Olympus VN-5200PC Digital Voice Recorder

Update 7/17/2009: Olympus has just introduced its new Olympus VN-6200PC Digital Voice Recorder. The VN-6200PC is identical to the VN-5200PC in function and features, but now has twice the memory, 1 GB, for the same suggested list price as the VN-5200PC. My VN-5200PC is great, but the VN-6200PC should be even better!

If you need a quality, low-cost, monaural digital voice recorder that easily records and transfers Windows Media Audio (WMA) files fast via a USB 2.0 connection to your PC without any extra software, the Olympus VN-5200PC is a great choice. It outperforms the popular Olympus VN-4100PC Digital Voice Recorder in nearly every way...more storage, longer recording time, longer battery life, more folders and files, greater frequency response, greater output level. Over 221 hours in LP record mode, and you still get over 35 hours in HQ mode...that's 200-13,000 Hz range, good enough to hum or strum your spur of the moment musical inspirations if you are into songwriting. It also has variable voice activation and a dynamic display of audio recording level. About the only feature the VN-4100PC has which the VN-5200PC doesn't is timer recording and playback if you really need it.

It does take a couple of readings of the instructions and a little practice to familiarize yourself with operating the VN-5200PC, but once you get the hang of it, it's really easy and intuitive to use. There are 5 folders, each able to hold up to 200 files. Every time you start and stop a recording, a new file is automatically created. The files and folders are easily transferred to your PC via the USB connection. Just plug in to your PC, and your VN-5200PC automatically looks just like any disc drive or storage device on your PC with a Windows directory displaying the files and folders. Just "select all" and move or copy the files to a disc drive to save the files in one operation. Playing the files just involves clicking on the audio file icons, and Windows Media Player pops up and goes to work. You can easily play all of the files in a folder in sequence with just one click on a Windows playing option that automatically creates a playlist of all the files. The files can easily be renamed both on the disc drive and on the VN-5200PC. They can be any name you choose. They don't have to have any specific format. Any file of any type with any name (text files, PDF files, etc.) can also be copied to and stored on the VN-5200PC. However, for an audio file to play on the VN-5200PC, it must be a WMA file and it must be copied or moved into one of the five specific audio folders on the VN-5200PC.

The Olympus VN-5200PC has no editing features. You can easily place and remove index markers to quickly return to specific file locations in playback mode, but any file editing must be done on the computer. While Windows Media Player allows you to select and sequence the files via a playlist, you will need to purchase separate software if you wish to edit or combine the files or convert them to other audio file formats such as MP3 or WAV.

One annoying feature of the VN-5200PC is that the earphone jack is monaural and, without an adapter, not compatible with the stereo headphones everybody has for their iPods or their old Walkman players. That's just plain stupid on the part of Olympus. Even my old mono GE microcassette recorder has a stereo earphone jack. A 1/8" stereo jack to 1/8" mono plug adapter can be bought at Radio Shack for $2.99 to solve the problem, a cost and inconvenience that should not be necessary. Another gripe is that the USB cable provided by Olympus with the VN-5200PC is only 6 inches long. This is okay for a laptop computer, but a USB extension cable may be necessary for your desktop computer. Target sells the 6 ft. Belkin USB Extension Cable (A-A) for $7.99. A type-A plug to 5-pin mini-plug USB cable can also be used.

In short, the Olympus VN-5200PC is for notes, meetings, lectures, dictation, emailing audio messages, and even songwriting. Its features are basic, price is modest, and the value is good. If you are into live music and MP3, news interviews, need stereo and fancy features, then go for the higher-priced Olympus digital recorders.

NOTE: Free, full-feature (not a "demo" copy), open-source software downloads to edit and convert audio files are available. SUPER© from erightsoft works on Windows platforms and will convert just about any audio file format to any other audio format. Audacity from Sourceforge is a full-featured audio file editor that works on Windows and Mac. Audacity is not licensed to directly import and convert WMA files, so it makes use of 3rd party software for WMA conversion. With Audacity 1.2, SUPER© or iTunes can be used to first convert WMA files to a format Audacity can accept, such as WAV. Audacity 1.3, a beta-test version, makes use of a free, separately downloaded ffmpeg import/export library to seamlessly import, export, and convert WMA files. (Currently, for use on the Mac, the ffmpeg library source code must first be converted to binary code... a job for "Mac-techies" only!)

I first owned the VN3100, then went to the VN4100PC, both of which were very decent units. When I saw the VN5200PC with a large memory and slightly better feature set I thought, this is the one for me! Well, I was wrong, regardless of the room size the voices that are picked up by the built in mic are always soft or muffled, sometimes inaudible. You need to be within a couple of feet of the unit to get any decent definition of sound. Perhaps mine in a lemon, I haven't checked on that possibility, but regardless it is truly disappointing. On the bright side I purchased an ME52W Olympus external mic for the unit and now voices boom on playback regardless of room size. I'm referring to conference room sized rooms, not auditoriums. It would have been nice if the unit would function properly without an additional external mic.

One more peeve is the lack of organizer program for your PC. The VN4200PC came with a very basic, but very useful program that allowed you to sort and file recordings on your PC. The VN5200PC does not. The best you can do is dump the files on disc and then use some other program to figure out how to arrange and file the recordings. So far this has been a tedious and annoying process.

In short, this unit would have been great if only two points had been given some thought. 1) A useful built-in mic, 2) Simply update the VN4200PC file organizer for the VN5200PC. As it stands it's not worth the trouble or price.

Buy Olympus VN-5200PC Digital Voice Recorder Now

I am a physician and bought this recorder to dictate patient charts. The recorder is easy to use with a user friendly screen. Also if you are recording something where you do not have to stop the recorder at any time and continue in the same file then this is for you. However, what they do not tell you that if you are dictating or recording yourself and you are 10 minutes into your recording and then want to rewind one minute and record over a the previous minute, you can not do it. There is no way to pause a recording, rewind and then record in the same file. The machine will start a new file. Even the old tape recorders allow you to rewind if you make a mistake or want to go back some and continue recording in the same file. So I'm giving this and all recorders that don't have this function a poor score as they deserve.

Read Best Reviews of Olympus VN-5200PC Digital Voice Recorder Here

I purchased this digital voice recorder to replace an old cassette recorder used to record monthly Academic Senate meetings here at a Calif. University. The recording quality is as good or better than the cassette tape, it's MUCH easier to use (no waiting for rewind or fast forward to find a specific spot in the meeting), the recording of each meeting is easily transferred onto a computer via a USB connection and from there it is simple to distribute to the appropriate people and the recorder will hold more than one year's worth of meetings. A very good product that I can highly recommend.

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I bought this recorder to replace a sony recorder that I had lost. I definitely like this one better. The other recorder would stay on and use up all my batteries if I forgot to put it on hold, this one actually turned itself off! I was really excited when I saw it do that.

I think another reviewer complained that when you move the files to your computer the files names are too confusing. I found that if you just use each of the folders for a different class, it's pretty obvious what the files are the file created on april 15th at 9am in folder A is law class on april 15th at 9am. Just move the entire folder to your computer instead of individual files. Or keep track of what folder you are moving the file from put the recorderings from folder A into a law class folder on your computer. Its also really easy to just rename the file once it's on your computer.

I have windows vista 64 OS and the recorder works great with it, I've never had a problem and I did not need to install anything for it to work.

The recorder is super easy to use, I've never even bothered to read the manual. This recorder is great because you can just press the folder button to scroll through the folders. My last recorder required me to go through 10 menu options to do that, plus it make a superloud beeping sound every time you pressed a button so at the beginning of every class my neighbors were giving me dirty looks!

I definitely recommend this recorder for students who need to record their classes!