While most of us have several devices, including our smartphones, that can relatively easily do quick audio recordings, it’s still nice to have a dedicated device for the purpose, particularly if you regularly need such a function. THZY’s USB Flash Drive (SK-868) is multi-function, which is always good when you’re asked to carry around yet another device, and has an interesting form factor.

 

The USB Flash Drive has the same basic form factor as a typical USB flash drive, but with the addition of an on/off switch (when on and recording, there’s a flashing blue indicator light, which takes a little bit of time to show up). Once charged, the recorder should work for about 15 hours from its 110 mAH lithium ion battery. The 8GB of storage can be split between recordings and data. Recordings are in WAV format at a default 128K bps bit rate and should work fine with just about any standard audio editing software on your computer (I usually use Audacity; note that not every media player will be able to play this particular WAV format, so something like Audacity or VLC Media Player might actually be required for your setup). Although other bit rates (64K to 384K) are apparently available, I couldn’t figure out how to access them. Using the default 128K bps and the full 8GB of space, you can record around 150 hours of content, although, as stated earlier, you’ll only get about 15 hours between charges, and you can’t record while charging.

When recording, you’ll want to be within 10 feet or so of the device, which is not surprising considering the tiny form factor. While you won’t want to use this for high quality recordings, when recording your thoughts, a lecture, a meeting, or any other utilitarian situation, it definitely gets the job done.

If you’d like to hear a sample of the audio quality, I recorded something quick to SoundCloud, which you can hear here.

It’s nice to see a simple, no nonsense device like this. While I personally use USB flash drives much less these days, and only occasionally need to record voice notes, it’s nice that I can have both functions in one simple-to-use device in an all-in-one form factor. Anything like this that helps reduce bulk and clutter is definitely a positive.

Thanks to THZY for the review unit.