Olympus VN4100 Digital Voice Recorder

I liked this product while it lasted. I used it as a backup to take notes in conferences and training sessions. I am a technical writer and it was an invaluable aid in cross-checking spoken information.

However, it conked out in only 5 months. For no good reason as I treated it decently. It lived in a special pocket in my handbag with my mobile phone and was never dropped or anything. I changed the battery and found that the unit was no longer responding to any button and could not be accessed, even though the battery was full and correctly entered. All I have is a message saying ERR on the screen and many hours of precious information LOST.

So my appreciation is mitigated. A good product but 5 months is too short a life.

This is a great work-horse recorder. Perfect for carrying around in a pocket or in the car to record those brief reminders for our to-do lists, or for recording longer things (like lectures, radio shows, etc).

The controls are self-explanatory, directions clear, display legible, and sound quality very good. It has an "Erase All" function which is nice so you can delete all your memos, once you've transferred them to paper or your computer. Like most devices like this, it has a "hold" button to lock it from accidentally being turned on.

This is a bargain. I'm buying another so when I lose this one, I've got another handy!

With this device in my pocket, I'm freed from the tyranny of a to-do list that constantly is missing that item I thought of yesterday and forgot ... and then pops (somewhat painfully) into my mind with an, "Oh, ... darn, I forgot I wanted to _______.

2008-05-24

My husband used his old tape-based voice recorder for years at work to record meetings. When it finally gave up the ghost, I decided to try a digital model in its place.

I was a little worried that my tech-o-phobe husband wouldn't be able to easily figure out the Digital Voice Recorder, but within a few minutes of opening the box, he was recording, erasing and listening to recordings - all without ever looking at the instructions.

The small size and light weight of the recorder make it even easier to carry around than the old tape model. It's slightly smaller than a candybar type phone, and much lighter in weight.

To the casual eye, this will simply appear to be a cell phone. You could easily take it out of a pocket, hit record, and return it to your pocket without anyone thinking twice about it - they'd just think you were turning off the ringer on your cell phone.

In use, the recorder performed flawlessly - in voice activated format, the recorder caught everything with no clipping, and never missed any of the action.

We're very pleased with this purchase!

Great product with a very good price though the shipping was more expensive. Anyway, UPS delivered very quickly so I'm 100% satisfied.

People always ask me... is that a cell phone!? No, it's a great little recording device. I record meetings, seminars, and practice speeches with this handy little device. I am sure there are many other uses.

You can record separate pockets of information (similar to an mp3) so you can refer back to it at any time. That same info can be paused and deleted. I suggest break items into parts so that way you can just remove the sections that you want. Plenty of memory too. Now this one does not store into the computer.

******All the complains are for the idiots who don't know how to read! This is the one that does not sync to the computer. Save your money! You don't need to have that option! Most computers have a microphone!! LOL*****