Customer Reviews

Olympus WS-200S 128 MB Digital Voice Recorder

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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

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.

Others reviewers said that it records well, but if you so much as look at it cross eyed, you get terrible audio 'static' for lack of a better word.

And you know what? They were exactly right. For my purposes I can let my recorder lie still while it records about 98% of the time, but the other 2% of the time, I know I'll have to lower the volume on my computer big time when I play it back b/c the noise will horrendously loud, and I'll be lucky to hear what I was trying to record in the first place.

So, it's a great recorder for the money IF you can let it lie still while it records. If you can't, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT buy this recorder.

and all of your noise, static, etc. problems will go away. Of course, if you are handling the mike you will still have noise problems. I use it to record live music in a dance hall environment--lots of background noise. I lay the recorder on the table, and put the mike on a mini-tripod in front of the speaker. Set the Quality to high--stereo at 44.1Khz sampling, set the mike sensitivity to LOW, and plug in an external mike--one that is on a cord and physically separate from the recorder body and NOT one that just plugs in at the jack and becomes a part of the recorder. You will get clean, clear stereo recordings with very very low background noise levels.
Bill C.

This recorder has been used for my work for the past two months now. It gets used approximately 6 times a day between 5 mins. to 1.5 hours at a time. It is easy to use and has great playback. It is a perfect size that just slides into my shirt pocket and still picks up everything on the built in microphone. Simple to plug into my laptop and download into my audio files. The files work great on Windows Media Player which is a plus. Can't beat the price either. Highly recommended. My co-workers have bought the same one after they saw and heard mine.

The WS-200S is the best digital recorder that I was able to find for the purpose of college classroom recording. I tried a Sony digital recorder (and I can not recall the model) but was disappointed by the frequency response and by the excessively tight compression. The WS-200S has excellent frequency response and clear audio compression.

If Olympus were to ask me what could be done to improve the product, I would tell them:
1. file naming could be more descriptive (i.e.
OWS200S_YYYY-MM-DD_ hhmmss.wma) (see Sony's product).
2. flash ram capacity could be larger (512 MB) or
external USB flash ram storage device connectivity
would be nice
3. user definable Windows Media Audio format settings
(32-128kb cbr)could be nice
4. MP3 storage format would be nice too
5. an optional crush proof, metal foil shielded carrying
case would be a good thing

Aside from my wish list details, this recorder is the best unit I could find. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

I use this recorder for class lectures. Sound quality is very clear without background noise. Using the supplied headphones I can clearly hear even questions from the back of the class which I could not hear during the lecture. There is no need for an external mic, the internal mic is more than sufficient. The ease of uploading files to my computer is simple and quick. The instructions do not seem to include sufficient operational info, but the device is fairly intuitive to operate. This recorder does everything I've seen in others, but better and in a smaller light weight package. The only caveat would be there is little warning of a low battery. It is simple to replace the AAA battery. I simply always carry and extra in the bag I carry to class. This recorder exceeded my expectations.

I own and use a WS-100, WS-200S and WS-320M. I record voice conversations and meetings which often equires the use of two at a time. The main reason for this is the unit's battery. The bottom of the WS-100 and 200S easily slips out allowing the battery to fall out (not good) and while the WS-320M doesn't have this problem, keeping the battery cover on can be a challenge (I use a rubber band).

I have tried other brands and believe Olympus makes the best for voice quality, I just wish they would get their act together on the battery holders.

Oh yes... I have tried several audio editors on these products. So far the best has been WavePad and the worse has been Soundsoap.

As an Apple Mac user, I just needed a digital recorder that worked! I took a gamble with this one and the Mac (10.4 Tiger) recognises it right out of the box, no cables or drivers required!

Recordings are made in Windows Media (WMA) format which I convert to MP3 using an app called ffmpegX (get it from versiontracker.com) and it works perfectly.

This product really starts to shine when you use an external stereo microphone - the quality is amazing.

I would give this 5 stars if it recorded directly to MP3.