Release Date:July 13, 2008 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Promotion:Save $5.00 when you spend $25.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.Terms and Conditions Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Features:
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Record and link audio to what you write
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Listen to your recordings by tapping on what you wrote
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Search and share your notes and recordings from your computer
If you spend time in meetings, check this out!September 1, 2008 For folks like me who spend a lot of time in meetings and take a lot of notes: get one of these things and fast. Day 1: I unpacked it, played wiht it a little, and that evening tried it in a small conference room taking notes on a speaker-phone conference call with someone in China. His english wasn't great, and I found that going back and being able to listen (over and over) to *exactly* the place I didn't understand was a huge help. Day 2: went to an "all hands" meeting in the cafeteria with 5 different speakers. I used the headphones around my neck (as recommended), set the microphone for auditorium, and took notes exactly as I ususally do. Afterwards, I was simply amazed at how much more information I was able to retrieve, and quickly. An hour later, I'm in a medium sized conference room with 2 other people, using just the mic on the pen--again, fabulous results. Next meeting: a one-on-one, and I'm totally digging this thing. (as I said, I attend a LOT of meetings.)
If you ever have used a voice recorder, or have wanted to use a voice recorder, this is the gizmo for you. The ability to "instantly" recall anything you heard is a huge productivity gain. Everyone I've showed it to at work wants one.
The USB cradle (with cool magnetic catch to hold the pen easily) works nicely to charge the device quickly. I'd give the software interface a "B"--it's not bad, but a little awkward. If you think iTunes is logical, you might like this; I'm not quite in that camp. But that's just the UI side. What the software DOES is pretty amazing: plug in your pen, and all your notes appear on the screen, just as you wrote them. You can click through them and hear the conversation, but you can also SEARCH for words you've written. This works amazingly well, even on crappy rushed-meeting-fast-note handwriting. wow.
Recommendations: buy the 2GB version, and get a few of the small black notebooks--they're nice. Note: watch the series numbers on the notebooks--if you buy several, make sure you buy them with different series numbers. This is probably the only "gotcha" with this product, but it is much less limiting than it sounds. Then, snoop around your collection of eye-glass boxes for one that can hold the pen, the earphones, adn the USB cradle. I found an old fountain pen box that works great, so I can throw everything in my pack and I'm ready to rock.
This is an outstanding product at a reasonable price, that will make you more productive from the first time you use it...
Great device, a real lifesaver for a forgetful college student!August 28, 2008 I have used this pen for two semesters now and I just love it!! I had a music class and this pen really helped when looking back on my notes. I simply created an icon for when the music was played and then double clicked to hear a sample of what was played along with my notes. I use it for recording seminars and complicated classes and I have found it really good in quality... I was amazed at how well it picks up the speaker of the class even when he/she is across the room! The paper is not too expensive, and the 2GB of storage is helpful. The software it comes with could be better, but the company seems to want to help if you have questions...
Overall the pricetag is well worth the tool... I really love my pen.
Awesome device but limited usefulnessAugust 26, 2008 3 out of 9 found this review helpful
I was really excited to get this device and was really looking forward to using it in meetings especially. Unfortunately, my main workstation is Linux and despite my best efforts I was unable to get it to work in any virtual Windows environment that I tried (VMWare or VirtualBox). This is the first hardware device that I have bought and not been able to get working in one of these environments. Livescribe was no help at all. Their only response is that they don't support Linux. I ended up returning the pen for a refund.
Bottom line, great device but I can't use it. The first company that comes out with a device like this that I can use in Linux (even in a Windows virtual machine) and I'll be the first one to buy it. I won't be holding my breath...
Awesome PenAugust 20, 2008 6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I purchased this pen directly from Livescribe. I received it this past week, and am seriously loving it! I am a college student and feel that this is going to be perfect for classes. Some argue that you could just use your laptop on campus to take notes, so why bother using this pen? I have found that my laptop is more of a distraction than it's worth. My campus has wireless internet everywhere, so I find that most of the time I'm surfing the internet or chatting with friends online during lectures. I know I'm not alone in this. My major requires everyone to have laptops, and organizes us in teams. I know that at least 50-75% of us are not paying attention at any one time, running OneNote in the background, feeling like we're "listening" but really not.
This pen really is an alternative to my laptop for me. I really have to mentally interact with the lecture, and anything that I miss is linked to my writing. Before laptops were ubiquitous in college, I used to record my lectures and did well on tests. The only downside was that I had to skip through the audio to find what I needed. I stopped doing this when I bought a laptop, but it really didn't help me. The Pulse is really the perfect answer, and I expect my grades to improve this year. I also plan on lugging around less since I'll be able to leave my laptop at home. No distractions and less weight!
I have been using this pen for the last week while attending a few workshops, and it is amazing! Really, it's so nice to be able to tap on your notes and hear exactly what the speaker was saying. It's so much better than just recording the whole thing and jumping around, or just taking text notes alone. It's the perfect fusion!
Finally, some have complained that there is no OCR in this pen. For one, when you upload your files, the software does an awesome job of locating words in your hand-writing! This allows you to search. Also, I really don't feel like I need OCR. I know some do, but if that's your aim, there are probably alternatives that will work for you. The killer app of this pen is the ability to link audio to handwriting, and it does it very well. If OCR comes in the future, great! But if not, it still is an awesome pen and will be very useful.
The audio quality is awesome! I was in a lecture hall and I couldn't really hear the speaker as well as I'd like to. I was using the pen without the headphone microphones (which you can search around an learn about, but just know that they're suggested to be used when audio quality is poor. Lecture-hall-type situations, you know?) and thought that my pen wouldn't pick it up. It did! It picked up the sound very well. I was so impressed.
Anyway, if you can't tell, I'm a fan of this pen. Research it, understand what you're getting, and also understand what you're not getting. If you do your research and want the ability to focus on the lectures, and not the process of taking notes, this pen is for you!
Very well worth the moneyAugust 20, 2008 6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This pen is simply amazing.
I am an undergraduate student in a research group at a popular university. Lab meetings have become a breeze now that I have this pen. I just simply tap record and then jot down small notes throughout the meeting, which allows me to pay more attention to what is being said. If I am having trouble at a later time understanding the notes from the meeting, then all I need to do is tap on the notes themselves, and I will hear the conversation taking place at the exact moment I took the notes.
Apart from lab meetings, I can use this pen to document results from some of the experiments I perform. These results can later be digitized simply by connecting my pen to my computer because the pen stores all of the notes on its internal memory. Thankfully, I never have to go through the trouble of scanning all of the notes page by page.
Livescribe, the company behind the Pulse, also has a very helpful customer support service. There were a few delays in shipping to early adopters when the product first launched, but with a call to customer service, my worries were completely resolved. The people you speak with make you feel as if you are the CEO. They are very nice and helpful.
Pros: -Instantly digitize any notes -Voice recording -super-Voice playback (super because it is totally awesome, and you HAVE to try it to believe what I'm talking about) -Good battery life -Very adequate storage space inside pen for notes and audio recordings. -Pen feels good in my hand (I'm a man with 3.25 in long middle finger, 2.8 in long pointer finger, and 2.6 in long thumb measuring to the top of my palm. So, I don't have a very large hand, which means this pen should fit mostly everyone.) -Many more pros that go unlisted
Cons: -Battery is not easily interchangeable (as far as I can tell). -Memory inside the pen is not expandable. -Pen may roll off of a table easily if you aren't careful where it is placed.
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