Last month I had the opportunity to attend VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas. This year, the conference featured over 250 breakout sessions, 160 instructor-led labs and over 10,000 attendees. It wasn’t cheap either, which meant I needed to do everything to make sure I got the most of the conference.

There were a few traditional options: a pen and notebook, a digital recorder, a good night’s sleep (good luck, you’re in Las Vegas after all). Then, while walking through our local Target after lunch (as we do almost every day) I noticed a new display in my favorite of all the sections–electronics–for the Livescribe SmartPen.

For those that don’t know what that is, they call it a “digital smart pen” and it’s essentially a computer in a pen-sized package (with ink!). The idea is not only will it record what you write digitally, it will link it to the audio automatically. The idea isn’t the most original you’ll ever stumble across, but the inventor of the product is the very same that invented the LeapFrog version that parents may already be familiar with.

Although the marketing was geared towards students, I could help but wonder; Would it work for my purpose? A trip the website comforted me with a review from PC Magazine claiming, “…the Pulse SmartPen could become an essential investment for any student, businessperson, or journalist.”

Find It on Amazon.com

Model Overview

It comes in two simple flavors, 1GB and 2GB models for $149 MSRP and $199 MSRP respectively. Feature-wise they are nearly identical, with the only difference being the amount of “notes” you can be store on the pen before you have to connect it to your computer again. What we’re really talking about is around 100 hours of recording time on the 1GB model and 200 hours on the 2GB.

They feature a super-easy to read OLED display, and built-in rechargeable battery with USB charging dock (think iPod). No plugging this into the wall, it charges right off the PC. It features a built in speaker, and has a headphone jack for private listening with headphones included.

As for the pen itself, it’s about 6 inches long.  At a just over 1/2 inch in diameter, it’s bit fatter than a real pen, but weighs just over an ounce. It comes with a nice leather case that also holds extra ink cartridges (included) a nice bonus.

It includes the “Livescribe Desktop” software (as a download) which is used to “sync” your pen. Once inside the software, you can organize and search your notes and recordings (which remember, are automatically time-linked together) and even upload/share them as “pencasts” on their website (up to 250MB of pencasts can be shared for free).

And yes, you heard me correctly; you can search your notes! I have pretty messy handwriting, too, but it does a great job at keyword searches! You can also of course name all your sessions with meaningful names as well to help you find stuff later as well.

One thing to keep in mind is the pen requires special paper. They sell numbered notebooks and journals (for instance, if you buy notebook #1, fill it up, then next time you need to get notebook #2, otherwise it’ll be the same pages over again). In the future, though, Livescribe has said they will allow you to print the paper at home.

My SmartPen

I’m never far from my computer, so I chose the smaller model. Now that I am more familiar with the product, I could see students going for the larger model because the more notes you leave on the pen, the further back you can go into those notes. That’s right, without a computer around at all, you can go back into your notes, click the pen on the page and listen back to your notes–even if you took those notes months ago! I wasn’t expecting that.

I used it at a few off-site meetings, a few meetings at my work, and of course for all those VMworld classes. Having used the Livescribe quite a bit, I must say this is just one of those products that works well for what it’s supposed to do.  If you need a device for digitally recording handwritten notes with audio (or without, and vice versa–you can use it as just a voice recorder as well) then this is a great device. It is MUCH smaller than a tape recorder for sure, and more convenient.

Throw in the extras like the pencast sharing, and the developer community, and it’s a nice little item and I do recommend it if you think you’ll use it. For $149, the entry point isn’t bad. Just make sure you’ll use it because, with the obvious novelty factor,  it runs the risk of sitting in your drawer after the first week of heave usage, especially if you’re one, who, for example, doesn’t typically take handwritten notes in meetings or classes on a regular basis.

The Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen is available from Amazon.com for $199.95