Notes records for 4 minutes and then stops. Useless for recording a 1 hour meeting
Also, this lets you select which codec (compression) to use, and can record for hours in just a few MB.
So yeah, it's pretty different. You can also append onto a file, so you could keep all your thoughts on your next great novel in one file, and just keep appending away - I guess.
I did have it installed on card, where it ran just fine, before I ROMed it
Edit: It records just fine to card, that's how I use it.