Olympus VN-960PC 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder with PC Link

by Olympus

Product Details

Product Manual [348kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6 x 2 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000A2EXI8
• Item model number: VN-960PC
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,408 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 16, 2006

Product Description

Olympus America (141835) Digital Voice Recorder. included are 2 aaa batteries, USB cable, digital w

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

156 of 160 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works great, August 28, 2005

By 

Lars Larsen "Student" (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympus VN-960PC 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder with PC Link (Office Product)

This recorder works great. Its easy to use, sound quality is good, and the low/high microphone sensitivity feature is great for cutting out background noise for dictation or when you're recording a very close-up or loud speaker. Sounds great in both HQ and SP mode, and has enough memory to record all day long. My favorite feature is the USB upload. Its fast, and worked for me the first time without any problems.

The only problem, is that amazon claims it comes with headphones. It does not. It also claims it comes with a microphone, and I guess it does, but its just the built in one. It does, however, have jacks for both headphones and an external mic, which I assume would increase recording quality even more.

132 of 137 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one 'Happy Purchase' we made... please read why!, December 21, 2005

By 

VP (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Olympus VN-960PC 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder with PC Link (Office Product)

We didn't buy this to record lectures and stuff but we bought it to record our little girl's baby talk :-) We couldn't be happier. I wish we had it when our boy was little.

Olympus VN-960PC is an exceptionally well made device. Very easy to use. Buttons are positioned wisely. The recording quality is wonderful (even from under the blankey!). Each piece of recording is labeled seperately so there is no chance of 'recording over' like in an audio cassette.

The recording format is WAV. It can simply be transferred and played on any CD player (or can be converted to MP3 with appropriate third party software). We made our parents very happy (who live thousands of miles away from us) by sending them the baby's voices on CD (because it is difficult to get even a coo out of her over phone!!)

This voice recorder delivered exactly what we bought it for, hence the 5 starts!

It could have had an AC adapter, but that's no reason to frown upon. Good battery life. I have rechargable 900 mAH batteries which practically run endlessly. The recorder could have come with ear phones, but then again I am sure most of us have spare pairs at home.

Last but not least - Amazon.com's price and service was UNBEATABLE! I bought it with free super saver shipping and received in 2 days!

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't beat it for the price, May 23, 2006

By 

Hethra "Hethra" (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olympus VN-960PC 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder with PC Link (Office Product)

This is GREAT. I really am impressed with this device and happy I bought it over other models. It is really refreshing, after coming across so many crappy items out there, to find something of quality for a good price.

Battery life is impressive. LOVE the ability to transfer to computer (and subsequently, to iPod, or whatever). The software, as others have said, is not the greatest, however I find it to be quite adequate and haven't had any problems. What I like is this isn't one of those devices that forces you to only use its own particular format that isn't compatible with anything else. You download the files in .WAV format and you can access the files with other software easily (like Audacity, free audio editing software for optimization or cutting out silences or whatnot). So even if you do not like the software, you are not limited to it (though I'm not sure if other software can be used for downloading the files).

The biggest dislike I have (which is a very minor gripe) is there's no PAUSE button. If the class has a break and you don't want to record noise during the break, you have to create 2 separate files. The upside though, is that these 2 files can be put together into one file with other software such as Audacity (which is free).

One thing I wish it could do, though, is UPload files to the recorder... It does not work like a USB drive. Backlit display would also be nice, but for a student like myself recording classroom lectures, this isn't an issue at all. I will not be taking this camping in the woods -- and if I was, I'd have a flashlight.

Recording ability is clear, though not perfect. But for the price I do not think it can be beat. I only use HQ (high quality) mode when recording which is fine (even though HQ mode takes up the most storage space) because I can empty the files onto my HD. It has enough storage space to handle plenty of classroom lecture recordings without having to download & delete the files every day to create space.

I do NOT recommend using the voice-activated recording feature if you are in a classroom. That feature really only should be used when you are dictating directly into it. If the audio source being recorded is too far away (ie across a classroom), it doesn't work very well. But usually it works just fine to record the entire time because the instructor is talking most of the time -- again, not an issue at all, but thought I'd mention it in case some might care.

I like the multiple folders a lot, and the little separate 'Schedule' folder is nice if you use that, though I do not. I also like that several accessories are included (line-in audio cable, USB cable, software, and one or two more little cables somewhere that I haven't used....).

'Line in' feature allows you to hook it up to a cassette adapter and listen to it in your car if you wish, which is really nice. Or there is a speakerphone on it, which works well. It also has a mic jack if you want to use a better mic, although the mic included in the device is good enough for me.

Overall if you are one of the many budget-minded students wanting to record lectures, I highly, highly recommend this recorder.