Livescribe Echo (8GB)

The Livescribe Echo is a ballpoint pen and voice recorder combination that preserves digital copies of your notes and recordings, which can be replayed, saved to your computer and shared with others

It's not cheap; pens and caps tend to get lost; digitizing notes requires special paper; ink cartridges are smaller than standard

For students and professionals who ritually take, review, and share handwritten notes, the Echo smartpen does what all great technology should do: it makes life easier.

Livescribe takes a fantastic idea and makes it even better, introducing a new app platform to its outstanding recording devices.

Excellent mic and speaker quality ; Records audio and pen strokes ; Can output as PDF ; Features an app platform

Ballpoint tips aren't great ; No travel charger included

The Echo smartpen comes in two storage options, a 4GB model for AU$259 and an 8GB pen for AU$299, with Livescribe estimating about 100 hours of recording per gigabyte. When you can buy a Dictaphone for under AU$100 and a pad and paper for about AU$10,...

Even the simple act of taking notes is being given a digital makeover in the ever-advancing world of technology. The LiveScribe 8GB Echo Smartpen transforms your written notes into digital form, while recording everything you hear and write and...

Comfortable to use; Organises, shares and stores written content; Support for GoogleDocs, Evernote and Facebook

High initial cost; Expensive apps; Takes time to get used to software; No OCR software

As a person who takes several pages of notes every work day, this tool is great. I travel every week, covering 16 states and half of Canada, speaking to literally hundreds of people within a few months, plus notes I take while on the phone. Everything...

I sketch in my notes, so it's great to document those ideas. Forwarding my notes and customer requests to my inside guy to follow up on or create proposals saves me from rewriting or typing everything at the end of the day

It's a bit big for a pen, but it doesn't keep me from using it. The cap does disappear eventually, so keep some on hand

it not a great a product, im actually a little disappointed to see CNET rate such a bad item so high, Target and Best buy sell so few of these each month. its really more a gimmick pen and it does not record notes well at all.

the pen is one of a kind, and does provide the features it says at a great level

the product has too many bugs, like any other recording device it can skip and also when taking notes it only gets about 60-70% of the writing, if you draw anything complex, it wont get it

it not a great a product, im actually a little disappointed to see CNET rate such a bad item so high, Target and Best buy sell so few of these each month. its really more a gimmick pen and it does not record notes well at all.

the pen is one of a kind, and does provide the features it says at a great level

the product has too many bugs, like any other recording device it can skip and also when taking notes it only gets about 60-70% of the writing, if you draw anything complex, it wont get it

Do not buy it.

None, None, None, None

Computer will to recognize, both Mac and PC. Customer service is terrible

Bottom line: It's reliable for class notes, meeting notes and lecture notes. But if you have to draw, that's where the pen will get lost. For drawing of any kinds, I often find myself back to Bamboo tablets.

Great for taking notes, scribble your thoughts and doodles. Will capture most of your writing

Absolutely not for complex drawing, structural design or any diagrams. The pen will not capture most of the data

I have been using the Pulse Smartpen (previous version to the Echo) every day for over a year now. The new Echo pen solves all the problems with the older Pulse. The rubber grip makes it more comfortable to hold, the edges prevent the pen from rolling...

New Echo pen solves design problems with previous Pulse pen. The audio is surprisingly good. Desktop software allows notes to be combined into "virtual notebooks". Can share notes with audio using Pencast or online

Notes containing audio cannot be exported to other programs (like OneNote or Evernote.) Very tricky to sync or move your notes using more than one computer. Limited notebook types containing special paper. Hard to print your own dot paper

Bottom line: It's reliable for class notes, meeting notes and lecture notes. But if you have to draw, that's where the pen will get lost. For drawing of any kinds, I often find myself back to Bamboo tablets.

Great for taking notes, scribble your thoughts and doodles. Will capture most of your writing

Absolutely not for complex drawing, structural design or any diagrams. The pen will not capture most of the data

I have been using the Pulse Smartpen (previous version to the Echo) every day for over a year now. The new Echo pen solves all the problems with the older Pulse. The rubber grip makes it more comfortable to hold, the edges prevent the pen from rolling...

New Echo pen solves design problems with previous Pulse pen. The audio is surprisingly good. Desktop software allows notes to be combined into "virtual notebooks". Can share notes with audio using Pencast or online

Notes containing audio cannot be exported to other programs (like OneNote or Evernote.) Very tricky to sync or move your notes using more than one computer. Limited notebook types containing special paper. Hard to print your own dot paper

Man, this pen is awesome. It's like, the future right here. In a pen. Does anyone know where to pick one up for cheap?

I struggle with typing which i have tried in lectures with a blackberry. But this is great. I can even record a song to teach my musos how it should sound. To Amanda E, my understanding is the headphones have built in mics so any remote mic that can be...

Love it Love it. Beats learning to type

8 pages per pen tip & a little bulky