In this Livescribe Review, you will see how useful this computer in a pen can be and also some of the barriers to using the Livescribe SmartPen.
A computer in a pen? Who would have thought it was possible. Certainly not me. When I went to college, I had a Brother word processor and a mini cassette recorder for effective note taking.
The Livescribe SmartPen writes like a normal pen. When you write in the special dot matrix notebooks, that’s when it becomes a high tech secretary. The 2GB SmartPen records around 200 hours of audio. There is also a 1GB and a 4Gb version of the Smart Pen.
Let’s say you are listening to a lecture and taking notes with your SmartPen. While you are busy taking notes your pen is recording every word and linking that recording to what you are writing. If you miss something that is being said, later on when you are reviewing your notes, just tap the pen to the place on the paper you want to review and you will hear the lecture from that point. You can slow down the audio, speed it up or start from anywhere in the lecture you want.
When you open the box to your new Livescribe SmartPen, you will see a getting started guide which is very useful for learning the features of the pen and how to set up the pen and how it interacts with the pad. It also walks you through connecting it to your PC or Mac.
You also get one special dot matrix note book, earphones, a computer docking station with USB hook-up, extra ink and pencil for your SmartPen, and a carrying case for you pen.
Not only can you access everything you hear, write and speak but you can download it to your computer and share it with other people. So if a classmate or colleague missed the lecture. Send them the notes.
Since I love to travel I like the translator app that is available for the Livescribe. The SmartPen can be your personal translator. Need to know where the train station is? Write down, “where is the train station?” Tap the pen on the words and it will translate for you.
This is a fantastic piece of technology, good for students, entrepreneurs, writers and researchers. I love mine and I am glad I bought it. The only barrier I see is the price: I paid $139.99 for my 2GB LiveScribe SmartPen a little over a month ago. The notebooks are priced around $5 each for replacements.
The reason I decided to do this LiveScribe Review today is because I noticed that Amazon has a special price on the 4gb LiveScribe Smartpen. They actually have the price $169.99 crossed out and it says see price in cart, so I am not sure what their price is.
If you click on the link “Why don’t we show the price?” It takes you to a page that says “Because our price on this item is lower than the manufacturer’s “minimum advertised price,” the manufacturer does not allow us to show you our price until you take further action” Here is the Amazon link to the 4GB LiveScribe SmartPen.
For more great tips and technology, visit my blog on Effective Note Taking.