Worthless software Might be a nice recorder but how would I know? The Digital Voice Manager software won't work on Mac OSX. Other reviews in other forums say the DVM software is pretty awful as is. SOunds ike I borrowed the wrong recorder. Glad I didn't buy it.
Good Sound Poor PC Software The sound quality is not too bad for the price of this thing but the software to download the files to your PC is junk. I also own an RCA RP5030 which this was meant to replace. Alas this one is not as easy to use. The RP5030 saved in MP3 format while this one saves in something that can ONLY be read by using the included software. And that software is not upgradable nor available for the Mac or Linux.The only reason for the 2 stars is the mic quality which isn't too bad. Otherwise 0.
Don't Buy This Product! I didn't use the recorder much when I first bought it it was for a speech class requirement. After a year or two I decided I was going to start using it to record meetings so that when I write the minutes I'll have the meeting to refer to. I upload the recordings on my computer no problem and then listen that way so I don't run down the batteries on the recorder. For several months this worked fine then every now and then one of my recordings would not be able to play on the computer so I would listen to it from the recorder. I went online and found a site that said to reformat the recorder so I did that it worked okay for a while then started doing the same thing. Today it's different I have 2 recordings that I need to transcribe they do not show up when I look for them on the recorder however they do show up when I use the USB cord on the computer. One of the recordings I was able to convert and save to my computer the other is corrupt so not only can I save it to my computer I can't even find it to listen to it on the recorder it's totally useless!! Terrible cheap machine.
Do not recommend I don't normally write reviews of products but this recorder has driven me nuts. Very poor battery life. Most of the time I can not download files to my computer or they will not play through RCA's Digital Voice Manager. I've reformatted it several times and it will work fine for one use and then go out again. Do yourself a favor and buy something else.
Worthless Junk I'd give it less than 1 star if I could. It has some nice features and it is inexpensive however its primary function making recordings it does not do well. The literature boasts 104 hour recording capacity but it doesn't mention that if you try to make a 1.5 hour recording or longer it fails and you get an unreadable file. It wasn't until this happened to me and I started trying to retrieve the file that I found that this is a common occurrence for this machine. The value of the recorder is not in the hardware but rather in the irreplaceable recordings it makes. RCA is aware that they're selling junk and continues to do so.The .VOC file type and inconvenient proprietary software I could deal with the file corruption and loss of important recordings is inexcusable however. I will not use the recorder again.
Great little recorder for the price I've had this unit for awhile and even though this is my first digital recorder I like it. It holds 18 hrs of audio. You can download to your pc and convert to a .wav which I import to itunes and listen to class notes on my ipod. Even though I could listen or talk through a headset I like a continuous reading on my ipod.Battery life is really good two AAA's. The transfer and conversion process could be better. I can transfer entire folders but I can only convert one file at a time. My notes are short and I have a bunch. A bit of a pain but quick.Audio quality is good enough and I'm sure the fast forward and things like that could be better but for the price and a basic unit that works I like it.
A 4Star Recorder suddenly becomes 1Star The recorder has a lot of nice features and is simple to use. I like the price and the fact that it can be connected to the computer the most important aspect to me.However transferring files eventually started to fail for me producing Bad File Format errors preventing me from listening to the recorded files or ever being able to transfer them again. Customer support indicated that I must reformat the recorder thus losing the files although I could sometimes continue to listen to the recordings on the recorder once the errors began they continued to get worse making transferring the files impossible.Also battery life proved short. I tried many great brands. After several recordings the battery meter would indicate the batteries were nearly exhausted. This was pretty much consistent.When the recorder works I like the ease of use. I like the folders. And the sound isn't all that bad even in an auditorium setting. Not great either since voices often sound a bit muffled at times while environmental sounds seemed somewhat magnified.Unfortunately dependability is the issue. The recordings become more valuable than the recorder and if you cannot access them or transfer them to a computer then you are doomed to listen to them on the recorder if that hasn't failed either. I have gone through a couple of these and so have my colleagues.
Works great! This recorder works great! Hooks up seamlessly to my computer includes the Setup.exe program for Windows and I can record and review with ease.
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RCA RP5120 Digital Voice Recorder
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