Customer Reviews

Olympus J500 Microcassette Recorder

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

 

 

I use minicassette recorders on interviews a lot, and this one is a great recorder for the price. It's small enough to fit in a shirt pocket (and nicely slim as well), and the ergonomics are good: easy to play back, fast-forward, etc. It has all the basic controls you need. I can't speak for the sound relative to others, but for voice, it's more than good enough. It picks up voices quite distinctly even in a relatively noisy environment. I also like the battery indicator, so I always know when I need to bring extra batteries, which last a pretty long time. I also can't speak for reliability, but I've had no problems in the six months I've been using it. The only caveats are that the microphone/earphone jack is smaller than ones used by other recorders, so you need an adapter or a mike/earphone with small plugs, and that it doesn't come with an AC power supply. But overall, it's great.

I purchased this product and found that it was of relatively poor construction quality. After reasonable normal use the cassette door hinge broke. I elected not to send it back for repair as my need for this equipment passed, but I was surprised that such a key element of the recorder would be so fragile.

I was given this as an unexpected & thoughtful gift, but after working with it a bit, I don't think I'd chose the Olympus again. One basic design flaw is that it doesn't stand up very well on it's think rounded base. You can balance it, but it will topple over at the slightest disturbance. I compared it with my friend's Panasonic RN505 which is substantially heavier, but has a bigger, better speaker & is more stable. When I played my tape on her machine it seemed as if the microphones on both were comparable.

i purchased the j500 in order to record focus groups, but found that i needed to purchase an additional audio-cassette recorder in order to ensure that i'm able to capture everything that is said. i have a difficult time making out what people are saying when the recorder is placed in the middle of a fairly large boardroom table. there is quite a bit of feedback which makes understanding words fairly difficult. this may be eliminated by purchasing an external microphone...which will be my next purchase.

I am not sure if it is my usage of this recorder, the tapes I put in it or the batteries. My recorder doesn't work anymore. The features on it are good, and it is certainly an attractive recorder. While it did work, I had absolutely no complaints. Unfortunately it isn't working now (and I have complaints).

If I had to purchase another mini-recorder, I would go with a bigger name brand, just to be safe. It may cost extra money (as in a few measly bucks) but it is better to pay five more than replacing a whole new recorder.

Lawyers will like the cassette recorders (and micro ones) but for the average person, I might even venture to suggest purchasing a digital recorder. Give it some thought, but whatever you do, be careful before you buy this one. I would not recommend it!

This recorder is another good Pearlcorder by Olympus, but it drops some of the features I found really useful that were in the old L200. I use mine for note taking and general short (less than an hour) recording chores. On the old L200, you had an Index Marker to, but on that recorder the indexer stopped the tape motion when ever it hit an index mark. On the J500, it only gives you a loud sound and you must release the rewind/fast forward button to hear the recording. Also the fast forward speed is so slow that the index mark doesn't sound and so you lose fast forward index search. It only works in rewind. (This might be the result of changes made to the rewind/fast forward system. It's a sliding lever now not buttons as on the old L200.) It's not a bad little recorder, I think the changes made to the tape handling chassis have really reduced the overall value of this recorder. Another thing that one needs to remember is the J500 only has auto shut off in playback and recording mode only,and at end of tape, but NOT in rewind or fast forward as the old L200 use to. So if you place it in rewind or fast forward and something comes up in which you forget it's running, it will get to the end of the tape and doesn't turn off. (Not normally a bad problem, but just one more thing you lose from the L200.) I think dropping the more useful features, and changing the tape handling chassis reduced the overall value of this recorder, especially since Olympus stopped making the L200. For that reason, it gets 4 stars instead of five.

We searched for this specific item since we'd had others in the past and it is worth tracking down. Better battery life and sound quality than others.

purchased the tape recorder (refurbished and the sound when turned up all the way you could barely hear , so the sound was defiantly broken

Olympus makes GREAT digital cameras, but their recorders are to die for, especially when you interview someone and get back to the newsroom only to discover that while the tape was moving, the condenser mic had decided to go South on you and the only sound you hear is the motor and a weak, faraway voice. Cleaning and demagnatizing the heads didn't work for me, either, so buy a recorder with a blinking red light that indicates what you're recording is what you're getting.

For interviews, spend the extra money and get a super quality product.

This product was to be shipped with a USB cable which was not in my package.