Sanyo HDR-B5GM 1-Inch Hard Drive Digital Voice Recorder

Sanyo announced their new digital Voice Recorder today, The Sanyo HDR-B5GM. The device has a built in 5 GB hard drive, probably from Segate, and should hold 57 hours of high quality recording. In low quality mode–one of 4 quality modes–the device should sport a recording time of 693 hours. The device will also play WMA and MP3 files. The recorder has a built-in microphone, speakers, and a microphone-in jack. In addition it also has a SD card slot so you can swap recordings with others.

Sanyo is claiming a “worlds first” with the new recorder, but at ¥53,000 ($507 US) it sounds like a really expensive device that we have already seen the likes of in a device like the iRiver H10 5GB which has voice recording and a whole lot more. Sure the casing resembles an old style voice recorder, but I just can’t get over the price.

Sanyo says that they will sell the HDR-B5GM in North America, but no official date has been announced.