<div dir="ltr"><div>Sebastian,</div><div><p>I have the same questions. From what I’ve gathered, the Livepen is also going obsolete or going out of production soon so Inq can introduce <em>their</em> own version of the pen. In just the past six months, two pens have gone out of production, the notebooks no longer function properly, and the apps are terrible.</p>
<p>Inq is still <em>Livescribe</em> — not a new company that acquired them. It appears to be more of a rebrand to erase the failure of the last two smart pens.</p>
<p>I’ve started looking into other bulk options that don’t require an app and still keep the note-taking system within the pen itself. Unfortunately, the industry seems to have shifted toward personal products that rely on a tablet or smart device, yet don’t even perform the basic function of recording audio directly on the pen.</p>
<p>I asked Inq if they would send us a pilot Livepen for a trial so we could evaluate its viability and provide feedback. They declined and said we could purchase a pack of ten instead. Interestingly, someone in an assistive technology group I’m part of (based in Canada) mentioned that Inq sent them a single pen for review—but they ultimately decided it wasn’t worth pursuing.</p></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Best,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">WILL
PINES</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">, <i>Disability
Specialist</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Accessible
Technology Specialist</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Student
Disability Resource Center</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">he/him/his</span></i><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">University
of California, Riverside</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">900
University Avenue</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">1228
Student Services Building </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Riverside,
CA 92521</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Phone:
951-827-3861 | Email: </span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="mailto:wilbert.pines@ucr.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:#1f497d">wilbert.pines@ucr.edu</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="https://bit.ly/30ghhv1" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Schedule
an Appointment</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="http://sdrc.ucr.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">SDRC Web</span></a><span style="color:#1f497d"> | </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/UCRSDRC" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Facebook</span></a><span style="color:#1f497d"> | </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/ucrsdrc" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Instagram</span></a><span style="color:#1f497d"> | </span><a href="https://twitter.com/UCRSDRC" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Twitter</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">“A
mind stretched by new experiences will never go back to its original
dimensions.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"><img src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4xQkUPdyj4ARXT4TlxZCK5gtxDaiRPTyPCmYa30RanDUHhobc4beMmCjvNZM7_Au3jFky6p3QfM_VFY"><br></span></p></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Oct 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM Sebastian M Niles via athen-list <<a href="mailto:athen-list@u.washington.edu">athen-list@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="msg-4914615601833710611">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Hello all</div>
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I'm emailing with a big complaint about Livescribe and wanted to see if anyone had a similar experience. In the past, our university has ordered Livescribe Echo pens for students that love taking their own notes and want to record as well. The Echo 2s were
awesome even if they also tried to get you to connect to a bad app (foreshadowing!!).</div>
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Fast forward to now. It appears that Livescribe has discontinued the Echo 2 and is now selling the Livepen (and also trying to get people to use Inq for some reason). The problem with the Livepen is that it doesn't have a built-in recorder, and it forces you
to use the Livepen app if you want to use any of its potential features. As I said before, the app isn't great. I don't feel great about making students rely on it when they wanted an offline notetaking option in the first place. All of this is a roundabout
way of saying that I have no idea what Livescribe is trying to do here. Why would they abandon the feature that everyone turned to them for in the first place? Why are they still selling notebook paper with options to "record", "pause", and "stop" if the Livepens
can't record outside of the app? Who is the target audience here?</div>
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Does anyone have good alternatives to Livescribe? I'm not talking about Otter or Genio. I'm looking for something that does what the Echo 2 did. I know I could just give students a digital recorder and call it a day, but I'm hoping that there is some hidden
tool that is still committed to doing what Livescribe did.</div>
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Thank you</div>
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<p style="background-color:white;margin:0in;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">
<span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Sebastian Niles, CPACC</span></p>
<p style="background-color:white;margin:0in;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">
<span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Accessible Technology Specialist</span></p>
<p style="background-color:white;margin:0in;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">
<span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Student Disability Center</span></p>
<p style="background-color:white;margin:0in;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">
<span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">University of California-Davis</span></p>
<p style="background-color:white;margin:0in;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">
<span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Davis, CA 95616</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt">
</p>
</div>
</div>
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</div></blockquote></div>