Customer Reviews

Olympus DM-1 Voice and MP3 Recorder with WOW! Technology

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a voice recorder:
The DM-1 and the Olympus software provide very basic functions. Get a more serious dictation machine if you need a lot of functionality. You can add index marks while recording or playing back, which is pretty handy for longer recordings. The voice activation mode with variable sensitivity works very well. You can set one alarm to play back a recording, but you can only set a time, not a date (like an alarm clock). The DM-1 would be a lot more useful to me if I could set multiple alarms and set both a time and a date. That way it could replace my Palm for creating reminders (the DM-1 is a lot easier to carry around). In high sensitivity mode, the mic picks up distant voices very well and playback quality is good with headphones. The sound quality is very acceptable, but I recently tried out a $100 Sony ICD-B10 recorder and the Sony had signficantly better recorded playback; very smooth sound without the slight roughness of the DM-1. The Sony also had (and the DM-1 lacks) a timer so you can set a date and time to start recording. When I plugged stereo headphones into the Sony I only heard sound out of one speaker. I find it easier to listen when I can hear the playback in both ears, so I like the DM-1 better in that respect.

As an MP3 player:
The included ear buds had mediocre sound (weak bass) so I got some lightweight $5 Maxell headphones and now the sound is excellent. The WOW system gives you wider stereo separation. Just choose the low 3D setting, the higher settings sound too shrill. There is also a variable bass boost setting. The Rock equalizer preset works fine for me, the user preset is difficult to set because you can't adjust it during playback. The USB connection is slow. I got a 128 MB Smartmedia card ($40) so I can load more music. With 128 MB I can load 2 hours of music and still have 1.5 hours of voice recording space left.

Other:
There are four tiny switches that may be hard to use if you have large fingers, and they seem fragile. The volume wheel is tiny but works OK for me. There is a plastic cover for the USB port but it is too easy to lose. A sliding door or attached cover would have worked better. If you listen to MP3 music a lot, you need rechargeable batteries. The two-tone blue case with orange backlight is very cool.

I bought this recorder for use in professional dictation and found it wanting. Sound quality and storage capacity were fine. The files were set up to record a sequence of sounds one at a time (sound bites) but without being able to edit them once made. There was no way to listen to the recording during "rewind" to select a place to insert more words and in fact no way to append onto or change a filed recording once ended. "Fast forward" jumps to the next file. "Rewind" jumps to the previous file. The designers of the DM-1 did not have dictation primarily in mind for this product. I use the word 'rewind' in fond remembrance of tape recorders; some allowed you to hear a weak version of what you recorded during variable speed fast forward and rewind, allowing accurate and rapid finding of the spot you wanted to record over. Digital recorders potentially add the feature of being to "paste" new dictation in between existing words (impossible on tape w/o splicing). I'll keep watching for the digital voice recorder that keeps the best functions of analog tape recorders and adds the new functions unique to digital. Dr. E %^)

Based on the marketing, the Olympus DM-1 Digital voice recorder should be a nearly perfect tool. Combining as much as 44 hours of recording capacity (if you expand the memory to 128M) with quality MP3 playback is an attractive combination. Especially for someone like me who has a borderline need for a DVR, but who is attracted by having music playback capability. The price is high, but I thought there was every reason to expect the synthesis of two quality machines would be worth the cost.

Alas, this was not to be. On the good side, the voice recorder is simple to use with easy to deal with buttons and functions. MP3 playback is good as well. The display on the machine is legible and quite straightforward. And the DVR software, 'DSS Player', installs easily and works with no problems. Unfortunately, from this point on, the news is bad.

For an expensive digital recorder, is surprising that it only provides for three folders with 200 untitled recordings in each. It is also surprising that there are no features for inserting and appending to a recording. This makes the DM-1 a useful only for unsophisticated recording. Sound quality, never great in DVR's has a lot of noise, even in standard recording mode.

For music, the supplied earphones are unacceptable. They are extremely position dependent, and refused to stay in my ears if I moved my head at all. But the real issue on the MP3 side is the supplied software - 'MusicMatch Jukebox,' not the player itself. I have a perfectly ordinary Win98SE machine. The software installed easily enough, and it created some MP3 files from a CD, but could not see the DM-1's disk space. I tried this with SmartMedia cards from several different suppliers, and they all failed. However, I could move the files to the cards directly, as they appear as a disk drive to the system so I could have managed. Playback, by the way is quite acceptable.

What cinched my full negative was, 'MusicMatch,' in the end. This destabilized the USB lines, resulting in repeated system hangs, and finally compromised the registry. When I checked their e-mail site, I found that I would have to but the 'real' version of the software if I were to get any help. When I did e-mail them anyway, I got a very unhelpful response, and then nothing. You may draw your own conclusions, but I think Olympus should really look elsewhere for a provider.

As I see it, I paid a premium price for technology available for a fourth the cost. Buying two decent machines and gluing them together would have been more satisfactory. I am not prone to giving poor ratings, but I feel I have no choice. People who really need this functionality should look elsewhere.

The box say it's compatible with Windows, but I discoved that they DO HAVE MAC 9 & OSX SOFTWARE, a free download on the Olympus web site. Even without any Mac software installed, the DM-1 easily mounts to the (9.1) desktop via the included USB cable. It shows up as a small hard drive. However you need their software to play this compressed audio format (dss) on your computer. Voice quality is totally decent, and 11 hours of audio on a 64MB smart media card is really great. (22 hrs at lower quality, but where do you draw the line?) Use headphones, not the built in speaker for better sound. Oh, don't be fooled by the product name; this is NOT an MP3 recorder. It can play Mp3's but it only records in the mono dss format. The Mac software can convert these unique dss audio files into much larger, more compatible AIFF files, which you can import into any audio editing program. It's great to be able to archive your audio in the computer, instead of a million little tapes!!

I am currently using the DM-1 for data collection and I swear I will never go back to tape recorders. After downloading directly to your PC, you can transcribe directly into excel or Word without having to toggle between programs. Just hit F4 and it will play the next portion of the recorded session without bringing the Player window to the front. You can also choose an auto-setback amount so that you recheck your transcription of the previous segment. The file sizes for dss files (the proprietary file format) are incredibly small for audio files-which is wonderful also, and have great sound quality. Being able to change the dss files to wav files is an added bonus. The size of the DM-1 (smaller than a small cell phone!) and the fact that it doesnot eat batteries make this an exceptional piece of equipment for the researcher! I highly recommend this product for anyone who collects digital audio files that require transcribing! My only complaint is that the Mac Software is adequate but not as versatile.

Purchased the DM-1 for lectures as I wanted a voice recorder with a substantially longer recording time than my other two digital and two micro-cassette recorders.
I found that the transfering of files from the unit to my pc to be flawless and convenient.
The recording quality of the DM-1 is much better than my other recorders. Playback quality through the built in speaker is ample. Through earphones (the supplied earphones were average, get a better set) or your pc's speakers sound was fantastic and clear.
Unit seems sturdy, great design which allows simple one-handed operation. The supplied case is great BUT the clip is attached to your belt via velcro, which in my opinion just begs for it to be lost sooner or later.
Serves dually as an MP3 player. In my opinion and needs, this makes the DM-1 great value.
More than ample battery life.

I received the recorder expecting it to be as good as the mircocassette recorders that Olympus manufactures. This was not the case for a classroom or lecture recording. The hissing sound couched my voice completely even in a very quiet 10 foot room. It may be fine for a scope of 3-6 inches but, other than that, I would not recommend it. I called Olympus directly and found that they made NO digital voice recorders for large (6-10 feet) conference rooms or lecture halls--yet.
I would like to say that they were very honest and tried their best to help me out. I am just going to update the older model of the Pearlcorder S720 to an S725 or S950 microcassette model.
Again, I would not recommend it for voice recording over a 3-6 inch range even with an external mike--too much internal noise from the recorder itself.

For all around business to pleasure, the DM-1 is the best.

With 12Khz sampling, the Olympus DM-1 is great for recording meetings, lectures, or just taking notes. And the DSS compressed audio files are easy to manage once downloaded onto your computer. Your computer sees the DM-1 as a USB device drive. It appears as D: drive on my XP system at home and at work.

The DM-1 also plays MP3 or WMA music files in the music mode. Too cool. Pop in a 128Mb SmartMedia card with a couple of recorded CDs on it, and you've got a lot of music to listen to while traveling or during those quiet lunch breaks. I matched mine up with a set of Bose Quite-Comfort headphones to relax in those all-to-commom noisy office/travel environments. The Bose headphones don't mash your earrings into your head either like some of the other headphones do. They're the best.

The DM-1, however, IS NOT a dictation/transcription device. If that is what you require, the DS-3000 is what you want.

Not-so-oddly the DM-1 power switch is located on the rear of the device to lock the SmartMedia ejector. The only reason to turn off the DM-1 is to change the SmartMedia memory card.

This is, in my opinion, the best device for recording lectures/notes and at the same time doubling as a high quality digital music player. And I didn't even touch on the WOW 3D SRS audio enhacements for musictends playback. Just don't use too much though. It may tend to distort slightly at max. 3D effect. I keep mine set at low to medium, and it sounds great.

Take the DM-1 with a SmartMedia card full of high quality digital music and a set of Bose Quiet-comfort headphones on a trans-contennental flight and you're in heaven.

I just wish that one could record notes while listening to music. That's when some of my best ideas come to me.

The DM-1 appears to be a high quality device. The recording and playback sound quality is acceptable with internal speaker and mike.
The playback quality in the Music mode with WOW is better than expected.
However, for dictation, the basic ability to rewind and "edit" a voice file after it is recorded is missing. That is a serious limitation for using this for dictation.
Also the Music Match Jukebox software necessary to load Music files is limited unless one pays another $20 to upgrade. The limitations are bad enough, but the constant nagging messages about upgrading are disruptive and offensive. Also transfer of files to the device is very slow using the Music Match Software.
Also of note, drivers for Windows Media Player are not available.
The best way to transfer files between the DM-1 and PC is to use a card reader. That is much faster.
The concept of a voice recorder with MP3 capability and removable media is great but the missing voice file edit capability and crippled Music software are disappointing and very limiting. I expected more at this price.

I have used DM-1 to recorde lectures, and I am truly impressed by the quality of this unit. The microphone can pick up clear audio even when I sit several rows away from the instructor. The 64MB card can hold more than 10 hours of lectures. The unit accepts Ni-MH rechargeable batteries. So I keep two sets handy, and I never run out of batteries. When I come home, I can easily download the lectures to my PC via USB cable, and it sounds excellent on my computer. I love this unit! I think it is specifically designed for students to record lectures.