Olympus VN3100PC Digital Voice Recorder

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 modevoices 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 bit annoying, considering some other players and recorders record directly to mp3. I think the technology of these things is lagging behind the rest of the electronics marketthis is the level that mp3 players were at a few years ago. Who buys a 128 MB mp3 player now for this price?

The recorder is easy and intuitive to use. The LCD screen is big enough to see clearly, but does not have a backlight. It does have an LED light between the STOP and REC buttons, which flashes green when you perform various operations. It switches to steady red when recording, and flashing red when paused during recording. It also beeps in various ways to let you know what operations you are performing (for example two fast low beeps when you stop recording, two slow low beeps when you pause recording, one high beep when you start recording). You can turn the beeps off if you want to. I like having visual and aural confirmations like that because I record outside at night.

The HOLD button is the only control on the side of the recorder besides the USB jack. This is a good feature. It functions as an on/off button. No buttons will operate with it on, but if you press some of the buttons it will show the date followed by the time brieflya handy feature. Take HOLD off and it shows the screen again at whatever file you last had it. When changing batteries, put HOLD on and it will save all your settings and files so you don't lose anything and have to reset it all each time.

It has voice activation, though I haven't used that, index marks, a timer record function, and an alarm which will beep and play a file that you select. The speaker is in the back in the recessed upper half, which leaves a nice step for your index finger when you hold it.

Overall it has nice features, an ergonomic feel in your hand, a comparatively long record time of about 5-1/2 hours in XHQ mode, and is easy to use. Improvements that would make this a five-star item would be better recording quality and direct-to-mp3 recording. If you need really good sound quality look elsewhere. I think that for the price, this should have much better sound quality. After all, that's the main feature in a recorder.

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 some software that always runs in the background to recognize the DVR and transfer files. My chief complaint about this is that I already have five or six things always running in the background waiting for the infrequent times I need them, and I dislike adding any more programs to that list where they just consume memory. The software is easy enough to use, though. It plays the recordings efficently, but you can use any .wav player if you want. The software not only logs the date and time you transferred the file, but also the date and time you recorded the file, which I find very useful. The only way to access the recording date and time is through the bundled software, though; when you view the files through your operating system, they are stamped only with the date and time of transfer.

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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 shift in the sound frequency for either setting. If listening to music, there is absolutely no note-change at all. This is a rare but significant feature, as the voices(or music) sound completely natural with no change except for speed. Some devices that offer a stable frequency speed-change feature, also introduce a sort of clicking artifact that is anoying at best. The VN-3100PC does not have that problem. The resulting speed-changed audio(slow or fast) is as clear as the normal speed exhibits. Look around. Lesser recorders are listed at significantly higher prices.

Rick

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I bought this product to record interviews for my master's thesis. I found that it works really well. The only thing is that the microphone doesn't pick up really soft voices that well. So you have to make sure that it is right next to the person speaking. The different levels of noise clarity are wonderful and it has loads of memory and different folders. Its hold button is also a great feature along with the index markers. The only thing I didn't like was the three speeds. The slow speed (for play back) really wasn't that slow. This product could use another slow speed that would be better for transcribing interviews. It does have a fast speed as well which was good. It was easy to transfer onto my computer and I burnt the recordings onto a cd easily as well. This product is great for interviews in quiet locations and probably for lectures but I would use it to try and transcribe anything. The other negitive feature is that you have to use the stop button to pause any playback. Everytime you hit play again it plays at the regular speed so you have to reset it to a different speed by hitting play again. The rewind and fast forward buttons are also touchy and if you don't hold them down properly, it will go back to the begining of the recording, which is why I set index markers after every twenty minutes or so. That way if you go all the way back you don't have to fast forward through like 40 or 50 minutes. All in all though I am happy with my purchase.

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Got one of these today. When I want high quality digital audio recording, I use a Sony mini disk recorder. Astounding quality sound, even if Sony has dumb way with controls (not intuitive at all). But this device here, I only want for very modest recording. Not for podcasting and not for recording anything that would become a quality audio cd or anything. Memos, meetings, etc., seems very good for. However, I am with the other reviewers here who consider it amazing that Olympus does not have driver downloads on their web. I have the disk that comes with it, so I do not have the trouble that the other reviewer has in this way. But, here's the deal. I do a fair amount with audio. I already have Soundstage, Sonic Stage, LameFE, and Sony Digital Voice Editor. I won't want yet another audio handling program on my computer. I only want a driver that will allow this unit to be recognized so I can transfer over wave files to do further work on, when desired, with some of the above programs. Olympus seems archaic not to be posting the simple driver that allows this to be recognized. I don't want to put their software on my computer. So, call me stubborn. The unit otherwise does have nice controls and is easy to use. If only Olympus were more in this age for simply posting drivers on their webpage. . .