Today Sanyo announced three new IC recorders: the ICR-PS603RM for professionals, the ICR-RS110MF that records radio broadcasts (in Japan), and the entry-level ICR-S003M.

Sanyo has intends to release the ICR-S003M overseas, although no regions were specified, nor what countries, regions, or languages would be supported. It will cost 10,000 yen. No built-in memory, but takes SD-memory cards, and records in MP3 format. With just one AA battery it captures up to 33hrs in mono mode and 29hrs in stereo. Playback is also quite good, with 29hrs in mono, 27hrs in stereo. It surprisingly has some features that will appeal to anyone–like an external mic input with a max recording level of 192 kbps. It also has personal use adjustable speed for playback, 10 steps for slow and 10 steps for fast. They created an enjoyable display for this function, and while it goes quite fast or slow depending on the direction, it’s never so fast you can’t understand, or so slow that you get annoyed.

The ICR-RS110MF resembles an iPOD and will cost around 30,000 yen. It was designed to be used with a small set of stereo speakers for playback (using the voice recorder as a radio tuner). It is designed to record radio stations in Japan, dates and times for future broadcast recording can be scheduled (for people studying English that enjoy programs broadcast while they’re working), and is very easy to tune with the area selector. The voice recorder takes microSD cards, and has radio presets just like a car or home radio. It records in both MP3 and PCM, although it only record radio broadcasts at 128 kbps. Unlike the entry-level model, this one also provides WMA playback.

The cream of the crop, the IC-PS603RM, is the professionals dream. It’s the first to have 4 built-in microphones, in both a X-Y and a T patterns. It uses a new noise canceling function (apparently Sanyo’s semiconductor division announced it yesterday). It also provides a variety of scene selections (you can make your own home a recording studio with the music setting), that’s a lot of fun. There’s also a double memory system, with 4GB of built-in memory, microSD cards can be added if their’s a requirement for extra space. This really is a flagship product for the voice recorder industry, and if it lives up to its position it will be sold for about 33,000 yen.

There hasn’t been much interest in these overseas because due to their price (typically between $200 and $300). We’re happy Sanyo’s taking the cheaper, yet highly functional, model overseas–just no exact word on when and where. We’ll keep our eyes on it for you.