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59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simplicity and some ease of use, July 10, 2009
I bought this as a backup to my other Olympus recorder (which I frequently lend out). My other recorder is an Olympus WS-100 which I bought 4 years ago. It was one of the first digital voice recorders ever made. It has served me well.
This unit contains a number of improvements over the WS-100 and the WS-400.
When I bought this, I was afraid I would have to carry around a USB cable with me. However, this unit has a little slide button on the side which extends a built-in USB connector. Plugging this into a USB port is a snap.
This unit is a little more compact than the WS-100. It also seems to solve the record delay which was a time vampire on the WS-400. This unit starts to record immediately on pressing the record button.
I would give this unit five stars except except the menu is almost indecipherable without spending an entire day memorizing and studying it. This means that you pretty much have to have the manual available for the first months you use this, or memorize the manual, or, you will not be able to use most of the features. (Unfortunately, this seems normal for most digital personal devices nowadays (except for some Apple products)).
The arcane menu arrangement does not lend itself to quick and easy use of the unit if there are constant changes to your recording requirements. For example, as far as I can figure out from the arcane manual you must press two separate buttons, a total of five times in order to something really simple like erase a recording. I erase more recordings than I keep and this is a real time vampire.
Other than that the plusses are that it supports Vista 64 bit, and, contains all of the features of the WS-400. The unit is easy to snap record conversations and other items. One feature I really like is that it comes with its own, easily replaceable, NiMH battery. If you keep this unit plugged into your USB port, it will repeatedly charge the battery. (It is a REAL advantage that it doesn't need its own docking station to charge, or, new batteries every few hours of use).
It is a good buy at the price and easier to use, with all of the features, even with its drawbacks, than any of the other small personal recorders I've looked at over the years by other manufacturers.
Specifications:
Recording Format: WMA
Input level: -70dBv
Maximum working output: 60mW (8 ohm speaker)
NAND FLASH memory 2GB - this unit works excellently as a flash drive with VISTA 64 or 32.
MIC Jack: 3.5mm mini-jack; impedance 2k ohms
EAR jack: 3.5mm mini-jack; impedance 8 ohms or more
RECORDING TIMES:
STXQ mode 34 h 30 min.
STHQ mode 69 h 40 min.
STSP mode 139 h 25 min.
HQ mode 139 h 25 min.
SP mode 247 h 10 min.
LP mode 544 h. 55 min.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My new, useful toy, August 6, 2009
As a musician, singer/songwriter, I started to find a need to record my music ideas. My phone has of late been recording a lot of small samples, but I wanted something with better quality. After asking around, Olympus seemed to be the best option. I first came to Amazon and felt confused by the different options. When I went to Olympus's website regarding their Digital recorders, it was a big help. They have charts which compare their models and it was easy to discern what models contained what features. I wanted a model that could plug into the computer and had two mics for a speaker effect and that's what I got for a good price.
So regarding the actual recorder, like I said the 2 mics are nice for recording guitar, voice, piano... etc. Not the best for drums, but you could have figured that out. It's not flimsy, it fits into my pocket and it takes 1 AAA battery that can recharge (provided). It's a pretty straight forward piece of hardware and the only thing I ever needed to use the directions for was how to charge it (hold the stop button as you plug it into the computer, otherwise it just opens files and doesn't charge). I like that it can just plug into the computer with the switch on the side but they also give you a cable incase you're using a desktop (sometimes USB's aren't in the best places).
Anyway, the only thing I would mention to someone buying this is that the speaker doesn't represent the quality of the recording. I mean look at it. It's about 1.5 inches in diameter... if even. Plug it into your computer/headphones/or speakers and you can tell the difference immediately. I like that I could rename files on my computer and then it stayed like that on the device because it records things as numbers with dates and times. Oh, and I really haven't used it for this, but there is a way to use the device for playing MP3's which is pretty nifty. Not really necessary if you have an iPod and it isn't going to replace your iPod anytime soon, but cool nonetheless.
Hope that helps!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad but not the best, October 19, 2009
This is the 4th digital recorder I have purchased and it is not bad but not the best one I have purchased. The sound pick up is not as good as the WS 100. I have used both at the same time and it is harder to hear on this one than the older one. I like the buttons being on the front and the display being bigger but when it comes down to it the purpose of a recorder is to record what is being said and this is a weakness in my opinion.
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