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Years ago, I tried using a micro-cassette recorder as a notepad. Some of my most active times for creative thinking are during inopportune times for writing stuff down: as I go to sleep, in the middle of the night, in the car, in the shower. I thought a micro-cassette recorder might be good for these times (OK, forget the shower) and others. The big problem: dork factor. It just looked and felt too dorky to whip a tape recorder out of my pocket at a party or lying in bed and start yammering into it. Even when nobody was around, the dork factor prevailed. The other big problem was trying to find the notes that I'd taken. Trying to find that one gem of information in a landslide of audio rubble was just too time consuming.
 Shown actual size When I saw the Voice It Voice Manager VM-15 in a catalog, I thought perhaps this new digital take on voice recording might succeed where an analog recorder had failed. The VM-15 has 5 different files (or "channels") to organize your notes and up to 22 minutes of note storage capacity. There are also organizer features: a phone book, a verbal calendar, and recorded reminders that you can play back at specified times ("Gareth, time to take your medication"). An LCD display shows you what file you're in or function you've selected. There's even a library of 16 icons you can assign to the various files (e.g. "To Do," "Personal Notes," "Appointments," etc.). Selecting the "Confidential" icon lets you access one of the 5 channels by a password only. The VM-15 has a lot going for it. So what's wrong? Several things. Several big things. The Voice It's motto is: "Simplifying the way we communicate." Sorry, but I think a notepad is still quite a bit simpler. The Voice It's interface is clunky and confusing. There are so many features and you need to press different sequences of buttons to program and utilize them. Even after spending a few days pouring over the manuals and setting everything up, I still couldn't remember how to do a number of things. I had to carry the manual around with me. "Let's see, is it select, then up and down arrows or is it option, up and down arrows and then select?" Obviously, this would likely pass after repeated daily usage, but what about rarely-used functions? The unit is heavier (at 4 ounces w/3 AAA batteries) than would be ideal for carrying around in your pocket. It also sports a sizeable lump in the back, where the battery bay is, which doesn't feel so good in your pocket. And I don't know why they put the record and playback buttons on the front. Wouldn't it have made more sense to put them on the side, where your thumb is? You can operate the recorder with one hand, but it's a stretch (and I have big hands). The phone book is a nice idea, but the labor involved in entering the numbers makes this more of a novelty than a seriously useful function. And then, there's that nagging dork factor. After I'd set everything up and started to make my first recording, I was a few words into it when I burst out laughing. I kick myself for not having saved it and attached it here. Maybe this wouldn't be a problem for other people, or for certain applications (e.g. recording alone in the car), but for me, this, and the other problems outlined above, make this baby a non-adopter. Note to self: Give up on the audio notebook idea. - Gareth Branwyn [12/8/97]
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