install and no cables either which is refreshing. Playing back the audio files is done either directly though your computers media player such as Windows Media, RealPlayer or QuickPlayer, or whatever audio software integration you may have installed on your computer OR you can use the supplied earphones which connect just the same as the data cable. Using these earphones is not just for it’s audio playback, you can store MP3 songs and listen back through the earphones too! I found the quality of songs extremely good clarity and no different to purchasing an MP3 player to do the same job.

Summary: This Semi-Covert Pen Voice Recorder doesnt shine as a covert device disguised as a pen but it does receive the highest marks for audio quality. If you have the option to hide this device or use in a top shirt pocket then it is a recording dream and playback (even at far distances) is very very impressive.

Verdict: