Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

Other products by Olympus

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 2.3 x 9 inches ; 13.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000VDQAU0
• Item model number: WS-321M
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,460 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #17 in

  Electronics > Portable Audio & Video > Digital Voice Recorders

• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 24, 2007

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player lets you record up to 277 hours of recorded audio or store up to 250 songs on its 1 GB of internal flash memory. Key features include built-in stereo microphones and a stereo extra-high-quality (STXQ) mode that lets you record and play in superior-sounding audio. Five other recording modes are supported--including STHQ, STSP, HQ, SP and LP modes. The no-hassles Windows Media Audio (WMA) format works seamlessly with any PC. This unit lets you continuously record for 21 hours with one AAA battery, and you can conserve memory and battery power with the variable control voice actuator that records only when sound is sensed. A voice filter eliminates high and low frequencies during playback to enhance human voices. You can also use the WS-321M as a mass USB storage device that will hold any type of digital file. The WS-321M keeps files organized by letting users record to five different folders that each hold up to 200 files. When it's time to transfer files to a PC, the WS-321M's USB direct design lets you plug the recorder right into your computer for easy, full-speed transfers using USB 2.0 connectivity. Other features include rich bass and three-dimensional sound during playback, a built-in equalizer, and the ability to accelerate or slow down audio with eight different playback speeds. This digital recorder is compatible with Windows ME, 2000 Professional, XP Professional, XP Home Edition, and Vista operating systems.

Product Description

Stay organized and on the move with this high-class storage device and powerful music player. Record meetings or notes and even store large documents to bring from one computer to another. The easy USB input lets you plug the WS-321M right into the computer for fast results. Built-in stereo microphones and a Stereo Extra-High Quality (STXQ) mode let you record and play in superior-sounding audio. There are five other recording modes including STHQ, STSP, HQ, SP or LP. The no-hassle Windows Media Audio (WMA) format works seamlessly with your PC. You can conserve memory with the Variable Control Voice Actuator that records only when sound is sensed. Continuously record for 21 hours with one AAA battery. And up to 250 songs can be stored and played in impressive stereo sound.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic sound, long battery life, January 8, 2009

By	Steve Potter (Atlanta, USA) - See all my reviews

I have been using mini cassette recorders, digital voicepens, and PDAs to record lectures and my own thoughts for years. This one blows them all away, in terms of both usability and sound quality. It is my first Olympus, and it is clearly the product of generations of improvements they made. I have not bought a gadget in a long time that keeps giving me GOOD surprises instead of disappointments. Worries that a recording will be lost because the battery ran out during a recording are eliminated by the fact that: 1. there is a nice battery indicator that you can check before beginning. 2. It uses one AAA, which is easy to find anywhere, and easy to carry a spare. if you see the battery is low, just pause the recording, put it on Hold, and put in a new battery. 3. The battery lasts over 8 hours anyway. How many recordings require continuous 8 hours? That sure beats fumbling with the old 30-min minicassettes! The stereo internal mic is superb, even at the medium quality setting. The usability of the controls is excellent, and most functions can be done blind, without needing to look at tricky menus. At the highest quality setting, I still get quite a few hours of recordings onto the 1GB memory. And transferring talks and MP3s into and out of it is perfectly simple--slide off the battery compartment revealing a full-size USB, plug it into the computer, and it appears on the desktop as a removable disk (in Mac OS X). Drag & drop, unmount and yank, and go. They even included a little extension USB cable, in case the body of the recorder would bump into adjacent wires on your computer. You can put marks anywhere in a recording while recording or during playback. That makes it easy to find important places again. You can play back slowed or sped up by up to 50% (or less) to either blaze through a boring lecturer, or scrutinize one with complex concepts. You can lock the controls so you don't accidentally switch off during a recording, or switch it on in your pocket and waste the battery. The screen has a backlight for recording at dark performances or auditoriums, or playing back at night. I recommend getting an external mic if the noise of handling the buttons and the recorder is a problem. However, it does have very good "limiter" circuitry (ALC), reducing the volume of my fumbling and coughs so I don't blow my speakers out on playback. I am delighted how fast it activates using voice activation--Not a syllable is missed when set to 13-15. It does lose syllables if you have it set to "dictate" (low mic sensitivity) and voice activation, unless you put it right by your mouth. But on Conference (high mic sens.) it is just great. And the internal speaker is amazingly good--Loud and clear. Menus are intuitive, but they included a pretty good manual with it. Finally, it is very small and light, pocketable enough to be unobserved in your shirt pocket, but not so small as to be hard to operate the controls. Two design improvements I would make: put the mic and headphone jacks in two different places, and put the headphone jack away from the internal mics because rubbing the wire (if recording while wearing headphones) causes noise. This is about the only complaint I can think of. Amazing.

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Olympus WS-321 Just what I was looking for, April 25, 2008

By	J. Newman "dunnett diva" (Halifax NS) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I ordered the Olympus WS-321 for two reasons: one as a Mac owner I wanted a voice recorder that would easily interface with my Mac. The Olympus WS-321 does that just fine and I can also download the files to my PC. Reason 2: it's size. I use it to record my singing at our chorus rehearsals - the Olympus WS-321 slips into my back pocket; don't need audio tapes. I then email the MP3 file to my section leader for her to review after I've reviewed it myself. I've used the Olympus WS-321 for about a month now. It's doing just what I purchased it for.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Olympus Voice Recorder WS 321 M, November 30, 2007

By	Arthur W. Franklin (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I love this little recorder. I have had it about 4 weeks now, and it has been great. I was surprised at how good the built in microphone is and how well it picks up voices from recording a dictation to recording a lecture in a big hall. As expected, the built in speaker is not all that great, but once you plug in the ear phones, the sound is great.

It has a lot of good features, but you can read about them in the specs.

I would buy it again.