Olympus WS-311M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

WOW!
I previously purchased a sony, and it's performace pales compared to this divice. I'm not a gadet geek, and I just took it out of the package, put the battery in, looked at the buttons and started using it with only a few peaks at the inst. book. Ease of use, very compact, and super clarity with the headset on offered me exactly what i needed in a device of this $ range and features. Looking forward to downloading and burning the recorded info onto disk.

Also a plug for Amazon. I was refferred by a friend and glad he did; easy to follow online prompts with good comparatives of similar products with a wide variety of $ ranges and features. Prompt delivery.

thanks Amazon for the excellant service and wide product line.
As Arnold would conclude: "I'll BE BACK"

Robert A. / TEXAS

This is a great little recorder. I recently used it at a conference where I was seated to the side of the speaker, 8 rows up, approx. 40' away. The recording was clear, battery lasted forever, and the unit is simple to manipulate. Highly recommended!

I bought this unit several months ago to record interviews I was conducting as qualitative research for my doctoral dissertation. I took this recorder to three states, interviewed 11 subjects, and then transcribed each audio file into a word processing document. The recorder worked perfectly for this purpose; in small group settings, no external mic was necessary and the battery life was beyond my expectations.

I have recommended this unit to several other colleagues in my doctoral program, and all have been very satisfied with its operation. Now that my dissertation is completed, I use the WS-311 primarily as a music player. The sound quality with ear buds is excellent.

It has been very easy to transfer both audio and music files to/from my PC with this unit. I recommend this product without hesitation.

I have been a cassette tape user for years, and, had never truly grown tired of using a cassette tape player/recorder, because it/they have alwasys been dependable. Decided to try digital recorder, and, I think I'll be using no more cassette tapes...perhaps!

This product works well, and when I master is fully, I'm sure I'll get complete use of it. The storage capacity is great, and the separate folders to hold and organize my recordings removes the need to search and remember the analog readout on the tape counter! Very nice! I guess it's good to get out of the "stone age"!

The only drawback, (minimal I suppose), is that this unit feels "cheap", and the battery door on mine now doesn't close, and I have to use clear tape to hold it shut. Otherwise, I'm pleased with the overall look and operation of this particular unit.

I took this voice recorder on vacation to record the sounds of Israel and Egypt. The Olympus works quite well and is easy to operate. Unless you are very close to the person speaking it is difficult to understand what is being said. Also unless you put the recorder down when recording, if I touch the recorder near the mics the movement was easily picked up as background noise.

I also tried it in a lecture. Again one needs to be near the person being recorded. I found it difficult to hear the speaker on playback.
Any noise in the auditorium is picked and inhibits the voice of the speaker to be heard clearly.

Since this is my first voice recorder I cannot compare to any other devise.

I do think an external mic might be very helpful.