Customer Reviews

Olympus WS-400 S Digital Recorder (White)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My colleague and I compared notes on the Olympus WS-400 versus the Sony ICD-UX71 digital voice recorders for use by our undergraduate social science students, and here's a copy of what we agreed on:

Both the Sony and the Olympus have nearly identical features:
- 1GB storage
- stereo microphones
- USB direct connect
- 1 AAA battery
- about 2 seconds to start up

The Sony creates MP3 files, and the Olympus creates WMA files, but this is not a big problem for Mac users, since many of us have the free Flip4Mac download that automatically converts WMA files for Apple Quicktime player.

I think that the Olympus WS-400 is a better product for student interviewing, for the following reasons:

1) the Olympus has fewer buttons, and better placement of them

2) when you record on the Olympus, you can see the input sound levels on little bar charts, which confirms it's actually working

3) the Sony has a plastic cap that covers up the USB direct connect, which comes off and can easily be misplaced. But the Olympus uses a simple slider button to move the USB connector outside of the case, where you can use it. No parts to lose!

4) when I connected both units to PC and Mac computers, both units appeared on the screen within seconds, but the Olympus had a simpler file structure (only one level) to locate the recorded files.

5) Based on my simultaneous recording test, the sound quality was very similar on the PC, but better for the Olympus on the Mac (not sure why). For file size, the Olympus is about 2/3 the size of the Sony files (I think, because the default sound quality level on Sony is 192k, while the Olympus is 128k)

6) The Olympus is a better price.

If you buy the Olympus, one very simple but important setup instruction: the AAA battery has a thin transparent plastic covering that must be removed before inserting it into the unit

I've owned the similar WS-500 recorder for a long time, using it mostly for interviews. It's far and away the best DVR I've ever owned. Very simple to use, decent battery life (love that it can recharge through USB port while plugged in), good mic pickup, super-easy file transfer with built-in USB dongle. It's even better when used with the small Olympus noise-cancelling mic.

As previous reviewers have noted, this recorder has some clear advantages over the Sony UX71. It's much more intuitive to operate, and better built. But the main advantage is battery life: The UX71, which I unfortunately bought, routinely kills a battery in one day, even when set to "hold." It's worthless, and Sony hasn't been too anxious to do a thing about it, beyond offering exchange for a refurb (I suspect its endemic with the model, and haven't bothered.) I was a Sony user for a long time, but no more.

The sole advantage to the Sony, in my mind, was the fact that it records in MP3 format, which is handy for web posting, etc. The WS-500 model, similar to this one, has a firmware upgrade from Olympus that will allow mp3 recording. (I originally thought that update would work on both the 400 and 500, but apparently not; see comments attached.)

If your an occasional user of digital voice recorders, this is a great product and you will likely be very happy with it. I "upgraded" my VN-4100PC to this unit because of the lack of Vista 64 support on the VN-4100 PC, I still was able to offload audio using VMWare with a XP image.

The device is a lot larger in terms of audio storage than my VN-4100 PC, I went from 24hrs to 70hrs with HQ mode (highest quality non-stero mode). On lower quality you can get 250+ hours, but I find HQ is best because you are better able to understand what you are recording.

I use the devices two ways, one way is very difficult with this device and is the primary way I use it. The other way, the device works perfectly and well suited for this task.

I will frequently record phone calls with a TP7 telephone recorder (very cheap mic that records both sides of the conversation). For this task, the WS-400S is excellent, the recording time and quality works perfectly. Since the device is now a mass storage device, support for any OS is practically guaranteed.

The second, more common use is taking notes. I use David Allen's "Getting Things Done" process as well as other systems and my own for day to day productivity. One part of GTD I have adopted is taking note down immediately. I use a digital voice recorder for this and carry it just about everywhere. I will then dump the notes into my system, here is where I have a lot of problems. With my VN-4100 PC I would put the device on "HOLD" which pretty much locks the keyboard, but with the WS-400S, it turns the device off, the downside of this is it takes 1-2 seconds for the device to wake up, compared to the instant wake up on the VN-4100PC. So when you take it off hold and hit record (I frequently do this without even looking at the device since I record 5-30 messages daily) the record button frequently will do nothing, you have to remember to wait 2 seconds or so before even attempting to press record. This has caused me numerous lost recordings and 'redos'. For daily use, this has become much more problematic than lack of Vista 64 support has been. Support claims this is par for the course and there is nothing that can be done. I am waiting to hear if the WS500 series has the same problem, if they do I may want to look at Sony recorders. USB functionality is key for me as I frequently record phone calls and my son talking for my blog. Also as a mass storage device, it is actually easier to use the computer to record 10-50 messages a time to put into my "system".

I would give the device a 2 because this slowdown is such a problem for me, but other than that, the device is excellent. It is just slow all around because of the new computer system on it. If your a daily user like me, I would stay away from this device. Unfortunately I already gave away my VN-4100PC so I will be looking for another device and send this one back.

The product performs as advertised. I have two other Olympus recorders and their advantage over this is that they have software that allows near automatic upload of the audio files from the recorder to my computer. This device, however, does not require a cable which is a great advantage. The device is also almost too small and the record and stop buttons are not conveniently located. It may also be overkill to try to have a voice recorder for dictation that also records very high resolution stereo sound.

While I would have prefered black, the Olympus WS-400 Digital Recorder continues my previous positive experiences with Olympus digital voice recorders. It reliably gives me good-quality, clear recordings of both meetings in large rooms and close-up interviews with individuals. Olympus has always had good, easy-to-use controls and the WS-400 steps that up better than past models.

I like being able to download meetings or interviews in WMA, a widely used audio recording format. I might prefer MP3 format because it is more generally used, but WMA is still a format that you can play back on many players.

I own a similar Sony model ICDUX70RED Digital Voice Recorder that uses MP3 format. It seems to have better sound sensitivity.

However, I didn't like the ease of use of controls as much. It also seems to eat batteries more quickly, something that's important in cases where I've used it several times without recharging the batteries or for long meetings.

I'd recommend the Olympus digital recorder for any kind of job requiring recording of meetings or interviews.

I purchased several these for a law enforcement agency to conduct recorded interviews. The detectives find them easy to use with the direct connect USB feature, and are able to upload interviews on to their computers to convert to CD for transcription. I highly recommend this product.

High quality at the right price. Takes up very little space and weighs very little, which allows it to always be on-hand in my bag.

These will eventually more obsolete as cell phones and pocket cameras can record high quality stereo sound, but right now this device has superior sound quality. Also, these are good in places where phones and cameras are prohibited or frowned upon.

This white model looks very friendly, which has advantages in recording people.

I just purchased the Olympus WS-400 and finally got around learning details of the recorder. Unfortunately, the actual digital voice recorder does not come with a paperback, in-depth user's manual. You either have to download it from the Olympus website or "plug" the recorder into a usb port and pull it up on the F drive. I guess that's not too bad, but it seems like if they were going to include a semi-manual, then they should have just included the entire manual.

Another thing I didn't realize until after reading the instructions was that the included battery had a transparent, plastic covering on the end of it. My boyfriend assumed that the battery didn't work and threw it away. Just a head's up on that one. Anyway, the actual recorder is very small and light. The buttons are kind of small, but not so difficult as to interfere with operation. The highest voice quality setting only allows for 17 hours of recording. This was the default set on the recorder when I received it. Even so, that's plenty of hours for my use. I am a little disappointed in the tiny speaker. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular coming from this little voice recorder, but even on the loudest volume, the external speaker is not very loud. Just a hint -- if you set the slider on the recorder to "conference" instead of "dictation," the volume is somewhat louder. Also using a headset on playback increases the volume.

I was able to achieve the loudest volume by plugging the recorder into my usb port and listening to the files through Windows Media Player. I was definitely pleased with my purchase after listening to the improved sound quality through my computer. The only thing I couldn't figure out how to do until reading the detailed user's manual was how to save the digital files to my computer. When I plugged the recorder into my computer, the file would immediately start to play, but I couldn't find the "file" and "save" option in Window's Media Player. When I read the more complete user's manual, it said to go into "My Computer," find the device, find the folder that the digital file is saved in, and then copy the file. I just copied and pasted the digital file onto my computer desktop. I've never had a digital voice recorder before, so all of these features are completely new to me. But I am very happy that I finally took the plunge and purchased this little guy. I'll never go back to mini tapes!

This is great recorder that I purchased to replace my old Olympus DS-2 to have more storage. I use it for interviews and recording conference speakers. I also use the ME-52 external noise canceling microphone.

The controls are very well laid out.

I do not use it to record music so cannot comment on how it performs for music.

This recorder is great for interviewing. I love that it has the usb to hook up to a computer and get the sound files off. I would highly recommend this product to anyone who will be interviewing. I would not buy a recorder without a usb port to have the option of downloading the file.