For years, I’ve been carrying a pocket notebook everywhere I go. I still do. But for the last couple weeks I’ve also ben using one of these:
It’s a digital audio recorder I use to record quick notes on the go.
More specifically, this one is the Sony ICD-PX312. It’s a lovely name for sure, but I simply cvall it Sonic.
The device dates back from around 2010 or maybe 2011. Device like that used to be quite popular back then. Nowadays, they’ve mostly been replaced by phones, that worst friend of ours.
Talking about our phones, why do I not use the the voice memo app that comes with mine, or maybe some more sophisticated third-party app?
I tried but I was less than impressed by the experience. Some apps are not crappy but none was able to give me the simple experience I was looking for in a voice memo recorder:
- Buttons.
I want it to have at least one button I can press to start recording, using the tip of my finger without having to even look at it. - Instant.
No pin to unlock the screen, no fingerprints or faceID either, no user account, no updates, no screens to navigate through, no app to launch, no menus to navigate. I want it to do one simple thing which is to start recording the moment I press that Record button. - Simple.
I just want that Record button with whatever technology is required for it to record when I press it. That is all. I don’t need menus, files to name, sync, features or settings.
There are a few settings with this device (heck, it even uses folders, which was almost enough to persuade me to give it back to the sellers) and some are indeed useful but what makes the difference is that I don’t have to use them. I just need that one button. - Subscription-free.
- Ads and tracking-free.
- AI-free.
Maybe I’m too old or too silly to realize how useful that is but I don’t need auto-summarize, or auto-transcription, or smart search and enhanced audio quality. I want it to be as dumb as possible (I’ll happily deal with the smart part myself) and it to be mine, aka to be respecting my privacy. Like my pen a notebook are. - Cheap enough to carry it around without worrying much.
This is full plastic. So much plastic that I still decided to add a screen protector (a rough cut-out from a spare… Palm Pilot screen protector I somehow managed to keep to this day) over its tiny plastic screen as I doubt it stands much of a chance against my key-chain and the various stuff I often carry with me - Removable batteries that re easily replaceable.
This uses two AAA/LR03 batteries one can find anywhere on the planet. That is the exact reason why after 15+ years use it’s still working like new: one just needs to put in fresh batteries when needed and this takes mere seconds. Imagine doing that with our phones, what a revolutionary idea /s
It cannot replace my notebook and pen but it complements them quite well. Allowing me to quickly record thoughts, ideas or whatever tidbits of infos whenever I cannot as easily write that down. It does it so well that merely a few days after I started using this one, I purchased a second one (they’re quite cheap: we don’t want them anymore, we want shiny connected devices). So now I have one always with me and another that stays at home.
I though you were all about analog? Why do you use a digital recorder and not an analog one?
I tried analog. I got myself an even older type of recorder, using micro cassettes but quickly realized that:
- Prices are absurdly high for that old tech. Even more so for the micro cassettes themselves. Maybe it is some kind of fetishism or some trend going on with tapes? I don’t know and I don’t care: I’m not much into fetish, be they tech or otherwise. For me tech is just a tool, be it high or low-tech.
- This is even older tech and tech with a lot of moving parts that, being over 40 years old, could stop working any time. There is less movable part with the digital version, and no need for overpriced tapes.
- Tapes are analog. Which means that if I want to save a copy of some memos, I will need to convert them to a digital file first as, seeing how expensive the tape can be the re is no way I would keep anything long-term on them. The Sony digital thingy uses MP3 natively, which is all I need.
- I get a nicer sound using the digital recorder (the sound is quite ok: I’m no audiophile but I don’t need to clench teeth when I listen back to my melodious voice memos).
But your gizmo only comes with 2 Gb of storage!
Yep. And that’s plenty.
Keep in mind there is no updates, no apps, not nothing but the record button and the internal storage to save the file.
With those mere 2 Gb, recording at 128 kbps (or using the ‘HQ’ quality) I can record 33+ hours while, at the lowest quality/8kbps (which is still OK for voice memo, btw), I get… 536 hours.
BTW, the second device I purchased almsot the exact same model just a bit younger comes with 4Gb of internal storage (double the values I just gave you). And if that was not enough, both models can upgrade the storage up to 32Gb using a micro SD card. 32 being the maximum capacity of the card (it will not recognize any larger size card even if partitioned in smaller chunks) and that is giving an almost infinite amount of recording time. I tried and it works as expected but it also makes the device a lot slower to start as, apparently, it needs to read the content of the SD card each time it is turned on. How much slower? I have not measured but it is noticeable enough to instantly become a pain when all I use it for is for quick notes on the go. So, I removed the micro SD card.
Another reason I don’t need much storage is that I regularly plug the device to my computer and copy the mp3 files to a folder.
Since I’m lazy, I wrote a little Bash script that does the work for me: I connect the device and then launch the script (I created a shortcut for it) that copies all new files from the device to the folder, renames them (adding the hour/minutes to the name of teeach file so I can more easily locate any note I might be searching for kowning roughky when I recorded it) and finally deletes those memos of the device’s internal memory save the last day worth so I can always listen to my latest notes.
Why copy the files on the computer? Is it not simpler listen to them directly on the device?
Sure, it is. Next to the big Record button there is that other big button: Play. And then there are dedicated navigation buttons to browse through the notes. Real buttons, I mean, not menus or icons. But most of the time I prefer listening on the computer:
- The recorder comes with a standard jack for a headset (and another one for an external microphone) but I don’t want to carry one with me, and since the included tiny speaker is rather weak (at least, it is weak to my old ears)… I have no such issue listening to my notes on the computer.
- I find it much more practical to use the mpv player to listen to my notes and use a few customized keyboard shortcuts I defined to be able to easily pause/play, or rewind/skip a couple seconds even while I’m writing, a bit like if I was using a foot pedal.
Don’t I feel silly talking to my hand in public?
Do people feel silly walking around talking the void around them while they’re speaking to some remote person through their earbuds? Do people feel silly Walking like zombies their eyes glued to their phone completely absent to the world around them?
Also, unlike those people, I only do that when I feel the need to record something. Meaning that most of the time I don’t walk around like a zombie my eyes glued to my screen (or to my voice recorder). Most of the time, I look at the world around me.. which may partially explain why I may feel an itch to record a quick note here and there, about something happening or some stupid idea popping up in my head while I’m looking around? Who knows ;)
Published: 2026 Feb 24