Frequently Bought Together
Technical Details
- With 4GB of internal memory and 1,088 hours of recording time, you’ll be able to capture notes, lectures, and more – and still have room to store documents.
- With the "USB Direct" design, it is easy to transfer your files to your PC. Just plug the recorder right into your computer for fast file transfer – no cables needed.
- Store and listen to up to 1,000 songs on the go. Have your music readily available wherever and whenever you are.
- Extend recording time and save memory by setting the device to only record when the microphones sense sound.
- Experience long battery life with the included rechargeable battery. When the recorder is plugged into the computer, it will recharge your battery.
Product Details
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Product Description
Record meetings or notes and even store documents on this high-class storage device and remarkable music player. Easily transfer files with the USB input that lets you plug the WS-510M right into the computer for fast results. Up to 1,000 songs can be stored and played in impressive stereo sound, with track and artist name clearly displayed on the LCD.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
86 of 88 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I own another Olympus recorder which I bought years ago and I paid a ton of money for it. It was money well spent. I was intimidated by the "digital" part of it for a long, long time, but once you get the hang of it, these are so fabulous.
There's a button on the front that lets you move between folders A-E. That letter will appear on the screen and you can work on 5 different projects easily---just press the little button and it will take you to the folder you want where you can store all your notes for that project.
Within each folder are 199 files---I know this sounds confusing if you are new to the digital world, but the recorder does it all for you. You just go to the folder (tap the far right top button several times and it will go from A to E on the screen. You stop at the letter you want). Then press record and Talk! Easy!
When you are done, you'll see on the screeen 1/1---which means two things: you have just created a file and there are a total of 1 files in your folder, 1/1. The next time you record, it will say 2/2---which means you are in the second file and there are 2 files in your folder and on and on it goes until you get 199 files.
Now let's say you want to go back and listen to file 1 of your 199 files. You click back through them manually with the (<---) arrow which is on the front wheel until you get to it. The screen will say 1/199 and you will be at the first file and know you have 199 files total. I think that is just so easy and so cool!
To record, you press the top button in the middle which you can see in the picture (it's just below the screen) and talk---that's it. You don't press two buttons at the same time like in the olden days.
If you want to pause, click it again. If you want to stop recording, the top button on the left is stop and you click it. NOTHING could be easier.
At first, I was afraid to buy a recorder with the buttons on the front because my old one had them on the side, so I went to a store and looked at the product. THE FRONT IS BETTER. You have to remember that this little guy is the size of a heath bar. It's small! And holding it in your hand makes it super easy to click all the buttons with your thumb. Another reviewer said they were too small---I think they are PERFECT...go and look at Office Depot and you'll see the size. If you can't read them, the red one is record and the black one is stop. I can see them just fine, and if you can't remember this few buttons, then you probably are not reading this review.
Now, this gadget has all sorts of hidden menus to do all sorts of detailed things---I flip through the menus now and then and check them out, but basically, I just want to record and download.
It comes with a foam pouch which is really nice. My old one didn't have that.
It comes with a rechargeable battery and it's supposed to recharge anytime you have it hooked up to your computer. I haven't taken the time to charge it.
The second reason I bought another olympus is because my first one had 1/4 of a gig and this one has 4 Gigs! I filled the old one up in a week, so I'm thinking this one should last two months!!! Unbelievable for the price I paid which was $109---my old one cost over $300, I think.
Olympus makes a ton of these little recorders and I went to their website to try to figure out what was what. They could do a lot better job of telling you.
I narrowed the choices by the USB port. The old one I have snaps apart (too cool) and one side is a usb insert (like a flash drive). This one has a little USB thing that slides out of the bottom and then retracts. This was a deal breaker for me with the other models---I will lose a cord and I wanted the USB thing to be built in. The whole point of having a digital recorder is to hook it to your computer.
I like the voice activated feature(unlike another reviewer).
The other reviewer is right that you do have to go through several buttons to erase, but if you think about it, better to be asked to confirm, then to erase by mistake. I *think* (but I'm not sure if I remember this correctly) there might be an erase for the whole folder on one of the menus.
At this price and this size, there's no reason not to have one with you all the time. It will work with Dragon and actually type up your files, but I am here to tell you that the Dragon people are as unfriendly as they come. After I spent DAYS trying to figure out why my Dragon software would not work when I was trying to train Dragon with their mic, I paid the $20 to talk to someone who
He/she finally said it was an issue they knew about and that I could not use their headphone/mic that came with the software. They refunded my $20 and I bought a new mic---but what about all MY TIME!? The DAYS I lost!?
I think they owe me for that. And Dragon ruined one of my audio drivers on my computer causing it to crash over and over---GRRR and I had to pay to get that fixed by the Geeks, like I will ever see that money back from Dragon.
If anyone knows of any voice recognition software that actually works and is made by a company that's nice, responsible, and friendly, please comment to this post. I paid Dragon to figure out how to convert the wma files this recorder produces to wav files (I know it can be done because I've done it), but he said it couldn't AND took my money. Yes, I love them. If anyone knows how to do it, please also comment. Using voice recognition with this recorder is a very important reason for getting it.
UPDATE: If Olympus reads these (and they should)---could you please make one with more files---5 is not enough. I work on a lot of projects at once. Give me 10! And could someone please explain what the index thing does?
ANOTHER UPDATE--May 22, 2010: Amazon just sent me a product update on Dragon, since they now make software that converts WMA files to print. In other words, I won't have to convert the voice files I make on this recorder to WAV files before they will print---at least that's what the box says. We'll see. I'll be back with an update after I use it.
There's a button on the front that lets you move between folders A-E. That letter will appear on the screen and you can work on 5 different projects easily---just press the little button and it will take you to the folder you want where you can store all your notes for that project.
Within each folder are 199 files---I know this sounds confusing if you are new to the digital world, but the recorder does it all for you. You just go to the folder (tap the far right top button several times and it will go from A to E on the screen. You stop at the letter you want). Then press record and Talk! Easy!
When you are done, you'll see on the screeen 1/1---which means two things: you have just created a file and there are a total of 1 files in your folder, 1/1. The next time you record, it will say 2/2---which means you are in the second file and there are 2 files in your folder and on and on it goes until you get 199 files.
Now let's say you want to go back and listen to file 1 of your 199 files. You click back through them manually with the (<---) arrow which is on the front wheel until you get to it. The screen will say 1/199 and you will be at the first file and know you have 199 files total. I think that is just so easy and so cool!
To record, you press the top button in the middle which you can see in the picture (it's just below the screen) and talk---that's it. You don't press two buttons at the same time like in the olden days.
If you want to pause, click it again. If you want to stop recording, the top button on the left is stop and you click it. NOTHING could be easier.
At first, I was afraid to buy a recorder with the buttons on the front because my old one had them on the side, so I went to a store and looked at the product. THE FRONT IS BETTER. You have to remember that this little guy is the size of a heath bar. It's small! And holding it in your hand makes it super easy to click all the buttons with your thumb. Another reviewer said they were too small---I think they are PERFECT...go and look at Office Depot and you'll see the size. If you can't read them, the red one is record and the black one is stop. I can see them just fine, and if you can't remember this few buttons, then you probably are not reading this review.
Now, this gadget has all sorts of hidden menus to do all sorts of detailed things---I flip through the menus now and then and check them out, but basically, I just want to record and download.
It comes with a foam pouch which is really nice. My old one didn't have that.
It comes with a rechargeable battery and it's supposed to recharge anytime you have it hooked up to your computer. I haven't taken the time to charge it.
The second reason I bought another olympus is because my first one had 1/4 of a gig and this one has 4 Gigs! I filled the old one up in a week, so I'm thinking this one should last two months!!! Unbelievable for the price I paid which was $109---my old one cost over $300, I think.
Olympus makes a ton of these little recorders and I went to their website to try to figure out what was what. They could do a lot better job of telling you.
I narrowed the choices by the USB port. The old one I have snaps apart (too cool) and one side is a usb insert (like a flash drive). This one has a little USB thing that slides out of the bottom and then retracts. This was a deal breaker for me with the other models---I will lose a cord and I wanted the USB thing to be built in. The whole point of having a digital recorder is to hook it to your computer.
I like the voice activated feature(unlike another reviewer).
The other reviewer is right that you do have to go through several buttons to erase, but if you think about it, better to be asked to confirm, then to erase by mistake. I *think* (but I'm not sure if I remember this correctly) there might be an erase for the whole folder on one of the menus.
At this price and this size, there's no reason not to have one with you all the time. It will work with Dragon and actually type up your files, but I am here to tell you that the Dragon people are as unfriendly as they come. After I spent DAYS trying to figure out why my Dragon software would not work when I was trying to train Dragon with their mic, I paid the $20 to talk to someone who
He/she finally said it was an issue they knew about and that I could not use their headphone/mic that came with the software. They refunded my $20 and I bought a new mic---but what about all MY TIME!? The DAYS I lost!?
I think they owe me for that. And Dragon ruined one of my audio drivers on my computer causing it to crash over and over---GRRR and I had to pay to get that fixed by the Geeks, like I will ever see that money back from Dragon.
If anyone knows of any voice recognition software that actually works and is made by a company that's nice, responsible, and friendly, please comment to this post. I paid Dragon to figure out how to convert the wma files this recorder produces to wav files (I know it can be done because I've done it), but he said it couldn't AND took my money. Yes, I love them. If anyone knows how to do it, please also comment. Using voice recognition with this recorder is a very important reason for getting it.
UPDATE: If Olympus reads these (and they should)---could you please make one with more files---5 is not enough. I work on a lot of projects at once. Give me 10! And could someone please explain what the index thing does?
ANOTHER UPDATE--May 22, 2010: Amazon just sent me a product update on Dragon, since they now make software that converts WMA files to print. In other words, I won't have to convert the voice files I make on this recorder to WAV files before they will print---at least that's what the box says. We'll see. I'll be back with an update after I use it.
80 of 83 people found the following review helpful
I use my DVR for almost everything; journal, shopping lists, work to-do lists, and personal to-do lists. I decided that I wanted to also have something that I could playback some audio files for customers and potential customers, so I looked into a DVR that could also play MP3 files. I first got the Olympus DS-40 and I was very happy with that one. It had great playback sound, great for dictation, robust, and very easy to use buttons. But as I decided to load some music on it, I found that the memory was way too limited for me (512MB). So, I looked into the same capabilities but with more memory. I swapped it for this one and I have been very happy. The pro's:
Massive memory
Can swap between voice and music; making it truly like 2 devices in one
Lightweight
Embedded USB port
Lighted screen
Noise cancelling for playback (have to use: see con's)
Did I say massive memory?
There is a rechargeable battery, but I can't say if that works as well.
Con's:
Buttons are so small that you can mispress easily
VCGA doesn't work very well and end up cutting off bits of your recording
PLAYBACK- the speaker for the playback must've been where they cut the costs. Its soft and not crisp at all. However, don't let that fool you into thinking that its not recording good. When you play it back with the WOW, it sounds like you're right there in the room-crystal clear even in HQ mode.
Doesn't have a hard switch to go between dictation, conference, and lecture microphone sensitivities on the fly like the DS-40 does (GREAT feature)
All around, this is a great recorder and will do awesome serving multiple functions for you. With its memory size and embedded USB you can use it effectively as your memory stick, too. I'm very happy with this purchase and would definitely trade off the lousy speaker for the memory...
Massive memory
Can swap between voice and music; making it truly like 2 devices in one
Lightweight
Embedded USB port
Lighted screen
Noise cancelling for playback (have to use: see con's)
Did I say massive memory?
There is a rechargeable battery, but I can't say if that works as well.
Con's:
Buttons are so small that you can mispress easily
VCGA doesn't work very well and end up cutting off bits of your recording
PLAYBACK- the speaker for the playback must've been where they cut the costs. Its soft and not crisp at all. However, don't let that fool you into thinking that its not recording good. When you play it back with the WOW, it sounds like you're right there in the room-crystal clear even in HQ mode.
Doesn't have a hard switch to go between dictation, conference, and lecture microphone sensitivities on the fly like the DS-40 does (GREAT feature)
All around, this is a great recorder and will do awesome serving multiple functions for you. With its memory size and embedded USB you can use it effectively as your memory stick, too. I'm very happy with this purchase and would definitely trade off the lousy speaker for the memory...
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I love everything about this recorder except that it created corrupt wma files. By corrupt I mean that after I downloaded the file to my pc, when I listened to the file it played fine for a while then the playback would hang in the middle of the recording. I figured out, and a few hours later was instructed by Olympus support, to format the recorder. So far that's fixed the problem. Also, it's in the manual but be sure you realize that if the battery runs out during a recording the file doesn't get closed and you lose that recording. So don't forget to press stop when you're finished recording.
edit: There is an file copy of the user manual in the recorder's memory that's accessible when it's connected to a pc and is considerably easier to read than the paper copy. If you care anything about it copy it to another location since if you format the recorder the file goes bye bye. It's available on the olympus web site though.
edit: there is now a firmware upgrade that allows mp3 recording but the files are MUCH larger.
question: I finally got around to using the mp3 music player function. Rewind works but I simply cannot get it to fast-forward. If anyone knows the secret I'd appreciate a comment. thanks
edit: I just picked up an ETM-001 external microphone and it picks up much better than with the internal microphones. I wish I'd tried it ages ago.
edit: There is an file copy of the user manual in the recorder's memory that's accessible when it's connected to a pc and is considerably easier to read than the paper copy. If you care anything about it copy it to another location since if you format the recorder the file goes bye bye. It's available on the olympus web site though.
edit: there is now a firmware upgrade that allows mp3 recording but the files are MUCH larger.
question: I finally got around to using the mp3 music player function. Rewind works but I simply cannot get it to fast-forward. If anyone knows the secret I'd appreciate a comment. thanks
edit: I just picked up an ETM-001 external microphone and it picks up much better than with the internal microphones. I wish I'd tried it ages ago.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Does its job very well
Use it to record music classes which are done over skype. It produces high quality 256 bits mp3 files. Charge through USB. Easy to use by kids with minimal training. Read more
Published 3 months ago by rpv
Olympus WS-510M 4 GB Digital Recorder
This is an awesome digital recorder. Great functionality. The additional microphone inputs make this product amazing and it picks up everything even from a long distance. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Kenneth O.
Update9
Olympus WS-510M 4GB Digital Voice Recorder and WMA/MP3 Music Player
Love this little recorder for voice and low volume music, great for piano lessons.
Love this little recorder for voice and low volume music, great for piano lessons.
Published 5 months ago by Pup
I'm back for a couple more of them
I've got a collection of old voice recorders that is almost a bit depressing... at least 10 old Samsung, Panasonic, Olympus, no-name brand, Sony etc. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Dan
Problem with battery charging
I have the same problems as other reviewers with the tiny lettering, but don't think that can be helped on such a small recorder. Read more
Published 11 months ago by nmaif
Chorale member
I purchased this because a friend has one and is happy with his. I use it to tape our chorale practices. It does a good job. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Dorothy Cronin
beware the fine print
This recorder does an adequate job recording tho sound quality only mediocre. You must use computer to recharge (a real drag) or take spare batteries. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Adriano's Mom
Great! Small issue though.
This is the EASIEST recorder I've used. Although it has a lot of features and a big menu tree compared to other recorders, it's laid out in an easy to use fashion. Read more
Published 14 months ago by L. Novelo
Amazing voice quality
This is a great product which I purchased refurbished. I've owned and used this product for 1 year. The recording quality is amazing and the playback has two option which you can... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Lazaro
Go for it
This product works just fine for anyone in need of voice recording. The MIC is quite sensitive and it may detect sounds several meters away. Easy to get acquainted with. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Rommel Tellez Lacayo
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