Jen's Writing Journey

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I covet the LiveScribe Pulse pen. It has a camera and a voice recorder, and if you use their special paper, it scans your notes to your computer. It’s not a cheap pen–it starts at $150–but it combines a lot of tools into one compact package that seems way cool.

The special paper thing scares me a little. It could be like razors and Crayola no-mess markers–they get you with the recurring expenses. But you can print your own special paper for free if you don’t want to buy their notebooks.

I also would be afraid I would lose my pen. I’m bad about that. It’s why I don’t buy expensive sunglasses. I sit on them or leave them places or let them fall off my head and break. Some (my husband, for example) might make the argument that I would take better care of a nicer pair of sunglasses. I think I would behave the same but be incredibly paranoid all the time. I fear that pen paranoia would set in soon after my purchase.

The one drawback I see that is not based on my own fears and bad habits is the lack of variety in the notebook size. Obviously you can use the pen to write on any shape or size of paper, but it doesn’t reach its full potential as a time-saving tool if you don’t use the special paper. LiveScribe doesn’t have an ETA on smaller notebook sizes, but they do plan to offer different sizes in the future. I specifically requested reporter’s notebooks because that is what I like.

If anyone has this pen, please tell me what you think of it. Is it worth the cost? What do you put in your pockets as you scramble off to an interview? How do you manage the full-size sheets of paper if you previously got used to reporter’s notebooks?

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