Olympus DS-2400 Dictation recorder (142015)

Summary:

The DS-2400 is one of Olympus' newest voice recorders optimized for dictation. It provides the ability to record conversations under a variety of conditions with excellent quality. Its intuitive controls make operation so simple that the 8 (2"x4") page Quick Start Guide is all you'll need to start recording and playing back conversations of all kinds. The included DSS Player software supports both Windows (2000, XP, and Vista including Vista Ultimate 64-bit) and Macintosh (OS X 10.39 10.5.6).

Details:

I have owned a voice recorder once before, but it finally got lost, so it was time to do the research to find a replacement. A number of things impressed me, on paper, about the DS-2400

Brand new model from Olympus (so a long life of support is expected)

Compact model with all the features I wanted (built-in mono microphone and speaker; 3.5 mm min-jacks for connecting external mono or stereo mics and speakers) clear, easy to ready display and controls; save recordings as new files or append or insert recordings into existing files, multiple folders for storing files; long battery life [24 hours in QP mode, 30 hours in SP mode, 13 hours in playback mode]; settable recording quality; Voice activation; and dictation vs. conference modes)

Uses removable storage (SD or SDHC cards, from 512 MB to 16 GB), and supports 77 hours of "Quality" (QP) recording in the included 1 GB card, or a whopping 157 hours 50 minutes of "Standard" (SP) recording

Included DSS Player software supports the latest PCs and Macs

After purchase (and swift delivery from Amazon), I decided to give the DS-2400 a full test:

Initial setup and use of the recorder was so easy I really didn't need to read the 8-page Quick Start Guide. The 62 page Instructions manual (with sections in English, French and Spanish) is really only needed as a reference.

Voice quality is excellent. I am not using dictation transcribing software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred or MacSpeech Dictate, but do understand that both of these products (which use the same "Dragon" engine) can be used to transcribe these files.

The software installed and operated flawlessly on my two toughest test machines: a laptop running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit with Service Pack 2 (Public Preview v. 113), and a Mac Pro running Mac OS X Server v. 10.5.6 (developer beta release). The software is visually and functionally equivalent on both platforms, with differences reflective of the underlying system. For example:

+ a reboot is required when installing on the PC, but not the Mac,

+ the Mac version can convert recordings only to AIFF files (but there are lots of free utilities available to convert from this to other formats), while the PC version can convert to WAV and WMA formats (with a variety of bits per second and Hz supported in each format)

The DS2 format files used natively by the DS-2400 provide an amazing amount of compression without noticeable loss of quality. Here are some comparisons of file sizes for a 25 minute 35 second-long real-world speakerphone conversation I recorded in QP mode using a stereo microphone (Olympus ME51S):

+ DS2 (DSD Pro native) format @ 28 kbps, 16 khz, mono: 5,311 KB or 5.19 MB

+ WAV (PCM format @ 22.05 kHz, 16 bit, mono: 66,112 KB or 64.56 MB

+ WMA format @ 22.05 kHz, 16 kbps, mono: 3,136 KB or 3.06 MB (compared to DS2, there is a theoretical loss of quality in this format, but I couldn't hear it I'll be storing my files in this format, to save space)

+ AIFF format (no options provided): 47,972 KB or 48.84 MB

The recorder can be used without a PC. Stand-alone, you can:

Choose the language of the displays on the recorder (English, French, Spanish, German, Italian or Russian)

Set date, time, and date & time format (used to date/time stamp recording files)

Change the various modes of the recorder (LED display & contrast, backlighting, conference or dictation mode, Voice activation on or off, etc.)

Create new recording files

Record over, insert recordings, or append recordings to these files

File recordings in one of 5 (A through E) default folders

Rewind or fast-forward through files

Play files back at normal or increased speed

You'll need your PC for some more refined actions:

Change the name of the default folders to something meaningful to you (e.g., Personal, Work, Vendors, ...)

Change the name of the "recorder" (added to the files along with the date/time stamp to something other than "DS-2400" (e.g., JOESPERRAZZA)

Convert files from DS2 format to another, for input into a speech to text conversion program or for sharing with others

Caveats:

Don't buy this if you're expecting to play MP3s it is not designed for that

Don't expect to record music the recorder itself and the DS2 format are optimized to record and playback human speech:

+ QP mode: 16 kHz sampling frequency, 200 7,000 Hz frequency response

+ SP mode: 12 kHz sampling frequency, 200 5,000 Hz frequency response

(I'll be recording everything in QP mode, due to the incredible amount of information you can store on just 1 GB SD chip)

The pictures are correct, and the title of this product is incorrect it is SILVER, not BLACK

Accessories:

Olympus ME-51S Stereo Microphone I use it to put in the middle of a conference table having two active recording heads, perpendicular to the plane of the recorder, it records both sides of the table quite well. You can plug it directly into the top of the recorder, or connect it via an extension cable. It also includes a removable clip, but it is not "noise canceling", so don't plan to wear this on your lapel while recording. It works best if the recorder is in Conference mode when you use this mic.

Olympus ME-52 Noise Cancellation Microphone noise canceling, directional microphone. Includes removable clip, and designed for giving dictation while clipped to your lapel or collar while the recorder is in Dictation mode.

Olympus TP-7 Telephone Recording Device telephone pickup a very clever device that pugs into the recorder, then is inserted in your ear. The microphone is on the outside of the ear (but there's air spaces to allow the sound from the receiver to reach your ear). It works to record both sides of a conversation from either regular or mobile (cell) phones because both your voice and that of those on the other end of the conversation are transmitted through the earpiece of the phone as the standard way such phones work. If you can have all your phone conversations you want to record via speakerphone, you don't need this accessory. But if you want to record non-speakerphone telephone conversations without a specialized device or a degree in Electrical Engineering, then this accessory is for you.

I have used Olympus recorders for many years overall they are good machines. But, Olympus often decides to change file formats without consideration of the end user. This is the case with the DS-2400. This new handheld recorder from Olympus uses a new voice file format called DS2. This file format is playable only with the new Olympus software that comes with the Ds-2400. Olympus will not share this software. You must buy a machine to get a player. This is a serious deficiency for users that may want to send their voice files to transcriptionists or to other people that do not have an Olympus player.

Buy Olympus DS-2400 Dictation recorder (142015) Now

I was just going to post this, and you beat me to the punch...I bought one of these at the urging of the transcription company, which handles 1000 clients, when my DS-2300 died. There is absolutely no support for DS2 files and you have to convert them every time. Transcription IT spent a week working with Olympus and couldn't get it right. I finally returned this device and got a Philips 9370 which makes only DSS files. Dont get this handheld unless every single person you dictate to knows what to do with DS2 files.

Poor job on this one Olympus, you just cost yourself about 150 handheld dictation devices from our corporation.

Read Best Reviews of Olympus DS-2400 Dictation recorder (142015) Here

I'm a long-time user of Olympus voice recorders and the features this one offers are truly impressive. See Sperazza's review for a detailed breakdown. Everything about the hardware seems great. However, in order to play the .DS2 files you create on this device, you need Olympus's proprietary software, which you can ONLY get on the CD that comes with the device (you can't download it from their website -the website won't even tell you the most current version number). I installed the software on my office machine, which is a pretty standard Windows XP setup, and I could not use it to play DS2 files. I'd try to open a file, and nothing would happen. The program could handle other file formats (WMA and MP3) but not DS2. No error message -just no response. After a couple of attempts to manipulate a DS2 file it would finally tell me that the file didn't exist or couldn't be found, even though I could easily find it in my directory.

I phoned Olympus customer support, where a nice gentleman helpfully informed me that there's a bug in the software that makes it unreliable when used with a networked machine. My office computer is networked, and that's where I want to use it. And, of course, without functioning software, the device is useless, since as far as I can tell pretty much no non-Olympus software can handle DS2 files yet, and that's the only kind of file the DS-2400 can create. So despite its great feature set, I will be returning this to Amazon.

I advise you to try to do whatever research you can before you buy this to determine whether the software will run on your machine. If you are planning on using this at your home, or in a non-networked environment, you probably won't have any trouble.

One other thing -if you are familiar with Olympus's other digital voice recorders, you may be surprised by the large size and relative heaviness of this one. It's about twice as big as, say, the WS-310. It's about the size of a medium-sized mobile phone. Still very portable, though.

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I am a lawyer and have to do a lot of dictation. I have used much more expensive Olympus recorders before, but I tried this one and it works great! I record my dictation and then upload the files over the Internet to the transcribers. It works great.

My only complaint is the button functions on the side of the recorder are not really very intuitive as compared to other recorders I have used, but I got used to it. Also, the software the comes with it is not very intuitive, either, but I have it figured out.

It has excellent recording quality. If you need a digital recorder, I recommend this one. Why spend $250 more for essentially the same thing?