Olympus WS-311M Digital Voice Recorder and WMA Music Player

As an elementary music teacher, I often have a need to make recordings. After researching my options, on a limited budget, I chose this digital voice recorder to record my grand piano playing vocal parts. At first I was very disappointed, until told to listen through the ear buds, not the speakers on the tiny device! What sounded awful at first, ended up being the best piano recording I have ever heard from a portable device, which used to be a cassette recorder! The cd's turned out great.

Today I recorded a saxophone soloist as I accompanied his piece we are preparing for a state honors concert in a few days. I just sat this small recorder on my windowsill and I am absolutely amazed at the sound quality! It sounds as good as when the band director brought all of his equipment and large microphones to my studio!

Often middle school or high school musicians are required to make a recording for seating or auditions. I would highly recommend this WS-311M to do the job!

I needed a small, discreet voice recorder. I was replacing my older micro-cassette tape recorder which is much more cumbersome. With the WS-311 I can keep it in a shirt pocket and it is un-noticed. I can use it while driving, in meetings, and for general use.

One of the uses for this is to record meetings in a "CYA" sort of mode. I do real estate, and sometimes transactions and closings can go badly. They then devolve to a "he said/she said" kind of thing. With this, at least I have a recording of what went on, dated and time stamped, for my own protection. It may not be admissible for a criminal trial, but to protect myself, it is invaluable.

It is light and simple to use. Downloading WMA files to the computer only requires a USB port and no software to be installed. Those files can then be used, e-mailed, copied, whatever you need.

My only quibble, and it is mostly my fault, is that when you try to play back a file at the highest volume, the recorder goes into a "system reset" mode. This is actually covered in the very comprehensive owner's manual, but I must have missed it the first time through. The solution is simple: If you are stuck in reset mode, unplug the battery section from the rest of the recorder and then reconnect it. Then when you play a recording, just don't use the highest volume setting and all works correctly.

I have mine set to record up to around 70 hours, but it can go higher than that if you want.

The only accessory I am considering now is a small lapel type microphone, otherwise the recorder is absolutely perfect as-is.

I haven't used it as a flash drive or music player, I have separate equipment for that, so I can't comment on the music end of the device.

Ease of use, ease of recording, ease in playback, ease of downloading. A good deal, and about $30-40 less than in a brick and mortar store.

I recommend this without reservation.

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I bought this product for the sole purpose of recording seminars. Poor Variable Control Voice Actuator (VCVA) function ruins this otherwise excellent digital recorder.

VCVA records only when the device senses sound. Hence it helps trim out downtime and is an important time-saving function when listening to recorded material.

What I've found is that the VCVA is not sensitive enough to work properly unless the lecturer speaks directly to the recorder within about 3 feet. So even when I am sitting in the front row, this device still misses out reocrding most part of a lecture when I set it at the VCVA mode.

Addendum 6/29/08: My assessment of VCVA performance was based on the more sensitive of the two mic settings, the "Conf" mode.

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Wow, this item cost me a lot, but it is certainly MORE than worth it.

It is a very small (so small that I don't know what would happen if you drop it... hehe) and sleek voice recorder. There are several models of this WS series, and this was the most suitable for me because it has a lot of memory and it is actually quite cheap (funny thing, the previous model to this one -WS-300 I thinkis more expensive, so you'd be paying more for less memory).

Concerning memory, this little and amazing thing has 138h 30m when it's in its lowest recording mode (LP). In the next mode (SP) it has 69h 40m, then in HG 35h 25m, in ST SP the same as the latter, in ST HG 17h 40m, and finally in ST XQ 8h and 45min. In my opinion there is a wide difference between the LP (worst) and ST XQ (better) modes. In the latter the quality of the audio is really amazing, you can definitely hear how good it is (lots of depth). In the former the quality is amazingly good, so if you record 138h 30m you will have 138h 30m of VERY good quality. The difference with the 1st mode is still a lot, but both modes are nothing short of amazing. The mode that I recommend using is the HQ or the ST SP, which gives you 25h 25m of very good quality recording but stlll with enough space for recording a lot.

I really liked that this model is basically a Voice-Recorder USB key, hence it is compatible with MAC! That i s the main reason why I chose this model, because since I have a Mac I obviously needed a (digital) recorder compatible with my computer, and it works perfectly. I just connect it to the port in my keyboard and voila, it appears!

I still haven't managed how to open the aufio files with iTunes or to convert them to MP3, but hopefully I'll somehow manage.

Overall, I cannot stop recommending this to my friends, it is assuredly a useful and amazing digital voice recorder, and you most certainly won't regret buying it!

Cheers!

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This unit has a "music" mode, that allows for playing MP3 files. I use the unit to play podcast (netcast) voice audio. The purpose of this review is to let readers know about how the "fast forward" and "rewind" functions work on this unit. I have not experimented with playback of voice files, but I presume it's the same.

The large plus-shaped control you see on the front of the product allows you to initiate fast forward / skip forward and rewind / skip back. Pressing the right side of the control starts fast forward (FF). As you press and hold FF, nothing happens for a moment, then the unit beeps, then silently begins advancing through the currently playing recording. The longer you hold down the FF button, the higher the RATE of advancement. There is a nice "progress bar" on the screen that shows you the fraction of the recording that has passed. You can effectively position yourself to begin listening anywhere within the recording in just a few seconds. For instance, if you hold the FF button 5 seconds, you'll advance 45 seconds. Hold 10 seconds for a 5 minute advance, 15 seconds for a 20 minute advance, and 20 seconds will take you over an hour into the recording (the rates seem to be about 10 seconds per second for seconds 2 through 5, 48 sec for 6-10, 240 sec for 11-15, and 480 sec for 16-20).

Instead of skipping forward, this unit also has the ability to playback at 150% speed. Of course that doesn't get you very far if you really want to advance ahead, but it's great for podcasts that have clear speech, like professional radio, but not so good for less professional podcasts because they're less understandable to begin with.

Another fact not described in the literature is whether the unit "saves your place" within a track if you have to stop listening. The news is good here: if you stop in the middle of a track, and "power off" (actually called "hold" from some strange reason), then "power on", you will start at the point you left off (not at the beginning of the track). You DO "loose your place" if you plug the unit into your computer via the USB port, or even switch to the voice mode, but are able to change the battery and still keep your spot.

In summary, this unit is great for the podcast listener who doesn't mind plugging in every day or so (it's only got 512MB -if you need more check the WS-331M). The FF controls are effective to skip commercials in podcasts and you can set it down for an hour or a day and when you hit play, you pick-up where you left off.