53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic sound, long battery life
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...
113 of 142 people found the following review helpful:
If the battery runs out during a recording, you're screwed!
I would think twice if you are considering this particular model. I actually placed an order for it, but did my research a little late. Now I am returning this to amazon and buying in its place the Olympus DS-40 ($140, which is $40 more than the 321).
When deciding on which model to buy, I suggest that you check out the Olympus website to compare specs, and...
This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
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.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
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.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
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.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
I've used it to record a conference, and it performed wonderfully. Connected to a Mac laptop, it appeared as a thumb drive and I was able to copy the sound files to my computer. Using Quicktime Pro and Flip4Mac, the sound files played perfectly. The unit's size is amazing.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
I investigate potential insurance fraud and use the Olympus WS-321M to record interviews of claimants and witnesses. This is an excellent product - it does a great job of capturing voices while minimizing background noises. Transfer onto the computer and eventually onto a CD could not be easier.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
I needed a digital recorder to replace the bulky tape machines I had been using for the magazine article interviews I had done in recent years. I was concerned about the quality, performance and integrity of switching to digital but after reading some of the other reviews, I gambled on getting this Olympus unit. When it arrived, I was sure I had blundered in choosing it because of its diminutive size. Bottom line. It's probably the best piece of modern technology I own. Completely dependable and remarkably sensitive in its ability to pick up two way conversations even in a somewhat noisy environment. Disregard what others might have commented on about battery life. I've made about 40 files in three different indexes and I'm still on full charge. This is a worthy recorder even if your professional life depends on it.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
I would think twice if you are considering this particular model. I actually placed an order for it, but did my research a little late. Now I am returning this to amazon and buying in its place the Olympus DS-40 ($140, which is $40 more than the 321).
When deciding on which model to buy, I suggest that you check out the Olympus website to compare specs, and to also look closely at the FAQs.
I took a look at the Olympus.com description of the WS-321M (http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_support_faqs.asp?id=1309). The following is under the FAQ:
"While recording a file, the battery ran out. Now I can't play or find the file. Why?
If the battery runs out during the recording of a file, the currently recorded file will be lost because the file header will be unable to close. It is crucial to change the battery once the battery indicator shows only one hash mark of power remaining. Removing the battery while the recorder is in use may also corrupt a file."
This particular model uses only one AAA battery, so it will not last that long. I am purchasing a digital voice recorder because I am collecting oral histories for my thesis project. I am conducting interviews that will last up to a few hours long. In other words, I cannot afford to lose any material because I can only collect interviews once. If you do not save under a file header during the course of an interview, you can lose the data because of the battery running out. I do not know when the 'low battery indicator' comes on (i.e., how much time you have left), but what if I happen to miss seeing the indicator in the course of a long interview? Moreover, I plan to record using the highest setting in audio quality, so the battery life will not last as long as reported.
The simple solution of course is to just press save every so often during an interview. However, this model will only allow you to save five files (I think) at a time. So what if you are collecting multiple interviews throughout the day? Then you have to either conserve your saves, or offload the file to your computer after every interview.
Don't get me wrong: every olympus digital voice recorder I've looked at has this problem. (I haven't researched other brands.)
However, this particular model (like most others) does not have the option of purchasing a separate A/C adapter. Yikes. So basically, we're looking at having to be super sure about the battery life during your recording. For some folks, this is not a problem. But for me, where each recording is absolutely crucial for my work and where the interview could last hours and where I do not wish to interrupt the interview to change batteries, etc, I cannot afford to have this potential problem.
The other way to avoid this is to just put in a fresh battery every time I'm about to do an interview.
Well, I just decided that I don't want to have to worry about all this, and I have just ordered the higher-end Olympus DS-40. Although the DS-40 does not have a full GB (instead, it has 512 MB), it has several other features, including the use of two AAA batteries and, importantly, the AC adapter option, which I bought separately on amazon for about $20 or so. The DS-40 is $140 right now. To me, not having to worry about losing data is worth the extra money, given that I'll be using this recorder for tens of interviews over the next few years. Yes, this means that I'll be seeking an outlet and plugging in my DS-40 for every interview - but the two AAA's will be my backup and NOT my main and only source of power. This is a crucial factor for me.
Again, this may not be a concern for some folks, but for those who, like me, may be collecting lengthy interviews throughout the day, this is an important detail to consider.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
I USE THIS RECORDER FOR MUSICAL LESSONS, PIANO AND VOICES, EXCELENT OVERALL QUALITY. I RECOMEND TO USE THE ST. XTQ BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY MODE WITH CD QUALITY (44,100 HZ. @ 128Mby) IT'S ALSO A GOOD CHOICE FOR LISEN TO YOUR MP3/WMA FILES, MID-LEVEL HEADPHONES, GOOD FOR USB V.2, GOOD DISPLAY AND CHASSIS.
IT`S THE BEST CHOISE FOR THIS PRICE IN PORTABLE DIVICES.
MY ONLY COMPLIAN ABOUT THIS RECORDER IS THAT IT USE AAA BATTERY, BECAUSE OF THIS, THE ENERGY DOESN`T LAST LONG TIME. I PREFER AA BATTERY (ONLY A BIT LARGER) WITH VERY LONG LIFE.
90% RECOMENDED.
EXTRA SPECIFICATION : (TRANSFER SPEEDS QUALITY) ALL AT 44,100 Hz.
This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
Finally moved to digital with the Olympus WS-321M. What a wonderful tool! Easy to learn and use. Controls are accessible even with my less than dainty fingers. LCD panel lights up and helps me monitor recordings. Very light. Fits comfortably into my shirt pocket. I was able to record sound from audio cassettes that I've recorded on earlier. Transferring files to my Mac was incredibly easy with the built in USB connection. Five folders with plenty of files within each is more than enough for my current recording purpose . . . with room to grow. Looking forward to applying my speech recognition software (iListen). As an educator, with reflective tendencies, I can now collect random thoughts (my own or others) on the fly with minimal distractions. The Great American Novel is still well around the corner but I've moved one step closer.
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This review is from: Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player (Electronics)
Olympus WS321M Digital Voice Recorder and MP3 Player + Accessory Kit - Excellent product. Stereo recording is flawless and simple. Playback with headphones is awesome with either recorded items or MP3/WMA files in music mode. Mass storage has been perfect with absolutey no problems. I have used this unit every day for well over a month and half recording meetings with it in my pocket, transfering files from work to home and using as an MP3 player. I am now thinking I am going to get the 2gb model (WS-331M), I think the extra 1gb of storage is worth it.
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