Olympus WS-200S 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder

by Olympus

Product Details

Product Manual [528kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 8 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009HMR6E
• Item model number: WS-200S
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,542 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

With 128 MB of internal flash memory, the Olympus WS-200S Digital Voice Recorder lets users record up to 56 hours of digital audio in HQ, SP, and LP recording modes. The WS-200S records audio WMA files, which makes transferring audio files to a PC a snap--Windows Media Audio (WMA) files work seamlessly with any Widows based PC. This unit lets you continuously record for 13 hours with one AAA battery. You can also use the WS-200S as a mass USB storage device to hold any type of digital file. The WS-200S keeps files organized by letting users record to five different folders that each hold up to 199 files. When it's time to transfer files to a PC, the WS-200S's USB direct design lets you plug the recorder right into your computer for easy, full-speed transfers using its handy USB 2.0 connectivity. Other great features include slow and fast playback modes that let you listen to audio 25-percent slower or 50-percent faster than real time. This digital recorder is compatible with Windows ME, 2000 Professional, XP Professional, XP Home Edition, and Vista operating systems.

Product Description

OLYMPUS WS-200S, 128 MB DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER AND WINDOW MEDIA

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

145 of 145 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very good product, but falls short in some ways, July 18, 2005

By 

Michael R. Groh "dad" (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympus WS-200S 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)

I recently purchased a WS-200S to replace my aging Olympus DS-2000 recorder. I had hoped to use the WS-200S to record dictation for Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS) transcriptions. DNS (a very, very good voice recognition product) works very well with recordings made on my DS-2000, and I'd expected the same performance.

First of all, the WS-200S is a typical Olympus product: carefully designed, excellent construction, etc. It's a marvel of miniaturization, measuing less than 3.75" tall x 1.5" wide. It weighs next to nothing.

This small size comes with a price, however. There are five controls (Rec, Stop, Play, FF/Rew, Volume) along the right side (sorry, lefties!). As you can imagine, these buttons and rockers are very small. I have found it difficult to operate this recorder without looking to see which button I'm pressing.

It's unfortunate that Olympus chose WMA (Windows Media Audio) as the recording format for this recorder. Although WMA is extremely compact, it also causes considerable loss of audio detail. In fact, DNS cannot reliably transcribe a recording made at the WS-200S's default recording speed (SP).

I have to use HQ (high quality) mode for DNS transcription. The problem here is that HQ yields less than 9 hours of recording time on the WS-200S's 128 megabyte memory. I had been hoping for more usable recording time than that from 128 megs of memory.

Also, because DNS does not recognize WMA files, I have to use a conversion utility (I'm using [....] excellent "AudioConverter Studio" product for this purpose) to transform the WMA files before transcription. I fully expected this extra step, and it's more of a problem with DNS than the DS-200S, but you should be aware of it.

The WMA recordings at LP are so "lo fi" and full of noise that they're painful to listen to. In my opinion, the LP recording mode (which yields 55 hours of recording time on the WS-200S) can't be considered a viable recording option.

The SP recordings have a funny "hollow" sound (apparently caused by the WMA compression), making them sound very odd. This is true even when using a good headset microphone (Parrott VXI TalkPro Xpress).

However, the HQ recording mode is crystal-clear and gives very good results with DNS, especially when used with an external microphone.

Finally, and I know it's a trivial issue, but the built-in microphone picks up every sound generated by handling the recorder. What I mean is that, while it's recording, you have to be very careful not to tap the side of the recorder or to allow your fingers or hand to "slide" over the recorder's surface. If you do, the recorder picks up and adds very distinct (and loud!) noises to the recording. My previous Olympus recorder had much better microphone isolation than the WS-200S and I'm finding this issue to be a real problem. It's difficult, for instance, to make recordings as I walk around with this recorder in my hand because of all the "handling" noises that get added to the recording.

So, the bottom line is that I'll probably be using this recorder for meetings and interviews and not for DNS transcriptions. I really like the USB "plug" for transferring files to the computer, and am very happy with its construction and overall quality. Olympus cannot be beat in these regards. I just wish Olympus had chosen a less "lossy" recording format and had spent a bit more time on ergonomics.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Quality, Convinent, but some drawbacks, September 20, 2005

By 

J. Zhang "TechieLily" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Olympus WS-200S 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)

Pros:
good quality,
roomie (can record alot of lecture time),
pretty good detection,
slim design
USB drive very useful
no extra software needed
nice functions

Con:
records sounds when handling (need to leave it somewhere undisturbed for recording)
right side of stereo headphones stopped working the first day
files are not numbered by date / good info, just in increasing numbers

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Podcaster's Delight, August 27, 2005

By 

Bernie DeKoven "Bernie" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olympus WS-200S 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)

I bought this recorder because I needed something that would produce near-broadcast quality for my CDs and podcasts. This one was relatively cheap (around $100), with amazing battery life (read on), could record up to 5 hours (more or less) continuously, and plugs directly into the USB port for uploading (works on a Mac, too, but you need a WMA converter). And it records in SsTtEeRrEeOo. After much hemming and hawing, I finally accepted that I was going to need to make one more purchase before I was satisfied. Turns out that the onboard microphone, though wonderfully sensitive, is too sensitive to the case it's in - producing an unacceptable, tinny noise. So I bought a microphone, for more than half-again the price - a tiny ME-50s, also from Olympus. And my dreams have all been realized - small, powerful, clear sounds, more than ample for a podcast or voice CD, not quite as high-fidelity for music, but for my purposes, well nigh unto perfect. O, the battery life seems a little shorter with the microphone. It draws its power from the single AAA battery that powers the whole unit, so a sllightly earlier battery demise is not worth mourning over.