Software link makes this device a winner.

The ICD-P520 unit gets immediate good mention because it works right out of the box. Yes, batteries were included. The recorder is slim, light, and well-balanced. The second thing you do is turn off that beep sound.

Ergonomically, the unit has few shortcomings. Sony has finally begun to re-learn that each button should serve one function. They could learn so even faster by reading my reviews. They are, at last, making the buttons different sizes and shapes even if they are really tiny buttons. The buttons are grouped together at the natural thumb position for both the right- and left-handed. Who knows, one day they may begin to give these products names instead of numbers, like they did with the Walkman.

The existence of a linkage for downloading and cataloging voice files alone thrusts this recorder a generation ahead of any simpler device. Changing folders is tricky “on the fly” and should probably not be done while driving. This is somewhat offset by the capability to move the recordings between folders later, although I use a computer for that. The ICD-P520’s ability to log the files to a computer means I have only begun to find clever uses and will try to report back once more opportunities have suggested themselves. Even at this early point of experimentation, I would already advise you not to buy a recorder without a similar download feature. In fact, insist on this feature. (The software analysis is below.)

Plan ahead, the file transfer process is painfully slow. It is odd Sony did not build the USB plug into this unit, instead you get a separate USB cable to forget at home, carry around till you lose it or discover it is exactly the wrong length. This recorder has a "Hold" switch to prevent the unit from turning on while being jostled in a pocket or purse. There is no power switch; when the batteries are installed, the display is always on. Updated April 23/08: The "Hold" slide switch seems to double as an off/on switch.

Know ye that this and other digital voice recorders are not truly digital. Only the recorded sounds in memory are digital, and you cannot randomly access the files (unless you use the included DVE (Digital Voice Editor software, see below)). With four folders and up to 99 messages per folder in this recorder, you may be doing a lot of scrolling. The unit has no moving parts, thus a relatively long battery life. The speaker is of decent quality although the extra power drain makes playback time shorter than recording time by around 30%.

The recorder has a built in loop for a lanyard, but no lanyard. The VOX (Voice Activated Recording) which Sony calls VOR (Voice Operated Recording) works well in ideal circumstances. I have not tested it anywhere except the shop bench, that is, under ideal conditions. The manual contains warnings that the unit will pick up ambient noise if handled during operation and not to use the VOR mode for important recording. You done been told.

There are three recording modes: HQ, SP, and LP. Stick with HQ. The LP is probably included as a concession just to jack up the advertised maximum recording time. The 130-hour claim is based on the LP (Long Play) mode, which although functional, is so bad it becomes annoying after a few minutes. All modes are monoaural, not stereo, including the playback headphone jack. You CAN store and transport stereo MP3 files; you CANNOT record or play them back in stereo on the device. The ICD-P520 can’t recognize non-audio files, so you can’t use it as a flash drive for text files in a pinch.

During the software install, you are asked about converting files to MP3 or using the native formats of .msv and .dvf. I left it on MP3, since I’ve never heard of the other two suffixes and there is something about trusting Sony formats that I just can’t quite put my Beta-testing finger on.

The “English” instruction manual is hilarious, sporting such gems as “At a factory setting, you cannot add a recording not to erase the message by accidental operation.” It’s just another of those extra steps that shows exactly how far Sony is prepared to go to make your consumer experience a happy one after they’ve obtained your money. (I have repeatedly offered to write these manuals for Sony but apparently they must feel I lack a grasp on the language and prefer to have the manual authored in China, where this ICD-P520 recorder is manufactured.)

The said manual contains an ominous warning not to let your laptop go into standby mode while the recorder is connected. Sony does not elaborate. Also, the recorder does not show up in your task bar as a new device, so you cannot use the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon. Be careful when unplugging the USB cable, at least until I find the correct procedure. For now, there is a small red light labeled OPR that indicates an active connection.

Sony, possessing infinite wisdom, also advises that “The battery life may shorten depending on the operation of the unit.” It is comforting to have such intellectual powerhouses on your side. The clock has to be reset after every battery change but the unit retains the files. You can set it to alarm mode where the recorder will beep and play back a message once, weekly or daily at a fixed time. Since the instructions for doing so were two and a half pages long, I have to get back to that.

The DVE (Digital Voice Editor) software.

There are some needlessly confusing installation instructions, but they boil down to DO NOT connect the recorder before installing the software and make sure you have administrator privileges. The installation asks you for an owner name, which cannot be later changed. This name is supposed to prevent modification of files except by the owner. How this works is never explained. Use a nice name, as this appears in the user/artist field when displayed on your computer.

The DVE screen seems cluttered until you get used to it. The left pane shows the contents of the four folders on the recorder, with a list of the contents below. The right pane does the same for the folders on your computer. At this point, the operation is intuitive, you drag and drop your recordings and add any user or message information. You’ll need to add information to keep track, trust me. Oddly, there is no comment field, so anything you change in the displayed fields becomes concatenated to ever longer file names, such as [001_A_002_veryatlantic_mileage_2008_04_07] where [veryatlantic] is my user name and the “message” was [mileage]. Again, this seems confusing until you use it for a while. (As far as using the underscore character as a text separator, Sony is still stuck in 1970.)

I apologize that I cannot make the following description perfectly clear, for it concerns a traditional business problem: backup copies. Be careful to ensure you know exactly what you are doing when transferring files from the recorder side to the computer side. While altering and adding field information is more natural on the left pane, you are modifying what is still in the recorder. Except for certain housekeeping, like the datestamp, there is nothing to indicate the file contents, so it is probably a good idea to add some type of description before you save it. Anyone who has kept files will recognize this delicate scenario. Any changes to the original will NOT overwrite the copy, but will create a new copy. Great for lawyers.

The literature contains several references to compatibility with Dragon Naturally Speaking software versions 5.0 and better. I have not yet investigated this claim. Please return at a future date, as I intend to completely dissect that assertion.

There is an auto-save feature that downloads all your recordings when you connect the recorder and computer which is great as long as you don’t care where everything gets dumped or what the file names are. Myself, I’ll stick with manual one-by-one backups. It is possible but not a good idea to download to more than one computer, so decide early which one you will use. This is because two downloads would have two different file names on different computers, creating a backup nightmare. You cannot, as far as I now know, synch the files like a PDA.

The software and attendant ability to download the files is what separates this recorder from lesser units. Be prepared to learn the software. The manual states this software interface cannot be used with Apple computers.

Update April 16, 2008
The DVE software is quite easy to use once you get the hang of it. Also, the DVE will play back in more modes on your computer than possible with the recorder alone. You can adjust the file-naming convention to include less clutter, and you can rearrange the display of previously saved files to show the "message" field first. (This gives the impression of good organization.) Each time you clear the recorder, the auto-naming sequence begins over again, so be sure to include a date field in your file names or you get (file name) conflicts.

A little more good news. When you use a stereo plug, the 1/8" headphone jack plays back the recording on both channels. Although it plays it back in mono (never stereo), at least Sony has finally learned NOT to have it play back mono through the left speaker only. Through headphones, the sound appears to originate from exactly the middle of your brain. Sony definitely got it right, this time anyway.

Update May 2, 2008
May we have a show of hands - how many people just knew that Sony would not leave well enough alone? I have report yet another example of insipid Sony stupidity that again proves they only hire brilliant idiots over there. Okay, the trouble is the DVE software. It just plain makes sense that one of the primary factors for keeping voice records is to date/timestamp those records.

Well, the Sony recorder date/timestamps whatever you record, and when you plug in the USB cable to your computer, it displays a sortable list of those date/timestamps. HOWEVER, when you drag and drop those files from the recorder to the computer, get this: The Sony software wipes out the original date/timestamp and replaces it with the computer date and time!

Trust Sony to carry no warning of this quirk, and bury it deep enough that you don't notice it right away. Now, instead of the file log I thought I had, all of my files are dated on a Wednesday around 10:00 PM, the time I do the transfers. Furthermore, since this field is not editable on the computer side, if you ever sort the log, you cannot sort it back. Way to go, Sony!

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Note my convention of usage. I use the square brackets [ ] to indicate anything typed literally between the brackets. I believe I invented this system in 1982. I noticed every set of instructions with quotation marks had to waste time and energy explaining whether or not the punctuation was included. Using my method, it is very easy to understand exactly what to enter: [John Smith] or ["John Smith"] and if square brackets were included, just nest them [[John Smith]]. This is also better grammar, for as far as I know, the only language in the world dismal enough to regularly use more than three punctuation marks in a row is C+ (and its derivatives) "which is also the average grade of the people who use it".