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Livescribe 8 GB Echo Smartpen |  | Brand: Livescribe
Category: CE
List Price: $199.95
Buy New: $175.40
as of 9/5/2010 09:41 PDT details
You Save: $24.55 (12%)
New (5) from $175.40
Seller: TechUStore
Rating:  8 reviews
Color: 8 GB
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 0.8 x 0.5 x 6.2
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: APA-00007
Model: APA-00007
UPC: 892515002309
EAN: 0892515002309
ASIN: B003RAPAKK
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Smartpen with 8 GB of memory, redesigned with anti-roll body and rubberized smaller grip | | • | Capture thousands of pages of notes and over 800 hours of audio (recording time varies by audio quality setting) | | • | Share notes and recordings privately or online with 500 MB of free storage | | • | MicroUSB connector lets you transfer notes and audio to your Mac or PC | | • | Standard 3.5mm audio jack for use with your favorite earbuds |
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| Accessories:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Product Description
At work. In class. Find what you need with a tap. The Echo smartpen from Livescribe records everything you hear, say and write, and links your audio recordings to your notes, so you can find what you need.  The Livescribe Echo Smartpen (see a larger schematic image of all features). Tap it. Get it. The Echo smartpen records everything you hear and write, so you can find what you need with a simple tap. Ideal for meetings, conferences, or classes, this compact tool is as easy to carry as traditional pen-and-paper, but smarter. Replay your recorded audio anytime, anywhere, with a quick tap on your notes.  New cap and standard USB
and 3.5mm headphone jack.  Launch Line functionality. Echo Enhancements Redesigned with a sleeker look and more ergonomic feel, the Echo Smartpen features a new anti-roll body that's easier to control as well as a smaller rubberized grip that ensures the Echo won't slip out of your hands. It also comes with 2 caps to protect the Smartpen tip. The Echo has also been outfitted with a standard Micro USB port and 3.5mm audio jack on the flattened top of the Smartpen, as well as an OLED screen on the side to make it easy to navigate and interact with applications. New Echo features include: Launch Line - Draw a short line.
- Write the name of an application on top of it (e.g., "Blackjack").
- Double-tap to select or wait a moment.
- Tap around the written word (up, down, left, right) to navigate the menu as needed.
Password - Protect your recorded paper replay sessions in the case of a lost Smartpen
- Use a 4 digit number to protect the smartpen
- Forget your password? Reset it through your registered copy of the Livescribe Desktop software
Smartpen Name - Give your smartpen a name when you set up Livescribe Desktop.
- The same name is briefly shown when you turn on the smartpen.
- Ideal for personalization and identification--particularly useful in office and classroom environments where multiple smartpens are in use.
8 GB of Memory The Echo Smartpen offers 8 GB of memory to hold over 800 hours of audio or 128,000 pages of notes (actual recording time varies by audio quality setting). It works exclusively with Livescribe dot paper (starter set included), which activates all Smartpen applications. Save, Organize, and Search Using the Livescribe Desktop, you can upload, save and play back your notes and audio from your PC or Mac. Type in specific words or phrases in the search window, and the Livescribe Desktop will highlight every place you wrote them in your notes. Plus, you can organize your digital notes simply by dragging and dropping pages in to custom notebooks. *Note: custom notebook feature available for Mac users in September. Send and Share Its easy to share your notes or recordings publically or privately as a PDF, audio file, or a pencast. What’s a pencast? A pencast is an interactive flash movie of your handwritten notes and audio. You can publish pencasts online, share them privately via email, or post them directly on Facebook.  Some of the available Smartpen apps. Smartpen Applications The possibilities for Livescribe applications are endless, with tools and games that enhance personal productivity, learning, communications, and entertainment. With free and paid downloadable apps, you can read and hear a translated phrase in Spanish, French, German, Japanese or even Korean; rapidly access fun facts on a variety of topics from past World Series winners to U.S. Presidents; get help studying geometry, organic chemistry, or Hebrew chanting; play more than a dozen games like Blackjack, Video Poker or Hangman; or listen to classical music pieces--right from the 'pentip' of their Pulse smartpen. Livescribe Desktop The Livescribe Desktop software allows you to digitally transfer your notes and recordings from your Echo smartpen to your PC or Mac. See your notes animate or play your recordings. Play your notes and recordings, organize them, and search for words within your handwritten notes to find what you need. Livescribe Community Upload your pencasts online with the Livescribe Community for everyone to see, hear, and play. Share your notes, drawings, and recordings online as Flash movies or PDF files.  How Livescribe Dot Paper works. Livescribe Dot Paper Livescribe dot paper is regular paper printed with a unique pattern of tiny micro-dots. Livescribe's unique patented dot-positioning system enables the Echo smartpen to precisely track everything it writes on paper. A variety of dot paper products, including college-sized notebooks, journals, and note pads, and you can also print your own dot paper using certified laser-jet printers. What's in the Box The Echo smartpen with 8 GB of memory; Livescribe Desktop software for Mac or Windows (download); 500 MB of personal online storage; starter dot paper notebook; Micro USB Cable; interactive getting started guide; smartpen tips and tricks guide; 2 smartpen caps; 2 ink cartridges The Echo smartpen works only with Livescribe Dot Paper. System Requirements - Windows XP with SP3 or Windows Vista or Windows 7
- Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.5.5 or later, including 10.6
- 300 MB minimum free disk space
- USB 2.0 port
- Internet connection for software download
Product Description
The Echo smartpen captures everything consumers hear and write and provides quick and accurate access to important information by simply tapping on the written notes either directly on paper or on a computer using the Livescribe Desktop software. Echo features a sleek ergonomic design with a rubberized grip and anti-roll surface. It is available in 4GB and 8GB models, recording approximately 400 and 800 hours respectively. This new smartpen also features industry-standard connectors, micro-USB and 3.5 mm audio jack, to enable customers to use their favorite ear buds for private listening as well as share common USB cables with other mobile devices. The 8GB Echo smartpen features abundant storage, for up to 800 hours of audio or a combination of audio, digital ink and applications. Applications range from rich reference tools like a complete 120,000 word American Heritage Desk Dictionary to simple games and study aids, available from Livescribe's Beta Application Store, which now includes more than 60 applications. Livescribe smartpen applications enhance many aspects of digital life from productivity and education to entertainment and communication, enabling users to customize, personalize and extend their smartpen functionality.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Yes, that good and Yes, that easy to use!!! August 28, 2010
kryark (Singapore, Singapore Singapore)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Simply, I couldn't believe it was so easy to get started and use it productively AND YES, it really is that good!
After my first week using it, I feel my work quality has already improved through the completeness and speed that topics can be covered. Students or conference attendees should also get this product!!!
Accessories you should consider:
- "Livescribe AAA-00014 Echo 3D Recording Earbuds": Particularly for conferences etc., to improve audio quality.
- "Livescribe Deluxe Carrying Case": a compact protective case to keep things protected and together.
Expecting to boy one for my dad and another for my brother.
 Works Well on Windows; Mac Software Sluggish & Handwriting Recognition Add On MyScript Does Not Work Well August 24, 2010
SanjeevP (Michigan, USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Amazing! is the first reaction to this device. Here are the things it can do, and generally well.
1. Write like a regular pen.
2. Record voice or sound like any digital recorder.
3. Link the written notes to the recorded sound. So if tap on a written word it will play the sound recorded at the time that word was written.
4. Upload handwritten notes and voice to computer.
5. Share your written notes and audio (Pencasts)).
The sound quality is fairly good. There are lot of add on apps available like games, language translation, piano etc. which I have not used so far. It comes with two fine black ink cartridges, no medium, and I wish there was one included. The writing was faint with fine tip and it was scratchy to write. So I had to order an extra pack of five Livescribe ARA-000007 4 Medium Blue and 1 Fine Red Ink Cartridge cartridges. Sometimes the writing is faint on the computer even with medium tipped blue cartridges.
PROBLEMS
1. BUGGY MAC LIVESCRIBE DESKTOP SOFTWARE: Echo pen does not come with any software, you have to download that from the web site. LiveScribe Desktop for Mac software is very sluggish and glitchy. You will be watching the spinning wheel for a while (3:48 minutes) when it starts, it will keep on asking you for email address and password and not let you use the program until you do. And if you are not connected to the Internet, the LiveScribe won't stop spinning until you connect the Echo pen. Windows software is actually better, faster and does not hang up like that. After you connect the pen, it takes a while for the notes to show up. Although you can archive the notes from one pen to one computer, I have not yet figured out how to transfer notes to multiple computers because archiving the notes removes them from the pen. The first time I connected the pen, it updated the firmware automatically.
2. DIFFICULT TO PRINT CUSTOM PAPER: Another problem is that you have to buy notebooks and paper from LiveScribe. As far as I can make out, they do not sell A4 size paper. You can print the paper on some Postscript color laser printers. I could not print the paper on Dell 5100cn color laser printer, either with Dell Postscript driver or with Adobe generic Postscript driver but I was successful in printing the paper on Brother MFC-9840CDW Color Laser Multifunction Center with Wireless Interface and Duplex - but only from the Mac LiveScribe. It took a long time - 2 hours - to print 25 pages! Interestingly, the custom notebooks could be printed only in Mac Livescribe, not from the Windows version. The file was 200MB. You have to print one full notebook of 25 pages at time and you cannot print partial notebooks, say pages 1-10. And you can only print total 100 pages (4 Notebooks with 25 pages each). So if you want to use more than hundred pages, you have to archive a notebook before you can do that. That limits active pages to 100 at a time! This is the biggest drawback I found for my purpose because I need to have hundreds of active records at a time where I can write information on multiple days. The same limitation also applies to their notebooks.
3. POOR HANDWRITING RECOGNITION ADD ON MyScribe: My main purpose in buying this pen was to convert handwritten notes to computer text. For that I had to buy a thirty buck add on called MyScript for LiveScribe which does not work so well. Even with clear cursive writing it does not recognize many words and has particular difficulty with technical words, so you have to add each word one by one into the dictionary, and cannot import your Microsoft Word or Pages dictionary. Very tedious process. But it has Auto Replacement, which works like Microsoft Word Autocorrect, e.g. if you write 3m, you can program it to expand to 3 months. That is the work around to poor handwriting recognition.
4. ANNOYING UNTETHERED CAP: Like every one else, I found the loose cap very irritating, it can be easily lost. Are you supposed to keep putting and removing the cap all day long? It is not clear to me why they couldn't make a retractable pen or why the cap cannot be held in place on the back of the pen or tethered with a small cord. There is no clip on the pen to clip it to your pocket either.
5. NO AUTO ON & OFF: If you forget to turn the pen on by pressing the pen will not record anything. I cannot understand why the pen does not have auto on, it should turn on as soon as you start writing on the paper. May be they can fix this with a firmware upgrade.
Overall, it is great for students to record lectures, attorneys, journalists, conference attendees making notes etc. and you can later on refer to the written notes and /or speech. You can write or record speech or do both and link the two. If you use LiveScribe notebooks and Windows software it works fairly well. But if you have a Mac, need to print your own custom A4 paper, or need handwriting recognition, then it is a work in progress and needs lot of bugs fixed before it can become a mainstream product. May be they can have a wi-fi card like Eye-Fi so that notes are automatically transferred to your computer. It sure has the potentiel.
 Waste of Money August 24, 2010
Swany (Wisconsin, USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
WARNING!!
I buy a a lot of technology, this is my worst purchase in the last decade. Out of the box the pen asks you to set the current time by "touching" numbers printed in the "Getting Started Guide". As soon as you touch a number the pen's display says "This paper requires a firmware upgrade" What?? The pen cannot read the paper that came with it?
OK, fine, I'll upgrade the firmware. Downloaded the app, it detected new firmware, started to install, got an error, and now the pen is a TOTAL BRICK. It will not do anything. Display is stuck on "USB upgrade". I emailed LiveScribe support with a very detailed message, they replied with "Do a firmware upgrade". I kindly told them I already tried that, and that is what caused the pen to become a brick. Then they asked for a screenshot, which I sent. Pretty poor, just Google "livescribe usb upgrade" and you'll see it's not just me or my pen. Still waiting for a helpful reply from the mfg.
Sorry Amazon, you are getting 2 pens and over a dozen notebooks returned because this thing flat out does not work. Too bad, I was very excited about this product, I really wanted it to work, and so did many of my coworkers. I guess we'll have to wait until LiveScribe (or a competitor) figures out how to write firmware and software that works. So sad...
Terrific technology but not for the absent minded August 15, 2010
robgman (Anacortes, WA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I originally ordered a 4 GB Pulse from [...]. Upon receiving it I immediately noticed that it was really thick and because it was a polished metal type of pen, it was very unstable to hold in my hand. That prompted me to research Smartpens a little more and I elected to buy the 8 GB Echo two weeks ago. The Echo is far superior to the Pulse in terms of comfort and stability.
I'm blown away by the technology advances and this pen is, to me, a cutting edge technology. I'm 55 years old and retired but if I were a student or still working and regularly attending meetings then a device such as this would give me a tremendous edge. The other reviewers have written accurate descriptions of the attributes and flaws of the pen (e.g., the cap could get easily lost). One other thing I think the pen could really use is a clip so it could be held securely in a shirt pocket. My biggest concern with an item like this is that it could be easily lost. For practical purposes, I recommend buying the Livescribe Smartpen Portfolio Livescribe Smartpen Portfolio, as it has a pen holder in it will hold the Livescribe Journal Livescribe ANA-00004 Lined Black 1-2 Journal - 2 Pack or the A-5 spiral notebooks (Available from Brookstone or Livescribe's online store.
Another great accessory if you are going to use it in large meeting rooms or a college lecture hall is the earphones Livescribe AAA-00014 Echo 3D Recording Earbuds, well really they are microphones and they record the event exactly as you hear it but they are smart microphones and they eliminate much of the ambient sound that you don't need or want.
This technology is truly amazing. It's like having a perfect memory. I used it at a doctor's appointment last week. My wife always asks me "What did the doctor have to say" and I usually remember about 25% of the appointment. Well now, she and I both get total recall of what was said and, furthermore, the audible recording synchronizes with the note taking so you can watch your notes being written while listening to what was said at the time you wrote the notes!
It will be interesting to see how this product and competitor's products evolve over the next few years. I am confident the smart pens will end up being owned by a large percentage of the population, much like the iPod and the PC.
One more thing, the paper refills are reasonably priced but you can print your own paper if you have a good color laser printer.
THIS PEN IS SO MUCH BETTER!!! August 10, 2010
Cheryl L. Collins (Chicago, IL USA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I LIKE THE MODERN LOOK AND FEEL OF THIS PEN, ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I TOO HAVE THE 4 GB PEN, I WOULD NOT LEAVE HOME WITHOUT MY PEN!!!!!!!!!!! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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