Dear Jack,
This is not that new.      OLYMPUS DM-20 and  several Sony products will do the same thing.   All have a USB cable that ports the audio file from the digital recorder to a PC.  The PC converts the audio into e-text.  The audio recording is converted by a voice recognition system like Naturally Speaking or ViaVoice.

There is a product called Naturally Speaking Mobile which comes with a digital recorder.  

This product was designed for a user to dictate into the recorder and then later save the audio files as text on a computer.  You still must train Naturally Speaking or ViaVoice.  The quality of the audio recording will depend on where you sit in the classroom, the acoustics of the classroom and whether the instructor has consistent diction.    Naturally Speaking can work without training, but it is much better if the instructor trains it.
 Saint Mary's University in Nova Scotia started working with IBM and several universities in 1999 or 2000.   I went  back to look at the grant  program, but ASU had no money to  be a contributing  school.    The Saint Mary's program had dedicated instructors who worked to update vocabularies and keep the software accurate.
http://www.smu.ca/thetimes/dec01/article_stanford.html

http://www.smu.ca/thetimes/nov/liberated.html


Here is a review of the technology.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/s/mse1/technology/mobile.html

Richard Jones
Assistant Director
Disability Resource Center
Arizona State University


-----Original Message-----
From: * EASI: Equal Access to Software & Information
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Jack Clevenger
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 11:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: DIGITAL TAPE RECORDINGS TO COMPUTER


Hi all in DSSHE-land,

A student shared with me something that is really
unique and I wanted to ask if those of you are
using the technology that I am referring to.

The student has bought a digital recorder
(Panasonic Brand - Model Number RR VS 360)
that can record lectures and download in word
format into a computer.

Does this work as well as it seems to do for this
student and if so, this has tremendous potential
in the area of note taking assistance (not to mention
saving big dollars for student volunteers/employees).

Please comment.....I would like to know what
your experiences are if you have used this new
technology.

Jack Clevenger, Coordinator
Disability Resources and Services
Mesa Community College
Mesa, AZ