Exhibit 99.1

Digital Recorders, Inc. Receives PIMS and AVL Order Through General
Electric; DR Division Products to Benefit Washington State's Sound
Transit Rail Fleet

    DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2005--Digital Recorders, Inc.
(DRI) (Nasdaq:TBUS), a market leader in transit, transportation, and
law enforcement digital communications and audio enhancement systems,
announced today that, through its Digital Recorders (DR) division
based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., it has received an order valued
at approximately $585,000 from GE Transportation through its Advanced
Communications Systems division based in Hingham, Mass.
    The order will benefit the rail fleet of Sound Transit, which
operates two commuter rail lines in the Tacoma-Seattle-Everett
corridor in Washington State. Sound Transit has issued a contract to
GE Transportation for closed-circuit television, passenger information
management systems (PIMS), and global positioning satellite
(GPS)-based automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems. As a
subcontractor to GE Transportation, the Company's DR division is
delivering components to fulfill the contract's PIMS and AVL
requirements.
    "The Company's DR division has developed competitive, leading-edge
PIMS- and AVL-related products, the most recent of which is the
Talking Bus(R) DR600(TM) series product, which entered the market last
year. Through our relationship with GE Transportation - an
organization that is highly respected and uniquely capable of
integrating our products with larger systems in ways that exceed our
independent abilities - we are further extending our transit market
reach. In this case, that includes extending into rail vehicle
applications," David L. Turney, the Company's Chairman, Chief
Executive Officer and President, said.
    The portion of the Sound Transit rail fleet project contract
awarded to the Company's DR division is valued at approximately
$585,000 and is expected to be delivered in fiscal year 2005.
    The Company's DR division and GE Transportation are working
together through a Teaming Agreement to deliver advanced technology
systems integration projects.

    PROJECT PRODUCT INFORMATION

    The PIMS component supplied by the Company's DR division for the
Sound Transit rail fleet project provides audible and visual
announcements for passengers on-board the train. It consists of the
Talking Bus(R) DR600(TM) Vehicle Logic Unit with a GPS-based AVL
system along with variable-message signs located throughout the train.
Together, these devices provide a variety of information for the
passengers, including upcoming station information and passenger
safety announcements. The GPS-based AVL consists of both on-board
(mobile) hardware and software and fixed-end (stationary) software.

    ABOUT SOUND TRANSIT

    Sound Transit was created by the Washington State legislature to
build a mass transit system that connects regional employment and
population centers in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. The agency
was legally formed in 1993, when the Councils in the three counties
voted to participate in the authority. Sound Transit commuter trains
run more than 80 miles each weekday from Everett and Tacoma into
Seattle and back. For more information, go to www.soundtransit.org.

    ABOUT GE TRANSPORTATION

    GE Transportation's rail business (www.getransportation.com) is
one of the world's leading suppliers to the railroad, transit, marine,
stationary and mining industries, providing freight and passenger
locomotives, motorized systems for mining trucks and drills, railway
signaling and communications systems, value-added services and
information technology solutions to its customers. With sales in
excess of $2.5 billion, GE Transportation's rail business employs
approximately 8,000 people worldwide.
    GE (NYSE:GE) is a diversified technology, media and financial
services company dedicated to creating products that make life better.
From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services,
medical imaging, television programming and plastics, GE operates in
more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people
worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at
www.ge.com.

    ABOUT THE DR DIVISION

    The Company's DR division develops and manufactures digital audio
communications products for the transit industry. Products include:
computer aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location systems; automatic
vehicle monitoring systems; Talking Bus(R) automatic voice
announcement systems; StealthMic(TM) vandal-resistant, hands-free
microphone; and more. For more information about the Company's DR
division, go to www.talkingbus.com.

    ABOUT THE COMPANY

    Digital Recorders, Inc. is a market leader in transit,
transportation, and law enforcement and security digital
communications and audio enhancement systems using proprietary
software applications. Our products improve the flow and mobility of
people through transportation infrastructure, mitigate security
threats, and enhance law enforcement agencies' surveillance
capabilities. Our transit communications products -TwinVision(R) and
Mobitec(R) route destination signage systems, Talking Bus(R) voice
announcement systems, Internet-based passenger information systems,
and computer aided dispatch/ automatic vehicle locating and monitoring
systems - enhance public transportation and mitigate security threats.
Our electronic surveillance tools, including microphone amplifiers and
processors, countermeasures devices, speech activity detectors, and
radio/television noise cancellers, help law-enforcement agencies
around the globe detect, capture, arrest, and prosecute criminals. For
more information about DRI and its operations worldwide, go to
www.digrec.com.

    FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

    This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
In particular, statements concerning our future project revenues and
completion and product delivery dates, as well as any statement,
express or implied, concerning future events or expectations is a
forward looking statement. Use of words such as "expect," "fully
expect," "expected," "appears," "believe," "plan," "anticipate,"
"would," "goal," "potential," "potentially," "range," "pursuit," "run
rate," "stronger," "preliminarily," etc., is intended to identify
forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and
uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties that the assumptions
behind expected revenues and project deliveries may not prove accurate
over time as well as other risks and uncertainties set forth in our
Annual Report on 10-K filed April 1, 2005, particularly those
identified in Risk Factors Affecting Our Business. There can be no
assurance that any expectation, express or implied, in a
forward-looking statement will prove correct or that the contemplated
event or result will occur as anticipated.

    CONTACT: Digital Recorders, Inc., Dallas
             Veronica B. Marks, 214-378-4776
             Fax: 214-378-8437
             veronicam@digrec.com