Create voice history of family with digital recorders?

Anoop Verma

Digital voice recorders are useful tools for preserving memories of elderly relatives and friends. The market is full of tiny digital voice recorders, which come with remarkably powerful microphones and have hours of recording space. You can easily record entire conversations that you have with elderly relatives. You can also take voice recordings of birthday parties, wedding ceremonies, festivals and other ceremonies. Here is an overview of the few important features of a good digital recorder to help you select the device that is most suited for you:

Size and make

Ideally you should go for a digital voice recorder that is small enough to fit your pocket and comes with a high-impact plastic exterior. The device also needs to be light. Its microphone should be of high quality to enable you to take clear voice recording over a distance of few feet.

Voice recording time

You can find in the market digital voice recorders that offer more than 500 hours of recording time. But for a home user 500 hours of recording time might not be as important as the quality of the recording. The better the quality of recording, the smaller the number of recording hours that you are going to get. So basically you have to check how much recording the device can do in high quality mode.

Data storage facility

Since the digital voice recorder is often small enough to fit into your pocket and comes with an ample storage space, it makes sense to use it as a storage device for all types of files, like documents and images, along with audio. So before buying a digital voice recorder you should try to ensure that its File Management System supports all types of files. 

Automated features

The task of recording voice can become much easier when the digital recorder has full range of features. It should come with a voice activation system, which stops recording automatically as soon as there is a period of silence. The device should also have the system for cue/review to allow you to browse through your selection of recordings in a seamless and efficient manner. Perhaps you can go for a digital recorder that shows the list of recordings on a LCD type display.

PC and Phone Connectivity

PC connectivity is a must for any digital voice recorder. In fact, majority of the digital voice recorders in the market come with the facility of allowing you to transfer voice data to a PC through a USB type interface. But rather than going for a device that uses cables to connect, you should go for one that can connect directly with the PC. This will enable you to avoid the clutter of wires. Phone connectivity is also a must. Many digital recorders use the microUSB route to connect to smartphones. Some older versions of digital voice recorders come with removable flash cards.

Security features

If you are sharing your digital voice recorder with others, then you might want to have a system by which different users can log into the device and save their recordings in their individual folders. These days you can easily find digital recorders with encryption and login systems.

E-mailing and social networking features

Social networking buffs would definitely prefer a digital voice recorder that allows them to directly share their audio files with friends and family over social networks or emailing systems.

Smartphone or a digital voice recorder

The modern smartphone is capable of performing the task of a range of devices. Along with being a phone, it can also serve as a music player, a camera, a connectivity tool, a weather reporter, GPS, a digital voice recorder and much else. The question is, do you really need to go in for a dedicated digital voice recorder or will your needs be better met by a smartphone. Lot of smartphones come with advanced digital voice recording and social networking capabilities, you could consider such a device.?