Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-400S DNS

by Olympus

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 5.1 x 6.1 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B002QE3G3Q
• Item model number: 142036
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,510 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2003

Product Description

On-the-go digital audio recording with on-the-mark voice activation built in and industry-leading speech-to-text software included. Let this sleek, stylish recorder go the distance for you by providing 272 hours of superior stereo sound recording, with features that maximize your ability to organize files and transfer them to your PC-without even using a USB cable. Comes with a state-of-the-art noise cancellation microphone, too! Recording and downloading crisp digital files has never been easier.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Truth in advertising, April 8, 2010

By 

M. Taylor - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-400S DNS (Office Product)

Here's what this will do: the recorder works fine. Here's what it won't do: the Dragon Naturally Speaking software will only translate your own speech into text, and that's after it "learns" how you speak. It won't pick up the speech of anyone else in the room. This means that if you're recording an interview with somebody, the Dragon software (made by Nuance) will understand you, the owner of this device, but it won't have a clue about what the other person is saying. Further, neither Amazon nor anyone else bothers to inform the buyer that this software won't work with Windows 7. The WS-400S DNS ships with "Edition 10" of the software. It takes version 10.1 to make it work with Windows 7, but regardless of which version you have it won't work with the Olympus recorder, says Nuance. (It will work with other brands of recorders, Nuance says.) It took half an hour on the phone with Olympus, and another half hour with Nuance, to get this straightened out. Nuance said I could buy an updated version of the software for $99, later bargained down to $70. I said I wasn't interested in paying twice. So... buyer beware.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nuance and Olympus need some good technical writers, November 10, 2009

By 

George M. Obrien "former sound engineer" (Pueblo, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-400S DNS (Office Product)

The recorder works fine. The instructions are very long and have nothing to do with the dictation word processing usage. Briefly the instructions are very poor to non existent. Nuance never produces a new program with instructions for the new user to even understand what it is supposed to do. The Dragon software requires that files in a certain format the instructions don't say what format or how to get it there. Probably a pretty good thing, but I haven't had time to figure it out. Plan on lots of time to get this productive. I wish Olympus/Nuance could write some brief to the point instructions and send me a copy.
George O'Brien [...]