INTRODUCING MICRO-SPEAK -
THE ACCESSIBLE VOICE RECORDER FROM TALKING PRODUCTS
JACKIE BROWN
They come in all shapes and sizes, and many of them are either too expensive or not accessible enough. Enter Micro-Speak, a lightweight voice recorder with tactile buttons and audible prompts, all at an affordable price.
DESCRIPTION
When I removed the Micro-Speak from its box, I held it the wrong way up until I realised that the buttons and display are on the lower portion of the front, nearest you. The speaker occupies the remainder of the front face, with the microphone hidden behind its speaker grille. Small round up and down buttons and a 3.5mm headphone socket can be found on the right side of the unit. An on-off switch is situated on the bottom of the device. Slide it to the left to turn on Micro-Speak, and right to turn it off. A micro USB port lies to the right of the on/off switch. Plug the supplied cable into the unit with its two tiny notches facing down. You can plug the other end of the cable into your computer to access recordings or the manual, and this will charge your device at the same time. Alternatively, you can purchase a universal USB wall plug to charge it away from the computer. Micro-Speak has a non-replaceable rechargeable 400mAH Lithium-ion Polymer battery. It is recommended you charge and discharge this a few times to receive the correct battery percentage at start-up. Charge time is approximately two to three hours after its first few cycles.
There are only four operation buttons on the device. Closest to the front edge of the unit, nearest you, are three buttons, Back, Play/Pause, and Forward. A two-line LCD screen separates these buttons from the Record key above, a nice size to access and press to start or pause recordings.
Micro-Speak measures 105 by 60 by 22mm, and weighs 222g. The unit is charcoal grey and black, with grey buttons and a red Record button.
USING MICRO-SPEAK
When you turn on Micro-Speak, you will always hear the prompt “Ready,” followed by battery level which is announced in increments of high, medium, low, and empty. Micro-Speak comes with an MP3 guide which orientates you with the machine. Simply press Play to hear this, and Pause to stop listening. You can remove the guide from your device if you don’t want it at any time.
Recording notes, lectures or other audio is extremely simple. Just press the large red Record button. Wait for the beep that indicates you are recording, and speak into the internal microphone. The word “Recording” appears on the display together with the time lapse. When you have finished, press the Play/Pause button. You will hear two beeps to indicate that the recording has been paused. If you wish to continue recording, press Play/Pause again and wait for the single beep to indicate your recording has resumed. When recording is complete, press the Record button and hear three beeps to confirm your message has been saved. Micro-Speak gives each file a name which is not announced on the unit.
Recordings are saved onto the internal 2gb of memory in a folder called Record. You can delete your files in two ways, either by connecting the Micro-Speak to your computer, as described above, or by deleting them individually on the machine itself. To do the latter, press Play, then use the Back or Forward buttons to skip through your messages. When you find the one you wish to get rid of, hold the Play button and wait for the voice prompt: “Playback paused, delete file, yes or no?” At this juncture, Micro-Speak beeps twice for “no.” If you do want to delete the message, move either the Back or Forward key to hear one beep, which is for “Yes.” Now press Play again to confirm deletion. It’s as simple as that! Files are recorded in WAV 192KBPS, and you can play files in either MP3 or WAV format.
The machine also has a useful cue and review facility. When you are playing audio, press and hold the Back or Forward buttons to skip through your message or track.
Note that non-use of the Micro-Speak for more than 30 seconds causes the LCD display to turn off, so you will need to press any key on the unit to wake it up again. Micro-Speak will also shut off to conserve battery life after 15 minutes of inactivity. You will need to turn the unit off and then back on with the slider switch to start using it again.
Documentation for Micro-Speak comes on the unit. Simply access the spoken guide by pressing Play, or access the PDF and Word versions of the manual by connecting your device to your computer. As well as the Record folder, you will see the documentation for Micro-Speak in the root of its memory.
CONCLUSION AND PRICING
This is a really neat little product from Talking Products Ltd,
Those who simply want a small, lightweight device with speech and audible prompts will find it straightforward to use with no added bells and whistles to cause confusion. The speaker on the device is clear, recordings are more than satisfactory, and deleting material is very simplistic. Olympus recorders are fantastic, but carry voice guidance on only some of their machines, with many having no audible feedback at all. Only the DM5 and DM7 units are equipped with Text-To-Speech (TTS.) And you will pay a lot more if you purchase a bespoke player with added DAISY functionality on the likes of Victor Reader Stream, the Milestone players, or Hims family of products.
My only slight concern is that the battery is not user-replaceable, so fingers crossed it has a relatively long life.
But you can’t argue with the quality of this machine for the £39.95 price tag (if you are VAT exempt.) It is available from Computer Room Services, 01438 742286, or online,
You can also purchase from Amazon, but it won’t come with voice prompts. Only Talking Products Ltd and Computer Room Services sell the device with this feature.