Pen (and tablet)

[#1]

I'm looking at options for note-taking during my OU course both at home and at tutorials.
I'm not particularly interest in handwriting recognition rather simply a method of getting my notes from paper to the PC. From there I will be able to read them aloud and have them transferred to text.
I don't want a tablet PC but have been looking along the lines of the following:
IRISNotes
VisTablet 12x10-inch Professional Graphics Tablet
Does anyone have any experience of using the above or have any other suggestions?

[#2]

That second product says - in a faint font

Quote

PLEASE NOTE: USE ONLY WITH PROPER OUTLET ADAPTORS AND VOLTAGE CONVERTERS FOR YOUR AREA. WITHOUT THE PROPER ADAPTOR AND VOLTAGE CONVERTER, PLUGGING THIS PRODUCT INTO AN OUTLET WITH VOLTAGE IN EXCESS OF 110-120 VOLTS MAY RESULT IN FIRE AND/OR INJURY.

BTW If that OU course includes any Scientific/Mathematical notation, your only choice is to write it in a text form...

[#3]

Yes, I saw that, too.
I was more interested in anyone's views generically using the above as examples.
There's no Scientific/Mathematical notation involved. I really wanted to find an easy way to get my thoughts/views that I write to paper onto the PC without having to actually retype.

[#4]

I'm using a cheap trust tablet which seems to work okay, not sure I'd be comfortable writing lots on it (the pen is rather large), also when you use one to write you have to take into account that the small area of the tablet represents the entire area of your screen so your handwriting will be a bit bigger.  If you're using Windows 7, have you tried the voice recognition software?  I've played with it a bit and it seems okay, with a good bit of training it should be able to take down your thoughts very quickly.  Another wonderful solution which can use handwriting too is OneNote, a much over-looked piece of software that is amazing for taking notes (student discounts are available to OU students :D).  If you were doing Maths, Microsoft Mathematics is a great bit of software too, takes a bit of getting used to but when you need to do a long bit of algebra and your teacher is a stickler for showing working out, it shows the working out (just don't tell my maths tutor ;))

[#5]

If you were doing Maths, you would write it out using LaTeX.