Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(25 customer reviews) 71 of 72 people found the following review helpful
Okay if you're not looking for high quality sound,
November 12, 2006 Gyraffe (VA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Olympus VN3100PC Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)
This recorder is fine if you need to record notes but don't care much about the sound quality. It's strictly for utilitarian note-taking. It has 4 quality levels and only the highest (XHQ) even approaches the quality of my old Sony tape recorder. However, you can understand yourself in all modes, though I wouldn't try recording a lecture or conference in anything but the highest quality mode- voices sound like aliens speaking through long plastic tubes in the other modes.
It records in 4-bit .wav format, which is low quality. Listening with stereo headphones (not included) you'll hear the sound only in one ear. Transfer to the PC is via the included program "Digital Wave Player." I found that I couldn't convert the .wavs (which take up a lot of space on the PC if you want to save them) to .mp3s using RightClickMp3 (a freeware conversion utility not included with the recorder) without first opening the files in Windows Sound Recorder and saving as CD Quality files. This is a...Read more
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Impressive unit not without minor flaws,
May 14, 2007 J. Grey (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Olympus VN3100PC Digital Voice Recorder (Office Product)
Maybe I'm just dazzled by this DVR's compactness and overall quality of recording -- it is my first DVR, after all, and I'm seduced by how something so little can work so well. I can press Record, shove this little guy into the bottom of my jeans pocket, and walk around -- and capture everything said around me in probably a 15-foot radius. (If my jeans are loose, I do pick up a bit of rustling noise as the jeans rub against the unit. But it doesn't detract too much.) I primarily use this DVR when I'm taking lots of photos -- I record what each photo is about, so when I upload the photos to my computer later, I'm not scratching my head to remember. It's easier than writing down notes, especially when I'm in my car. My only complaint here is that s-sounds tend to come across harsh, even at the best recording quality.
I wish this DVR was configured so that my computer could see it natively like it does my USB thumb drive. Since it doesn't work that way, you have to load...Read more
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
A very good recorder with good recording time.,
March 1, 2007 Uncle Rick - See all my reviews
I love this recorder. It's clarity at XHQ recording quality is exceptional. However the lower quality settings(HQ to LP) leave a little to be desired. A slight swimmy sort of noise is introduced at HQ level and increases as the quality setting decrements down to the lowest setting. If all that is needed is recognition of voice, then the lower quality settings are useable all the way down to the lowest setting(LP). The XHQ setting is very good for even music recording. And with 5+ hours of recording time at XHQ, it is all I need, so I never use the lower quality settings.
The recording sensitivity is very good. I most always use the "HI" setting, but even at the "LO" setting you can still hear most sounds in a small room. Especially after downloading to a computer. Then the sound quality is greatly improved over the small built-in speaker. The speaker sound is very good as well.
Another great feature is the "slow" and "fast" speed adjustment. There is NO...Read more
