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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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my notes again. The features are pretty standard I suppose. This is my first time owning a recorder like this with no tapes and a 2 GB usb storage mechanism. The one thing I really love about it is that it's EXTREMELY light weight and compact. The pictures on here almost don't do it justice as to the portability of this device and for a college student looking to not be loaded down with 80 pounds of books and other items, it's a huge plus for me. Battery life is about a good solid 8-10 hours depending on which setting you use. It is best to use rechargable batteries for this kind of thing though since two 3 hour lectures in one day on the high quality settings can tend to run down the battery by the end of the day (although it always makes it through both of my classes with a few hours to spare). I haven't bought any others like this except for an old micro-tape recorder that my dad used to have, but from my experience with this recorder alone, I won't be purchasing anything else until this sucker finally plays out on me! (fingers crossed) :) -Travis

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

my notes again. The features are pretty standard I suppose. This is my first time owning a recorder like this with no tapes and a 2 GB usb storage mechanism. The one thing I really love about it is that it's EXTREMELY light weight and compact. The pictures on here almost don't do it justice as to the portability of this device and for a college student looking to not be loaded down with 80 pounds of books and other items, it's a huge plus for me. Battery life is about a good solid 8-10 hours depending on which setting you use. It is best to use rechargable batteries for this kind of thing though since two 3 hour lectures in one day on the high quality settings can tend to run down the battery by the end of the day (although it always makes it through both of my classes with a few hours to spare). I haven't bought any others like this except for an old micro-tape recorder that my dad used to have, but from my experience with this recorder alone, I won't be purchasing anything else until this sucker finally plays out on me! (fingers crossed) :) -Travis

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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To sum it up, it's a great small voice recorders with lot of memory, can play music, has folders, nice menus and such. I would recommend this to anyone looking to buy a voice recorder.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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do, thankfully - but those do not have music capabilities, if important to you (it's not to me - that's for my iPod!) 4) For the price, my recommendatn: the WS-500 or WS-510 models. I bought this one first and have used it for nearly 2 yrs - no WS-500/510 at that time. It has served it purposes well, but the 500/510 are now better choices.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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do, thankfully - but those do not have music capabilities, if important to you (it's not to me - that's for my iPod!) 4) For the price, my recommendatn: the WS-500 or WS-510 models. I bought this one first and have used it for nearly 2 yrs - no WS-500/510 at that time. It has served it purposes well, but the 500/510 are now better choices.

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

do, thankfully - but those do not have music capabilities, if important to you (it's not to me - that's for my iPod!) 4) For the price, my recommendatn: the WS-500 or WS-510 models. I bought this one first and have used it for nearly 2 yrs - no WS-500/510 at that time. It has served it purposes well, but the 500/510 are now better choices.

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

do, thankfully - but those do not have music capabilities, if important to you (it's not to me - that's for my iPod!) 4) For the price, my recommendatn: the WS-500 or WS-510 models. I bought this one first and have used it for nearly 2 yrs - no WS-500/510 at that time. It has served it purposes well, but the 500/510 are now better choices.

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

do, thankfully - but those do not have music capabilities, if important to you (it's not to me - that's for my iPod!) 4) For the price, my recommendatn: the WS-500 or WS-510 models. I bought this one first and have used it for nearly 2 yrs - no WS-500/510 at that time. It has served it purposes well, but the 500/510 are now better choices.

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

do, thankfully - but those do not have music capabilities, if important to you (it's not to me - that's for my iPod!) 4) For the price, my recommendatn: the WS-500 or WS-510 models. I bought this one first and have used it for nearly 2 yrs - no WS-500/510 at that time. It has served it purposes well, but the 500/510 are now better choices.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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in a pouch. it has worked well in all the conditions i've encountered thus far, although the little built-in stereo microphones had trouble with the 50+ mph winds at a late-october cyclocross race [the hand-held microphone with noise filter took care of that]. i look forward to using it at the national championships in mid-december; i'm certain it will stand up to the certain arctic condtions that historically prevail.
i pity the fool who gets something OTHER than this olympus ws-331m.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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in a pouch. it has worked well in all the conditions i've encountered thus far, although the little built-in stereo microphones had trouble with the 50+ mph winds at a late-october cyclocross race [the hand-held microphone with noise filter took care of that]. i look forward to using it at the national championships in mid-december; i'm certain it will stand up to the certain arctic condtions that historically prevail.

i pity the fool who gets something OTHER than this olympus ws-331m.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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again, because you may not have pressed the Record switch firmly enough, or the momentary had a bounce and it's not recording, so just repeat this process until you get the unit recording. While this may really seem to stupid to believe, you can get relatively fast at it, if you have good lighting to examine the recorder, and repeat the process as needed, which should mean that you can get the recorder turned on in about 15 seconds.

A simple small but well made slide switch at the upper right corner, that has three positions: STOP, PAUSE, RECORD is all I would ever need to control this recorder. For the Olympus engineers, Yes, this means no power-up switch called Hold. So when you slide the switch upward from Stop to Record, you both turn the recorder on and start recording immediately, you don't need to do a lengthy operating system initialization test, we can assume that nobody smashed the recorder with a sledge hammer.

Problem 2, the Battery Meter doesn't work

Now that you got the recorder turned on and recording, this doesn't mean that you be able to record anything, because you have no idea how much battery life is left. The tiny battery meter in the upper left corner of the screen only tells you if the battery is almost completely dead. So you could start recording something extremely relevant and discover that you recorded only the first minute of a one hour nightmare and you have no evidence to defend yourself from a legal attack by a predator later on, thanks to a nonfunctional battery meter design. So the only thing you can do is buy a lot of AAA batteries and through them away after every long recording. As a result you will spend more on batteries than on the recorder. Of course, a AA battery has about twice the capacity as a AAA battery, so the slightly larger AA battery would be a better choice in such a small recorder, even it had a slightly larger bulge over the battery area.

Problem 3, the Time and Date is lost during a quick battery change

Since you have to repeatedly change batteries due to the lack of a functional battery meter, unfortunately you have to put in the time and date each time also, because no matter how quickly you insert the new battery, the time and date is scrambled, although other options are retained in memory without being lost during the battery change. This further means that if the battery goes dead during a long lecture that you can't just insert another battery and keep recording, because the system may require you to carefully reset the new date and time.

Problem 4, the lettering on the display is too small

Unless you're 17 years old with 20/20 vision the lettering is too small to read and reinsert the Time and Date, which incidentally has to be done repeatedly. The screen size is OK, just the lettering is extra small, and there is room to increase the type size. How could this not be obvious?

Problem 5, the internal mic is not as good as the external mics

I would be glad to pay more money for a better quality microphone, that's built into the smallest recorder. When possible I do plug in the ME52 external directional mono microphone for better quality sound, although the internal mic is not all that bad. For voice recording I always record in the highest quality mono mode. An Omni-directional internal mic is naturally preferable to a directional microphone since we're not necessarily focused on the recording process or the orientation of the recorder.

Problem 6, a bright red light is not always appropriate

Naturally, you could put black tape on the bright red recording lights so that you don't advertise to any violent person that you are recording evidence of their assault, unless of course you're trying to get killed. Please don't treat us like idiot children because sadistic lawyers want to protect murders from being recorded. Right now recordings of O.J. Simpson's armed assault are being used in court, and the court recognizes that this may be the only way there will ever be any accuracy or justice in the court room.

Apparently, the people who design, manufacture or sell such recorders don't actually use them, which is typical of most products, or they use them at a brightly lit table, just to see if the product works at all. Naturally, we would be interested in knowing if there's any similar small recorder with high quality recording capabilities and at least 1 GB of memory which solved at least the first 2 of these problems.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

again, because you may not have pressed the Record switch firmly enough, or the momentary had a bounce and it's not recording, so just repeat this process until you get the unit recording. While this may really seem to stupid to believe, you can get relatively fast at it, if you have good lighting to examine the recorder, and repeat the process as needed, which should mean that you can get the recorder turned on in about 15 seconds.



A simple small but well made slide switch at the upper right corner, that has three positions: STOP, PAUSE, RECORD is all I would ever need to control this recorder. For the Olympus engineers, Yes, this means no power-up switch called Hold. So when you slide the switch upward from Stop to Record, you both turn the recorder on and start recording immediately, you don't need to do a lengthy operating system initialization test, we can assume that nobody smashed the recorder with a sledge hammer.



Problem 2, the Battery Meter doesn't work



Now that you got the recorder turned on and recording, this doesn't mean that you be able to record anything, because you have no idea how much battery life is left. The tiny battery meter in the upper left corner of the screen only tells you if the battery is almost completely dead. So you could start recording something extremely relevant and discover that you recorded only the first minute of a one hour nightmare and you have no evidence to defend yourself from a legal attack by a predator later on, thanks to a nonfunctional battery meter design. So the only thing you can do is buy a lot of AAA batteries and through them away after every long recording. As a result you will spend more on batteries than on the recorder. Of course, a AA battery has about twice the capacity as a AAA battery, so the slightly larger AA battery would be a better choice in such a small recorder, even it had a slightly larger bulge over the battery area.



Problem 3, the Time and Date is lost during a quick battery change



Since you have to repeatedly change batteries due to the lack of a functional battery meter, unfortunately you have to put in the time and date each time also, because no matter how quickly you insert the new battery, the time and date is scrambled, although other options are retained in memory without being lost during the battery change. This further means that if the battery goes dead during a long lecture that you can't just insert another battery and keep recording, because the system may require you to carefully reset the new date and time.



Problem 4, the lettering on the display is too small



Unless you're 17 years old with 20/20 vision the lettering is too small to read and reinsert the Time and Date, which incidentally has to be done repeatedly. The screen size is OK, just the lettering is extra small, and there is room to increase the type size. How could this not be obvious?



Problem 5, the internal mic is not as good as the external mics



I would be glad to pay more money for a better quality microphone, that's built into the smallest recorder. When possible I do plug in the ME52 external directional mono microphone for better quality sound, although the internal mic is not all that bad. For voice recording I always record in the highest quality mono mode. An Omni-directional internal mic is naturally preferable to a directional microphone since we're not necessarily focused on the recording process or the orientation of the recorder.



Problem 6, a bright red light is not always appropriate



Naturally, you could put black tape on the bright red recording lights so that you don't advertise to any violent person that you are recording evidence of their assault, unless of course you're trying to get killed. Please don't treat us like idiot children because sadistic lawyers want to protect murders from being recorded. Right now recordings of O.J. Simpson's armed assault are being used in court, and the court recognizes that this may be the only way there will ever be any accuracy or justice in the court room.



Apparently, the people who design, manufacture or sell such recorders don't actually use them, which is typical of most products, or they use them at a brightly lit table, just to see if the product works at all. Naturally, we would be interested in knowing if there's any similar small recorder with high quality recording capabilities and at least 1 GB of memory which solved at least the first 2 of these problems.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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file size or email incompatibilities. It's brilliant.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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file size or email incompatibilities. It's brilliant.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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slide switches - for hold and voice/music modes
- new Super high quality mode - XQ 50hz to 19Khz with 44Kbps sampling
- added base boost in addition to WOW and EQ modes - music is best ever - way better than wife's iPod

The removed features...
- no sampling on fast forward - but clean FF/RW and easy to stop anywhere in recording
- contacts on battery module - replaced with internal switch

The things that remain the same ...
- same amazing CONF conference room mic sensitivity - I can pick up every word in a restaurant conversation
- same clear DICT dictation recording - I can dictate in the car - return to my PC's Dragon Naturally Speaking and convert voice-to-text
- number of folders A,B,C, D,E - can not name them as on past models - but not really important
- size - though it looks larger due to larger display - it is not any larger in any dimension
- same battery life - quite reasonable
- same VOICE vs. MUSIC mode - not sure why we need two modes
- does not remember where you were in a song when you switch over to voice record and come back to MP3
- does not remember where you are in listening to a voice recording when your switch to music and come back
- no memory card slot - SD or otherwise - I guess a 340? will be in the cards some day...
- still no `split' and `merge' option for recorded files in the unit
- can now re-order songs in MUSIC mode within a folder
- same ear buds - not very good - plan to buy a better set
- same WOW dynamic processing - sounds great
- same backspace on playback of voice recording
- same speaker on front panel - do that with an iPod Nano
- same great direct USB - no cables, yeah! And no additional software, yeah!

BTW: This thing has enough memory and long enough battery life to simply record your entire waking day - if you really wanted to. The audio recording is the best I have experienced on all these DVRs - I tried the Sony - was not happy. I guess Olympus has been doing voice recording technology for so long, they must really know their stuff.

The Olympus marketing team seems to have missed the mark in the literature about this little marvel of technology. I use this for work every day to record business meetings and technology design sessions ... but I also use it every day to listen to a variety of technical, business and news podcasts. The Olympus marketing materials fails to mention that this is an excellent podcast listening device for the busy business person or student. In fact, I only have two dozen songs loaded for those times when I'm really needing a break at work - the rest of my 1.5 gig is used for podcasts.

A tip for podcast listeners - for social reasons and safety reasons, I took a cheap set of ear buds and cut, with scissors, one of the buds off at the split - I listen to the podcasts in one ear - allows me to hear what's going on around me. Most people just think I'm on a phone call and don't bother me - as opposed to the rude stares I get sometimes when wearing both ear buds. I have had people come up to me and ask, "what phones that - it's so small." LOL

I also call this my learning machine - since I also use it to create self-tests on subjects I'm studying ... record a question, wait one second, record the answer and repeat. When I play back the recording - I press the pause after I hear the question - try to answer it in my head and then play the answer to check myself. I passed the written exam for my private pilots license this way.

I added a non-powered Olympus lapel clip microphone (ME-15) that seems to work quite well in the 331M, same mic. The mic does not seem to work well on laptop microphone jack. I also purchased the microphone ear bud for recording phone calls (Olympus TP-7 Telephone Recording Device) - this works excellent - especially when driving and talking to someone - you can take notes hands free.

Dictation loaded to Dragon Soft works quite well - including in the car, which really surprised me. In fact, most of this review was dictated into the DVR and converted to text by my moderately trained Dragon Naturally Speaking v.9.

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

slide switches - for hold and voice/music modes

- new Super high quality mode - XQ 50hz to 19Khz with 44Kbps sampling

- added base boost in addition to WOW and EQ modes - music is best ever - way better than wife's iPod



The removed features...

- no sampling on fast forward - but clean FF/RW and easy to stop anywhere in recording

- contacts on battery module - replaced with internal switch



The things that remain the same ...

- same amazing CONF conference room mic sensitivity - I can pick up every word in a restaurant conversation

- same clear DICT dictation recording - I can dictate in the car - return to my PC's Dragon Naturally Speaking and convert voice-to-text

- number of folders A,B,C, D,E - can not name them as on past models - but not really important

- size - though it looks larger due to larger display - it is not any larger in any dimension

- same battery life - quite reasonable

- same VOICE vs. MUSIC mode - not sure why we need two modes

- does not remember where you were in a song when you switch over to voice record and come back to MP3

- does not remember where you are in listening to a voice recording when your switch to music and come back

- no memory card slot - SD or otherwise - I guess a 340? will be in the cards some day...

- still no `split' and `merge' option for recorded files in the unit

- can now re-order songs in MUSIC mode within a folder

- same ear buds - not very good - plan to buy a better set

- same WOW dynamic processing - sounds great

- same backspace on playback of voice recording

- same speaker on front panel - do that with an iPod Nano

- same great direct USB - no cables, yeah! And no additional software, yeah!



BTW: This thing has enough memory and long enough battery life to simply record your entire waking day - if you really wanted to. The audio recording is the best I have experienced on all these DVRs - I tried the Sony - was not happy. I guess Olympus has been doing voice recording technology for so long, they must really know their stuff.



The Olympus marketing team seems to have missed the mark in the literature about this little marvel of technology. I use this for work every day to record business meetings and technology design sessions ... but I also use it every day to listen to a variety of technical, business and news podcasts. The Olympus marketing materials fails to mention that this is an excellent podcast listening device for the busy business person or student. In fact, I only have two dozen songs loaded for those times when I'm really needing a break at work - the rest of my 1.5 gig is used for podcasts.



A tip for podcast listeners - for social reasons and safety reasons, I took a cheap set of ear buds and cut, with scissors, one of the buds off at the split - I listen to the podcasts in one ear - allows me to hear what's going on around me. Most people just think I'm on a phone call and don't bother me - as opposed to the rude stares I get sometimes when wearing both ear buds. I have had people come up to me and ask, "what phones that - it's so small." LOL



I also call this my learning machine - since I also use it to create self-tests on subjects I'm studying ... record a question, wait one second, record the answer and repeat. When I play back the recording - I press the pause after I hear the question - try to answer it in my head and then play the answer to check myself. I passed the written exam for my private pilots license this way.



I added a non-powered Olympus lapel clip microphone (ME-15) that seems to work quite well in the 331M, same mic. The mic does not seem to work well on laptop microphone jack. I also purchased the microphone ear bud for recording phone calls (Olympus TP-7 Telephone Recording Device) - this works excellent - especially when driving and talking to someone - you can take notes hands free.



Dictation loaded to Dragon Soft works quite well - including in the car, which really surprised me. In fact, most of this review was dictated into the DVR and converted to text by my moderately trained Dragon Naturally Speaking v.9.

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

...

slide switches - for hold and voice/music modes


- new Super high quality mode - XQ 50hz to 19Khz with 44Kbps sampling


- added base boost in addition to WOW and EQ modes - music is best ever - way better than wife's iPod





The removed features...


- no sampling on fast forward - but clean FF/RW and easy to stop anywhere in recording


- contacts on battery module - replaced with internal switch





The things that remain the same ...


- same amazing CONF conference room mic sensitivity - I can pick up every word in a restaurant conversation


- same clear DICT dictation recording - I can dictate in the car - return to my PC's Dragon Naturally Speaking and convert voice-to-text


- number of folders A,B,C, D,E - can not name them as on past models - but not really important


- size - though it looks larger due to larger display - it is not any larger in any dimension


- same battery life - quite reasonable


- same VOICE vs. MUSIC mode - not sure why we need two modes


- does not remember where you were in a song when you switch over to voice record and come back to MP3


- does not remember where you are in listening to a voice recording when your switch to music and come back


- no memory card slot - SD or otherwise - I guess a 340? will be in the cards some day...


- still no `split' and `merge' option for recorded files in the unit


- can now re-order songs in MUSIC mode within a folder


- same ear buds - not very good - plan to buy a better set


- same WOW dynamic processing - sounds great


- same backspace on playback of voice recording


- same speaker on front panel - do that with an iPod Nano


- same great direct USB - no cables, yeah! And no additional software, yeah!





BTW: This thing has enough memory and long enough battery life to simply record your entire waking day - if you really wanted to. The audio recording is the best I have experienced on all these DVRs - I tried the Sony - was not happy. I guess Olympus has been doing voice recording technology for so long, they must really know their stuff.





The Olympus marketing team seems to have missed the mark in the literature about this little marvel of technology. I use this for work every day to record business meetings and technology design sessions ... but I also use it every day to listen to a variety of technical, business and news podcasts. The Olympus marketing materials fails to mention that this is an excellent podcast listening device for the busy business person or student. In fact, I only have two dozen songs loaded for those times when I'm really needing a break at work - the rest of my 1.5 gig is used for podcasts.





A tip for podcast listeners - for social reasons and safety reasons, I took a cheap set of ear buds and cut, with scissors, one of the buds off at the split - I listen to the podcasts in one ear - allows me to hear what's going on around me. Most people just think I'm on a phone call and don't bother me - as opposed to the rude stares I get sometimes when wearing both ear buds. I have had people come up to me and ask, "what phones that - it's so small." LOL





I also call this my learning machine - since I also use it to create self-tests on subjects I'm studying ... record a question, wait one second, record the answer and repeat. When I play back the recording - I press the pause after I hear the question - try to answer it in my head and then play the answer to check myself. I passed the written exam for my private pilots license this way.





I added a non-powered Olympus lapel clip microphone (ME-15) that seems to work quite well in the 331M, same mic. The mic does not seem to work well on laptop microphone jack. I also purchased the microphone ear bud for recording phone calls (Olympus TP-7 Telephone Recording Device) - this works excellent - especially when driving and talking to someone - you can take notes hands free.





Dictation loaded to Dragon Soft works quite well - including in the car, which really surprised me. In fact, most of this review was dictated into the DVR and converted to text by my moderately trained Dragon Naturally Speaking v.9.

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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dictation was still usable.

I haven't tried it with Dragon Naturally Speaking yet, but from prior experience with other Olympus and Sony recorders, I have no doubt that it will work well.

The unit is beautifully designed. About four inches long by perhaps two wide and not even a half-inch thick. Record, Stop and Play controls are conveniently located on the right side and easily manipulated with the thumb. A four-way controller on the front handles volume and forward and reverse direction. A center button takes care of the menu. There are separate buttons for Erase and Folder/Index. On the left side is the Hold button and a mode selector for Music or Voice.

All in all, one of the simplest control panels I've ever seen on a digital recorder and, frankly, a welcome change.

The LCD screen in legible and the backlight just capable enough.

Battery life is adequate. I make it a rule to regularly change batteries in units like this so I am not rendered unexpectedly powerless. Cheap insurance.

There's a lanyard attachment in the back.

Overall, the handling of this unit is absolutely sweet. Not slippery so as to cause concern for it flying out of your hand. Not too many controls that you forget how to use. Everything is simple and straightforward. A truly nice piece of design.

The coolest part is that transferring recordings to your computer requires nothing more than detaching the bottom of the WS-331M, using a quick-release button and plugging it into a USB port on your Windows PC. That's it. No software, no cables, no nothing. It's a WMA file that will play in Windows Media Player or any number of other PC players.

Overall, a sweet little unit.

Jerry

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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Definitely worth the cost.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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unit. The microphone setting also is not very sensitive. It needs another setting higher than "conf".

The other annoying thing is that when it is ready to run out of battery power, you get no warning. You just lose your recording permanently. This forces you to change the battery earlier than you might otherwise even though it has a significant amount of juice left.

I am hoping Olympus comes out with a fix for the volume problem, at least. If any of you experience this, please complain to them about it. I'm sure a software fix would correct this.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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sudden stop of recording due to low battery. The indicator showed 2 stripes, but the recording suddenly stopped at 44 minutes, although Olympus boasted a 11-hour battery life.
Should we change battery when half discharge?

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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sudden stop of recording due to low battery. The indicator showed 2 stripes, but the recording suddenly stopped at 44 minutes, although Olympus boasted a 11-hour battery life.

Should we change battery when half discharge?

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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sudden stop of recording due to low battery. The indicator showed 2 stripes, but the recording suddenly stopped at 44 minutes, although Olympus boasted a 11-hour battery life.


Should we change battery when half discharge?

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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sudden stop of recording due to low battery. The indicator showed 2 stripes, but the recording suddenly stopped at 44 minutes, although Olympus boasted a 11-hour battery life.



Should we change battery when half discharge?

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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sudden stop of recording due to low battery. The indicator showed 2 stripes, but the recording suddenly stopped at 44 minutes, although Olympus boasted a 11-hour battery life.




Should we change battery when half discharge?

+ 0 likes

Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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last time you entertained a room of people with your mp3 player and no pluggable speakers?

The thin form allows her to hang unseen from a lanyard and inside my shirt. I like keeping her close to my heart. The classy black lacquer finish casing with silver accents make her an instant status symbol, out shining any diamond pendant.

Yes, this is true love.

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Olympus WS-331M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

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Olympus was part simplicity and convenience. The main function buttons are located on the right side of the recorder. This is the traditional location for the record, stop, and play buttons. For some something as simple as location of main buttons would seem trivial; however, for me it was a question of function over form.

The Olympus also provides a clear, though small, LED screen. Of course, given the overall size of this recorder a larger screen would be both out of proportion and make the recorder harder to use. I have found so far that I actually do not look at the screen that often, so screen size is less material than I originally thought. Even with a relatively small screen the information given to the user is clear and concise.

The size of this recorder is simply amazing. Even with a battery the recorder weighs just a few ounces. While the recorder can be easily carried in a shirt pocket I have found that it is especially convenient when carried in one of the smallest cell phone belt pouches. The Olympus is about half the size of a Blackberry or small PDA. It is thinner than most small cell phones, and will fit easily on a belt or in a purse.

One of the top attractions to this recorder is the size of the memory. At 2GB there is plenty of room to store just about anything I can dictate. As an author of several books and dozens of articles I find that using the recorder is a valuable tool which has increased my productivity. I am no longer anchored to a computer keyboard when I write; now I can write anywhere I can take my recorder.

In fact, this review was recorded using the Olympus and then transcribed by Dragon. I actually found the error rate to be lower using the recorded file than when I use Dragon live. This has less to do with the voice recognition software than it does with the quality of the recording. I find that by recording I actually write better, and that my speech is clearer which means that my error rate drops.

Another significant feature of this recorder is the direct USB connection. The recorder comes with a short USB cable which can be easily used when access to the USB port is restricted. Fortunately my computer has several USB ports on the front, so I can connect the Olympus directly to the computer.

About the only negative to this is that the recorder now sticks out on front of the computer, and if the computer were positioned in a high traffic area it might create a hazard from being run into (hazard for the recorder, that is).

The recorder appears to be made mostly of plastic. Some might find this to be a negative but for me it helps explain the lack of weight. The light weight of the recorder is certainly an advantage, and I don't believe the plastic is a true issue. The overall quality of workmanship is very high.

Files are easily transferred from the Olympus to the computer just as they would be from a flash drive. The first time I plugged the Olympus into the USB port the computer immediately recognized the recorder. This is a real advantage, especially when transferring files to a new computer. As an example, I can easily use the recorder on both my home computer and laptop without installing special software. Likewise, I can take the recorder to my office where it is compatible with any computer using as USB port. Other recorders have a proprietary system that requires the use of special software, and that is simply too inconvenient given today's market and needs.

Files on the Olympus are stored in the WMA format. The recorder also plays music files in both the WMA and MP3 format. Having such large storage capacity also means that I can download music files to the recorder and still have plenty of room to make new recordings.

There are many other features which make this a great recorder, that space simply won't allow me to detail each of them. If you are looking for a great recorder to use with voice recognition software then I highly recommend this recorder. This is also a great tool for recording lectures, or conversations, and many other matters.