The PMD620 is Marantz Professional's newest and smallest handheld portable recorder -- it fits easily in a hand or in a pocket, but packs quite a punch for its size. The PMD620 offers direct to MP3 recording in three quality levels, as well as fully uncompressed, CD-quality 44.1/48 kHz .wav format in 16 or 24-bit resolution, allowing the user to configure the PMD620 for a wide variety of applications, from extended-length voice recordings to high-quality music applications. Sound quality is enhanced by the inclusion of two condenser microphones on the PMD620, as well as line and external mic inputs, and an external mic output.

The new PMD620 also utilizes the SD flash memory card for data storage, a first for the PMD Series of recorders. SD (secure digital) is a highly stable and the most widely available flash media format, so users will have ready access to very cost-effective data storage. Additionally, the PMD620 accepts memory cards of high capacity (up to 2-TB 2048 gigabytes).

Incorporating user feedback from across the PMD Series spectrum, the new PMD620 sports several new layout enhancements making for a simpler and more confident experience. The PMD620 offers one-touch record engagement using a button with its own tactile feel and red highlight illumination. The unit's transport controls will be familiar to users of personal portable music devices, and incorporates a thumb-operated scroll wheel and a vivid organic LED (OLED) display screen, one of the first in the industry, which uses very little power to illuminate, thus extending the unit's battery life. (The PMD620 is powered by two AA batteries.) The display's black background means that all alpha-numerics and function icons are always crisp and easy to read. The screen is also configurable thanks to two font sizes, allowing more information on the screen with the smaller font and highly readable key information with the larger one. These are just a few of the ways in which the PMD620 crosses market sector lines, making it the choice of the executive suite and the iPod® generation, as well as the educators, journalists and broadcast professionals who have been the core markets for the PMD Series.

The PMD620 also offers editing capabilities that constitute a field recorder truly in a class by itself. Included in the firmware is "Copy Segment" editing, which uses non-destructive cut-and-paste-style editing to create a new sound file, which can be up/downloaded via the built-in USB port. Another menu feature, "Skip Back," allows transcribers the ability to review recorded audio from 1 to 60 previous seconds. And the PMD620's USB 2.0 port allows effortless drag-and-drop transfer of files to a PC. In fact, as powerful and feature-laden as it is, the PMD620 is simple to operate. "Level" and "Peak" LEDs let you know the status of your input signal, and you can toggle between four displays screens that provide elapsed time, time remaining and other key data.

Commenting on the new PMD620, Peter Papageorge, Director of Sales for D&M Professional, stated, "The new PMD620 is intended to add yet another dimension to Marantz Professional's family of portable digital recorders. It incorporates many of the same features we developed for the highly successful PMD660 and adds to them, at the same time achieving them in a significantly smaller sized unit. This combination of power, portability and size means the PMD620 will offer a greater number of users and markets a more flexible field recording experience."

The new PMD620 will be available in November.

Check it out at www.d-mpro.com