A personal medical dictation system that can be easily and conveniently used to capture and preserve audio information. The system includes a specially designed portable, hand-held recording component that is of a small size, but yet is capable of storing at least one hour of actual dictation in compressed form and a cooperating dictation receiver that functions to automatically transfer the recorded data to a central processing area. The hand-held recording component can be expeditiously, mechanically, and electrically transmitted to the central processing area for transcription. The dictation receiver component also automatically recharges the batteries of the hand-held recording unit.