Don't get a Panasonic digital audio recorder

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Not that you were going to, anyway, but I just want to go on the record saying that you shouldn't buy a Panasonic digital audio recorder. Not because of the device itself, which seems fine, but because of the software it requires. I borrowed a Panasonic RR-US360 last night to record an interview and when I got home I went to Panasonic's website to download a driver so I could copy the recording to my computer. They don't have one. You have to have your original CD. I finally found a copy from driverguide.com, which made me wade through a couple dozen ads before I was finally able to download the driver and transfer software.

Why on earth wouldn't Panasonic provide this software? It's not like it's some awesome audio editor or something -- it's a clunky and badly written get-my-files-off-this-device transfer program. And digital audio recorders are something that are used by people who are on the road a lot and might end up in a colleague's office or something and need to download files from their DAR. So, boo to Panasonic, I say.