Olympus VN-5000 Digital Voice Recorder (141985) (Silver)

Comment: I have been very pleased with the Olympus Voice Recorder. I carry it with me all the time. I use it to "jot" down notes to myself about things I need to do. It is very easy to use. I use it a lot when I am in the car and need to remember something for later.

Comment: I bought this to help with interviews for my dissertation, and am on a very tight budget. I ended up flabbergasted by how little it does. It is impossible to download the interviews onto my computer, or save them on any other medium other than the device itself. In other words, I can't save my interviews. And, it's confusing to use! There is no volume dial, and it is absurdly tricky to adjust the volume of the playback. It recorded my trials very softly - not sure if it's me or what - and then the "erase" button is easily triggered. It must have gotten bumped in my purse and erased everything. Total junk.

Comment: losing sound fidelity because must be played back into microphone and be re-recorded in order to make CD. needs streaming digital output of digitized audio.

Comment: My experience was that you need perfect conditions to make a good recording. Even being in a moving car with the windows closed seemed too big of a problem for this machine, producing a shaky and unclear recording.

Comment: I bought this for an 89 year old man who relies on lists, but is having trouble with his hands. This is a very basic recorder, and for these purposes, worked great. I think on the very loud volume setting, it is a little muffled/slurred sounding, but unless you have it cranked up really high, it's just fine. Great little recorder.