Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

I've read many reviews about the product before purchasing it. Fully prepared to deal with the hassle of integrating the machine with the computer. I was surprised that it was a very smooth experience on my home machine, which is run on XP home edition. Then after a couple weeks, I tried my laptop which is on XP professional, another smooth run. No problem at all.
This is just my personal experience, maybe the manufacturer did improve the product, maybe I am just lucky. I do computer work but this installation didn't require any expertise.
The only thing to note is that after installing the software, put in the CD when XP recognizes the hardware and looks for software.

Hope it helps.

In the limited shopping I did, this seems to be the best recorder for the money. 128 MB for half the price of others with this capacity. It is easy to use, good recording quality, good computer software, small and easy to transport. I am very satisfied and highly recommend

I bought a new computer with Windows Vista, and it won't install the USB link to the recorder. I called Olympus and they just said that it won't work with Vista. That is: it will NEVER be compatible (they won't issue drivers for Vista). That is: I have to buy a new recorder (bought this only last year). I'll make sure the new one is not an Olympus. (By the way, if you happen to lose the CD and need the drivers, they don't provide them online in their website). It's 2007, my friends, everything should be easier to install, especially USB devices.

Works Great...NOW....I read the reviews and was afraid that it was not going to connect properly to my computer. When i recieved it I installed the CD and connected the device, it found it, showed folders but no recording!! So i read the other reviews and there was a tip which i followed and it worked. The trick is connect the recorder to the USB port first, the computer will recognize new hardware then put in cd go to "MY computer" click on cd drive and follow normal install. If you already installed software 1st and are having problems like i did then uninstall the software(add/remove programs) and do what i said. SO.. now that it's up and running the recorder is great, It is actually my fiancee's, for her class and she loves it. Record quality is great. Unfortunately Olympus has horrible support and the instruction manual was quite weak. Well i hope this was helpful.

Great product for the price. Easy to operate, light and small for easy portability, and easy transfer of the digital audio files to the PC. I think this is good value for money, if you need a basic DVR with a PC link feature. The recording format is WAV vs. MP3 format, and although the MP3 format recorders can record as much audio in half the memory, they are almost twice the price right now!

I was originally looking for an xD card model, but when I saw how expensive they were (not to mention how ugly), I started looking for something more reasonable.

I was very happy with Amazon's price, but I actually bought it locally at a higher price, because I needed it the same day.

The main control buttons are an easily accessible 4-function button, but the secondary control buttons are small and the labeling is tiny. Once you get used to it though, this is not a drawback. The placement of all the buttons is good.

I'm not a big-time user of recorders, but the sound quality seems very good to me. It even picks up voices in the next room with amazing clarity.

The battery life is also amazing. And the built-in speaker is more than adequate for reviewing, even by multiple people 6-8 feet (or more) away from it.

The software is very basic, but it works. It's a little inconvenient to rename files and move them around on your computer with the included s/w, but it can be done without too much effort.

Files can be very large, and they balloon up in size if you try to convert them to CD audio instead of a computer sound file format. I recommend breaking up your recordings into 20 or 30 minute segments if you want to burn them to play on your home stereo.

There does not appear to be a way to put a file back onto the recorder after you transfer it to your computer, so you need to be sure you're done with the files before you delete them.

One drawback is that it doesn't display the length of a recorded file on the unit (only the record date).

What I thought was a drawback really isn't. I didn't see a Pause key, but after using it for awhile, realized that the Stop key functions as Pause during playback.

Overall, I'd only be happier if it would take my camera's 1GB xD card.

this is a great recorder, especially for the price. I use it for my lectures in class and you can easily convert the files into mp3 or whatever you want so you can listen to your recordings on your ipod or burn them onto a CD