Franklin Merriam Webster Speaking Collegiate Dictionary (SCD-2110),Black

Wow, some of the reviews are a little harsh considering that this machine is so small that it will fit in the palm of your hand or easily slip into a purse or shirt pocket. If you want perfect sound and massive computing power you will need something that weighs way more than a few ounces and plugs into a wall rather than sips energy from two tiny AAA size batteries.I think we, the public, are getting a little jaded. I mean, this thing uses 2009 technology, but it still has amazing capabilities in a really tiny package. It pronounces 500,000 words and defines each one for gosh-sakes. This is hundreds of thousands more words than anyone has stored in the wetware of their brain. And despite some whining of others to the contrary, the speaker is fine. It pronounces words in a clear female voice that is easy to understand. Also, the small size print of the screen is easy to read, even with my 68-year old eyes. And if you have to squint to read, then use a handy key of the device to increase the size of the font.The definitions are clear and complete, as is the information provided by the Thesaurus. If you don't like the definitions from the main dictionary, you can switch to a completely separate additional dictionary. And no one mentions that, if you wish, you can have any English word translated into four different languages. There are also many word games if you feel like playing and you can look up quotations from famous people in history. For example, check out what Lincoln had to say.And if you want to brush up on English usage, there are teaching tools to remind you of the rules of language you may have missed in school. Moreover, if you want to convert foreign currencies or change English weights and measures to the metric/European scale, there is a calculator that does that and performs other complex math calculations as well. There is even a built-in clock for keeping track of the local date and time and also for the time in some far away foreign city. If you are fascinated by time, you also have stopwatch and timer functions. If memory is your thing, there is storage for phone book, schedule and memo information. If you are a student, you can even store your class schedule. I know this is getting crazy, but you can also connect this little device to your computer and download CSV files to create a custom dictionary of interest to you.Bottom line, this little portable device is amazing. The designers really threw in the kitchen sink here, all for your benefit. So what if the screen is a little sticky when its display sticker is removed. Just clean it up and move on. The functional aspects of this device are what is key here. Use it, be amazed, and enjoy its English language and speaking capabilities, all in a small portable package. Sure, the slick housing shows fingerprints, but that tiny flaw is insignificant compared to the functionality of its amazing hardware.

I bought it for the voice pronunciation but it's very poor and speaks to quickly poor sound quality it was a waste of money for what I wanted

Bought this for the wife. Having a speaking function was desired for pronunciation. However, the text-to-speech processor is of poor quality and words were hard to understand. Returned this model and one other Franklin model. Months later, purchased the latest SSD-256 MW model and we are much happier with it. It supposedly uses a "real" voice (not convinced, but MUCH better quality and easier to understand) to pronounce the words. However, the definition function still uses the not so good text-to-speech-not as important as pronunciation to us.

I purchased the SCD-2110 to replace my incomparable Franklin Language Master which, while still operating perfectly, is so ancient that I fear it may be on its last legs.In an effort to provide numerous nonessential features, such as "Your word is," games, etc., they have made accesssing the dictionary slightly tedious. (My old Language Master is "Ready for Word" immediately, just as soon as it is turned on.) Also, I find the pronunciations (in particular, the initial syllables) a bit difficult to understand.Otherwise, the new unit does perform satisfactorily, however, and has the advantage of being lighter and more portable.

What you see here is a sticker, not the display. Once you peel the sticker off there's a sticky film remaining. Very sticky. Attracts dust ,lint, etc. I will try a solvent but feel certain it will ruin the actual screen. Buyer beware. Works great otherwise.Update 9/22/16:Once I figured out that mineral spirits removes the sticky mess mentioned in my (what was a ) 1-star review above, I'm, awarding 3 more stars as overall this is a cool thing if it is indeed what you need.I get a little impatient with the on/off switch because of its location (on the side next to the up/down arrows) but that's just me.As far as the volume issues I see mentioned in other reviews, it works best in a relatively low noise environment at half volume, tends to distort when turned all the way up in loud places. However it works fine considering it's a tiny speaker and a mechanical voice-mimic.Be sure to decide you like it within Amazon's 30-day return window as the customer service number on the instructions "does not take messages).

Bought as a gift. The recipient loves it. Battery life is very good.Minor gripes my friend has is the electric dictionary doesn't show the phonetic pronunciation, which would seem unnecessary since it will pronounce the word for you, but it doesn't offer the alternative pronunciations (i.e. toMAYto vs toMAHto ).It is very good at finding correct spellings or suggesting possible choices, like spell check. It will even allow you to enter '?' for unknown letters which works out well if you're stumped on a crossword puzzle.There is a 'personal vocabulary list' of 100 words you can make up, but he wishes you could have several so you could make one for geology class, another for philosophy, etc.

I don't have to get on computer to check the definition. I tend to use it while I'm reading the biology, chemistry, etc. I hate to skip the word or context of words that I don't know. Also, I loved it when I want to save the words, so I could go back to practice it.

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