Olympus DS-40 Digital Voice Recorder

I got this digital recorder due to new regulations in my business that require certain phone calls to be recorded. After using this for several days now it has worked flawlessly. I also purchased the TP7 accessory that you simply plug into the DS-40 mic input and put the earbud into your ear while you talk on the phone. The DS-40 does a great job of recording these calls. I'll also find many more uses such as recording lectures and using it as a daily log for ideas. I don't know how many times I've been driving down the road or somewhere where I've thought of an idea that I want to remember and I haven't had a way to capture it. Now, with the size and quality of the DS-40, I'll just take it with me and when I have a thought like that I'll record it to reference later. I also am a semi-professional songwriter and musician so it'll come in quite handy for capture song ideas on the fly as well. The bottom line is this is a great little recorder that seems to do its job very well. There are only a couple things that I think could be improved. 1) The backlighting seems kind of dim and there is no way to increase it. The settings are either "on" or "off." I suppose this is to conserve power but it seems like this could have been better. 2) I would like to be able to re-name the folders and files to my preference. The folders are lettered A-E (for recording). There is a list of pre-sets that you can choose from to rename the file but you don't have the ability to define a name yourself. The names available could be useful but may not be exactly what you want. The files can't be renamed so if you want to change a file name to identify it by its content, you won't be able to do that. In fairness you can attach comments to a file after you load it into your computer and you could use those comments to help identify its content. Overall, I'm very happy with the DS-40 and would recommend it. It's sound is crystal clear and for the price (especially here at Amazon) you really can't go wrong.

I use it to record my lectures at college (with the professor's permission). It catches every word, and is easy to turn on and off in a hurry. I wish it were rechargeable and smaller, but I'm happy to have it.

I have to write minutes and don't take shorthand so a good recorder is a must. So far, Olympus recorders have proven to be the best. The recorder can download files onto a PC so my boss and I are able to share the meeting recording with my colleagues. The recorder has been able to capture the voices around the room. I use it on lecture and the highest quality because the women often have a habit of speaking softly in meetings so it can be difficult to capture their voices. The size of the rooms for our meetings vary, but most of them seat around 15-25 people along long tables and some seating on the sides.

I agree with the criticism about the speaker on the back, however most of the time I am using ear phones to listen to the recording as I type minutes so this is not such a big issue and the speakers on these small recorders don't give you the best sound for listening anyway. It has the ability to serve as an MP3 player, but I don't find the sound that great for music. If you are waiting for the meeting to start you can listen to some music to pass the time.

The included DDS Player 7 software is supposed to be compatible with IBM Via Voice and Dragon Naturally Speaking, neither of which I have tried yet. My only gripe so far is that you have to pay $10 extra to upgrade to DSS Player Plus 7 to access some additional features such as file splitting and binding and seamless connection to Via Voice 10 and Dragon 8.

The recorder can also be used to store/transport files.

Overall I am satisfied with the quality of the recording and features, but a star off for making customers pay an extra $10 just to access a few extra features.

Ordered on a Thursday afternoon - received Friday afternoon - standard shipping! Excellent! Great product - exactly what I needed.

I've only had mine for 2 days now and it's so easy to use I feel like a pro at it. You simply plug in the included USB cable, go to My Computer, and copy and paste your audio files onto your hard drive. It's as simple as that! I use Windows XP and did not need to install any drivers or the included software to do this. I haven't even opened the included CD yet and everything is working great. I was also able to copy mp3 music files from my hard drive to the recorder with no problem, and the sound is actually not bad!

The audio quality and mic sensitivity are excellent. You can adjust the contrast and the playback volume which can actually get somewhat loud considering how small the speaker is (the speaker is on the back).

It uses .wma file format which will not work with Audacity freeware, but I found a freeware called WinFF that batch-converts .wma's to .mp3's and it works great. Be sure to download the online .pdf manual as it is far more detailed and informative than the included paper manual.

My unit came with earpiece-style headphones and 2 generic brand AAA alkaline batteries that are really lasting! I have about 6-8 hours of overall use into it and the 3-notch battery meter still shows completely full. The included USB cable is 5 feet long and is the exact same style plug used by digital cameras. The unit has a metal chassis that feels cool to the touch when left in an air-conditioned room. The upper left-hand corner has a red-green dual color LED light which can be completely disabled in the menu settings. It lights up red while recording, green while playing back, and will blink red 3 times fast if you do something wrong.

By disabling the LED light and the voice guide (the unit talks to you in a British female voice) via the menu settings, you can make the unit completely inconspicuous so that you can secretly record someone with it in your pants pocket. It's about the same size and thickness of a Nokia cell phone, except that it's narrower, so it's quite small and fits your pocket easily. After you press the record button, you can then slide the power switch (on the lower right surface) to HOLD, which will lock the unit so that your record won't accidentally be stopped while it rustles around in your pocket. This rustling however can cause a very loud noise to be recorded, so you have to sit still!

The plastic stereo mic is detachable and then there's another permanent mic on the top right surface of the recorder. Both the stereo mic and the permanent mic seem to be equally as clear and sensitive. I haven't been able to notice any difference in the sound, and because the stereo mics are so close to each other, there really doesn't seem to be any right versus left audio difference. But the stereo mic looks kinda cool though.

PROS: Ease of use, battery life, audio quality, compact size, record time, I could go on and on.

CONS: High $$$ price tag, .wma file format. The display uses a small thin font that is hard to see. The contrast doesn't seem very crisp, no matter how you adjust it (Don't be fooled by the photos. That is just the product display sticker that you peel off). The backlight is rather dim and should be twice as bright. Most cell phones nowadays have nice bright backlights with clear, crisply-contrasted displays, but this recorder lacks in those areas. A longer (or even adjustable) backlight timeout would be nice. My unit arrived with a noticeable dent on the front bottom where it has "DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER DS-40" printed on it. The detachable stereo mic feels flimsy and cheaply made. The 1/8-inch stereo plug that sticks out of it wobbles, and even when the stereo mic is attached (plugged in), it still wobbles a bit. I once got my unit stuck in slow playback mode by accident somehow (which makes people sound very slow and drunk), and it was very difficult to figure out how to get it OUT of this mode and back to normal!