Gone are the days when, if you wanted to dictate messages or record meetings you had to worry about cassette tapes and how long your machine would run. We are now in a digital age and with the advances in digital technology you can record information on tiny little machines which are light and easy to carry around and slip easily into a small space in your pocket, briefcase or handbag.

I saw the Sony ICD-B 500 on the Amazon web site for £35.98 (with free delivery if you want the super saver delivery). It is a little cheaper on Pixmania but you pay extra for delivery.

The machine has lots of features - for the technically minded it reads like this:
Product Type: Digital Dictaphone
Digital Player Type: Based on a flash memory
Casing Colour: Silver
Audio System Capacity: 256 MB
Digital Storage Media: Flash memory - built-in
Sound Output Mode: Mono
Output Power / Total: 250 mW
Built-in clock: Digital clock
Features: Battery level indication, voice operated recording, microphone sensitivity selection
Built-in Display: Alarm Wake-up Modes LCD
Speaker System Features: 1 x speaker - built-in - 250 mW
Digital Player (Recorder) Recording Time: 1,825 mins - HQ (High Quality), 4,875 mins - SP (Standard Play), 9,015 mins - LP (Long Play)
Data Storage Capability Up to 99 files / 4 folders
Headphones Type: Loudspeaker
Microphone Type: Microphone - built-in
Microphone Operation Mode: Multi-directional
Connections: Type 1 x headset, 1 x DC power input, 1 x microphone
Battery Power Consumption Operational: 2 x battery - AAA type
Run Time: (Up To) 22 hour(s)
Battery Life Details: Digital recording - up to 22 hour(s)

Now my interpretation of all the technical stuff told me that this handy little machine was battery operated and with fresh batteries it was capable of doing 22 hours of recording. It has reasonably good storage capapcity for all that digital data at 256 Mb and some very long recording times (depending on the quality you set it to record at). You can plug in a headset if you want to listen to the recording in private and you can attach a microphone if you wish although the built in microphone is generally very adequate. You also have the option to connect to mains power. It sounded like just the kind of machine to suit my needs but just one word of warning - it does not have a USB connection to allow you to link it direct to a PC to transfer your digital recording so if you want to store your recorded data for long periods this isn't the machine for you. There are lots of recorders out there that do offer this feature but, in my experience, they tend to be more expensive and to be honest I didn't feel it was something I needed.

I was really pleased when I unpacked my purchase. It is a really neat little unit , silver coloured and very smart. It measures about 110 x 15 x 30 mm and it quite lightweight but not fragile. It comes complete with instructions in more languages than I care to remember but the languages are all in separate booklets so you can throw away the ones you don't need rather than having a huge book in various languages. The instructions were laid out in a way that was easy to follow with lots of helpful illustrations and using the machine is pretty much intuitive anyway so I only needed to look at the instructions to find out more about some of the features.

Yes I would. I found it easy to use and reliable in operation. I have used it to record messages and reminders and the quality of recordings is good for such a small machine. I have even used to record meetings when it was in my handbag (and this is where the 'lock' button comes in handy to prevent accidentally switching the machine off) and found that the quality of the recording was suprisingly good.