I love the way Mark turns each review into a story, either taking us along to a Hawaiian luau or some outlandish folk music festival. He shares some more anecdotes in the podcast interview we did a while back.

To echo Matthew’s point, I always keep a stereo voice recorder in my pocket. I’ve captured some great moments just because it was there. And the quality is good enough for many productions when I mix the recordings behind other elements.

David Battino
Audio Editor
O’Reilly Digital Media

I think the key to the PMD620 is that it’s a very good portable recorder for spoken voice. Not as good as the FlashMic, but noticeably better than the Zooms.

In some cases I think it’s likely to be a BETTER choice than the Sony device. If you are going to be recording music, or you’ll mostly be using an external mic, then the Sony is by all accounts the better solution (as Brad has noted).

However, if you want a small, handheld voice recorder then the PMD620 seems better than the Sony for several reasons:

1. many fewer problems with handling noise and wind relative to the Sony

2. smaller & more portable than the Sony

3. the internal mics actually have a good recording quality (from what I can tell from samples they are better or the same as the Sony’s internals).

Together these 3 factors make a compelling case for the PMD620 for the right person. Good quality recording with fewer wind/handling noise problems is a big plus. The size is also a plus.

However, if you want to record music, or use with an external mic most of the time, then the Sony seems the way to go. It really seems to depend on your needs. For me, the PMD620 is something I ALWAYS have with me “just in case” something interesting pops up in daily life that I want to capture. The combo of portability and quality has proven to be very useful.