Olympus DS-40 Digital Voice Recorder

I bought this little recorder and its the best thing I bought. The sound is great for such a little recorder and the sub files is very useful. Great product.

I bought this recorder to record lectures at school. So far it has functioned well. Sound quality is excellent, I use mono mode for voice. In HQ stereo mode the sound gets even better, but for my purposes it is not necessary. I use rechargeable batteries, I have recharged them every couple weeks. WMA files are easily worked with on any modern sound editor.
I have used the recorder as a microphone input for Skype, sound quality is very good too. The software that comes with recorder allows you to switch between Storage Device and Audio Device, and that determines how your computer uses USB attached recorder.
Overall, my complains are that you can not monitor sound conditions for voice (sound) activated recording setting without actually recording. So I just record a small clip, set the thresh hold value (mine usually is somewhere around 10), stop the recording, delete the clip, and then set it to record. The other complain is about the naming and numbering of files - the recorder restarts the numbering once you delete the file from it, so when later you are transferring files to the computer, you have to be careful not to overwrite the older files that can have the same names.

* good sound, but learn about various recording levels (ST XQ, ST HQ, HQ, SP, LP) first before recording. the long recording time they promise is actually LP-setting, which is a narrower width/lower quality of recording.

* advice: set the VCA as soon as you get it to prevent accidently shutting off mid-recording without you knowing it. familiarize yourself with mic levels early, as well as noise reduction, lowcut filter.

* stylish, thin, light, easy to navigate once you learn the basic ropes. I use it to teach workshops and lectures, myself speaking as well as participants across the room. I prop it up by a speaker, or keep it on me with a collar mic.

* REALLY needs more memory though, like 4 or 8gb, (I'm spoiled after using ipods for years, even a shuffle with more memory than the ds-30, 40, and 50 combined) but at a reasonable price. 512mb or 1GB doesn't allow you to "store" recordings in there and keep recording!! So, you have to be diligent about downloading the files onto your computer to avoid filling memory that prevents you from recording when you need to.

* MAC compatibility? YES>>> Download: Flip4Mac, switchmac, you don't need to buy QuickTime Pro. Open files in QuickTime and drag them onto your desktop of Music folder.

The Olympus DS-40 delivers on its promise as a professional recording device. Its combination of small size, bright and informative display and ease of use, along with long battery life and excellent audio fidelity, makes it a must-buy for many users. The issues that hold it back from a five-star rating are rather loud handling noise--it picks up a great deal of noise from your hand while the holding it, rendering it virtually unusable for newsgathering or "found audio" music recording--and its WMA-only recording format. Professional audio users will easily convert Windows Media Audio files to other formats, but the handling noise and lack of a high-bitrate .WAV recording option keeps this otherwise excellent and affordable device primarily in the on-the-desk dictation category.

I purchased this recorder to test it out for recording meetings in a medium sized conference room and transcribing notes . We had previously used Lanier handheld tape recorders and a transcription machine and wanted to update to digital. Right out of the box I was hooked. It is so user friendly. The software that comes with it is easy to use. All the features for transcribing are right on your screen, no need to buy any periphial components to transcribe. You can set up subdirectories and really organize all your files. Any questions we've had have been addressed by the online help. The quality of the recording is fantastic. It picks up a whisper! The background noise reduction does its job also. After a couple of meetings I ordered 4 more for all my secretarial staff. A helpful tip I picked up from another review - buy a hardcover glasses case to pack it in. I bought one of the covers with the first one but it is soft and offers no protection and was more money. Great product. I'd recommend it to all secretaries looking for a new machine.