Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder

by Olympus

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 4.6 x 1.5 inches ; 2.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000MSDL6K
• Item model number: 141897
• Batteries: 2 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (108 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,776 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 26, 2007

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

In addition to capturing stereo sound from meetings, interviews, and important lectures, the Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder allows you to download and create Podcasts for later listening. The DS-30 offers users up to 68 hours of recording time with its 256 MB worth of internal flash memory. For easy organization and storing of files, the player allows users to set up five voice folders, and each folder can save up to 200 messages. Internal files can be easily navigated on the player's high-contrast backlit monochrome LCD panel. Other great features include a built-in variable control voice actuator (VCVA) function, and a timed recording and alarm feature so you can set up automatic recording and playing. Running on two AAA batteries, the player offers up to 30 hours of continuous playback in the following modes: ST XQ mode (4 hour 10 minute capture time), ST HQ mode (8 hour 30 minute capture time), HQ mode (17 hour capture time), SP mode (33 hour 30 minute capture time), and LP mode (66 hour 40 minute capture time). For added user convenience, an optional AC adapter can be used with the recorder. Compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional operating systems and later, the player measures a pocket-friendly 4.37 x 1.48 x 0.63 inches and weighs in at a scant 2.80 ounces.

What's in the Box
DS-30 digital voice recorder, stereo microphone, USB cables, stereo earphones, DSS Player v.7 software, instruction manual, strap, and two AAA batteries.

Product Description

DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER WITH 68 HOUR RECORDING ON 256MB INTERNAL MEMORY. RECORDS IN STEREO THROUGH THE REMOVABLE STEREO MICROPHONE. USE ALSO FOR PORTABLE MUSIC PLAYER, AND WORKS WITH AUDIBLE.COM BOOK DOWNLOAD FEATURES. CREATE AND PLAY PODCASTS.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

149 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Quality in a Small Package, June 30, 2007

By 

Cameron Scholtz (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)

I got my DS-30 last week and I love it! This is the first digital stereo voice recorder I have owned. I am very impressed with the quality of manufacturing and the quality of the recordings. I uploaded some photos above to show the size of the unit and the contents of the package.

The DS-30 can record with or without the attachable stereo microphone. This mic is so small though that even attached it still fits in my pocket.

The "Hold" feature is nice. Press the Hold button will lock the DS-30 buttons until taken off hold. This is handy if you are moving around a lot or want to save the current recording or playback settings without fear of accidentally touching any of the buttons.

It has a lot great features for recording both dictation (voice in quiet, close quarters) and conferences (voice in large, noisy rooms). These features include a Variable Control Voice Actuator which will automatically turn on/off the recorder based upon the volume level it senses, a microphone sensitivity setting and a Low Cut Filter. (Playback mode also has features like noise cancellation and voice filter.)

The DS-30 can playback AVI and MP3 files. It can also play Audible format files as well as Podcasts. The device has a full-featured menu including adjustments for backlight, contrast and LED, powersave, 3 alarms and a voice guide. The alarms are very kewl. You can set them to play various alarms sounds or even use one or your own recordings!

The D3-30 comes with ear buds and it can play MP3 and AVI files. I transferred some music to it and the quality of the MP3 player is really nice! I am not an audiophile but the DS-30 plays MP3s every bit as well as they sound on my laptop.

Transferring files from my D3-30 to my computer was plug-n-play easy. I just attached the USB cable to my PC. Windows XP immediately recognized my DS-30 as a new device and displayed it as a new drive letter in my Windows Explorer list of drives. I could drag-n-drop files to and from, including MP3s. It could not be any easier. I did not install the DS-30 software. At this point I won't even need it and I prefer not to install a bunch of unnecessary software on my computer.

The DS-30 package comes with:
DS-30 Digital Stereo recorder
User Manual (well written)
2 AAA batteries
Ear buds
USB cable
Olympus DSS software

* Optional accessories include a remote control, telephone pickup and AC adapter.

93 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High quality, slightly hard to use for podcasting, March 30, 2007

By 

M. Oliver (Phoenix, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)

After doing quite a bit of research I purchased this to "podcast" some events (seminars). Our first event was today and this device allowed me to get the podcast up right after the event, though with some effort, which is why it gets 4 and not 5. See below.

The device is very small, very lightweight, well thought out ergonomically, has an excellent built in (and removable) stereo MIC, and connects via regular USB. The software interface on it is very good (for recording), the screen is easy to read. The batteries will last quite a while, or you can use AC (optional), or Lithium Ion batteries (optional).

You do not need any add on MICs to record most events - the MIC can be set to pick up nearly everything; to cut low end noise, etc. In short, this is a very high quality, easy to use (but powerful if you need it) dedicated audio recorder.

The issues are that it only records in WMA format (Windows proprietary) and the software is not very good for editing. For example, if you record in stereo, it will not download the WAV file when you download the file, nor can you convert it to mono. To do the podcast, I had to import the WMA file into iTunes, then open the Mp3 iTunes created in Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net). From there, I was able to edit the file, and compress the bit stream.

This device can also be used to listen to podcasts, and the software has some kind of organization for that; but for the life of me, I cannot imagine anyone doing this, if they had an ipod. It is just clumsy and not intuitive for podcast listening. If you want to listen to podcasts, do what the rest of the planet does - get an ipod, use iTunes.

I would recommend this device as a high quality dedicated recorder, that is not too expensive, but not for mp3 or podcast listening.

80 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quality of the actual equipment is stellar but using it makes you want to pull your hair out., February 11, 2008

By 

mjwalrus (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)

I'm am oral historian using the recorder to record oral histories from elderly interviewees. I actually bought this recorder to upgrade from my old "Sony ICDP320 - 64MB Digital Voice Recorder w/ PC connectivity" I purchased from AMAZON a few years ago for around $60.00. I needed to upgrade my sound quality, I figured at an original price of 200.00- and all the great reviews, the Olympus was the way to go.

First of all, the sound quality is amazing. I use it with an external microphone, "Sony ECMMS907 Digital Recording Microphone" also purchased on AMAZON for around 75.00. It's great as it cuts down on the external noise that the recorder tends to produce. Less paper shuffling background noise, or when you have to pick up the recorder-- it doesn't distort the sound. This recorder plus the sony microphone produce wonderful quality audio. I'm not a professional, but I am very happy with the results.

When I got home tonight to upload my audio on my computer and do a little editing, I was shocked to find the recorder WILL NOT CONVERT THE FILES FROM WMA. I did not realize I could not edit/move or generally touch the WMA files with any program. There is a button on the task bar that offers to convert the files to .WAV, but it never lights up. After much hair pulling I purchased the $[...] editing program upgrade offered. No luck and still no conversion. [...] bucks wasted.

Interestingly, my old 70.00 recorder will download the audio into ANY format you want, MP3, Wav, WMA- whatever. I am shocked to learn this 200.00 recorder limits me to one format. Now I have to search the internet to find a free conversion program that will not sacrifice the quality I just paid so dearly to get. I certainly don't want to shell out another 50.00 for a conversion program just to be able to access MY files!

Also, the downloading program is not intuitive and it is difficult to use. Editing is a joke.

I don't understand why the software side of this recorder is SO horrible when the recorder is SO good! I don't know whether to keep it and deal with the frustration or return it and deal with bad quality.

Update November 23, 2008: I have been using this recorder for quite awhile now. Yes, I decided to keep it. I'm using it with Vista, which helps b/c I don't use the software that came with it to download it onto my machine. I connect it and just put it where I want on my computer. Also, Vista has no problem burning these WMA files onto a CD for me, also better.

I do now use a converting program and a separate editing program to play with my audio. I understand having to purchase a separate editing program, but am still disappointed I have to bloat my desktop with another program to convert the files.

Positively, the recorder has been very easy to use. It's very point-and-click. Although, it comes with a recorded advert for audible.com (I JUST found this, prompting my update) Make sure and delete it for more memory. If I had this to do over again, I would do more searching to find something that would convert my files more easily. While not as bad as it was w/o Vista, it continues to be an annoyance.