Olympus VN-480PC - Digital voice recorder - flash 64 MB

Though this recorders' buttons may get a little confusing, playing with it for a little while will get you used to it and soon you will be able to use it even when asleep! The best feature for this recorder is the fact that you can UPLOAD all your recorded voice data to your PC! The second best feature is the long recording time and you can choose the quality of the recording (The better the quality, the shorter the recording time and vice versa) -You can choose from three recording qualities. Headphones (which are surprisingly comfortable) and a lapel mic is also included. The recorder also includes an Index feature so you can keep all of your voice data organized. It has good sound quality and the batteries (2 AAA required) last for a very long time. The headphones really come in handy when you want to listen to your notes and it also has good speakers in case you want to share your recorded lecture to the whole class! The lapel mic helps you record without having to hold a recorder in front of you, so you have both your hands again! The small, sleek design fits perfectly into pockets and bags! All in all, this recorder is the best recorder in the market, and for the price, it is definitely a steal! A good investment!

This is a handy inexpensive basic little voice recorder. It has sturdy plastic construction, runs on easy to find AAA batteries (a big advantage in some situations), includes a USB port for upload to the computer, built in clock (for timestamping your recordings...a useful feature), it has a large, clear screen, features a built in speaker (which many units do not), has a full complement of buttons and even includes a jack for an external mic, and also for headphones. For an inexpensive price it's a pretty nice basic unit. It has always worked fine for me and has never glitched. Sound quality is fine and the included software works fine for uploading to the computer. Your tracks are recorded on the computer in WAV format so there is no problem transferring the tracks anywhere you want. The unit retains its memory for a short time while you change batteries. I don't know how long it can do that but I've never lost any data while changing batteries.

However, as you might expect from a basic unit, it has some limitations. It does not accept a memory card, so you'll need to upload to the computer when its memory is full. Upload time seems extremely slow (but faster than real time, of course). The unit does not included any editing functions other than "erase." Even the included computer software does not included any editing functions. For me that's really annoying and reduces the usefulness of the unit. This unit, like other Olympus recorders, partially compensates for its lack of editing functions by providing an "index" feature. That allows you to set pointers at various points in a recorded track, and then later you can skip forward or back among those index points. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. On any recording you do, like 100%, there's going to be garbage at the start of the track and garbage at the end, and very likely garbage in the middle. It's common to make a long recording, of your child say, just to get a few seconds of what you want. Any decent audio recorder needs to provide a "divide track" editing function to handle that garbage. You cut the garbage at the front and end of your tracks. Having the editing functions onboard the unit makes for handy editing on the go or in the checkout line of the supermarket, making for a useful unit. Divide and delete also allows you to squeeze more mileage out of the limited memory during long recording sessions where you might not be able to get to the computer. Instead, the lack of this essential feature forces you to #1: do the editing chained to your computer, and #2: find/buy/download/install/maintain/learn complicated computer audio editing software. At least Olympus needs to provide a "divide track" function with all of their voice recorders, that just doesn't seem so hard.

This unit served me faithfully for many years, but just now the speaker has blown out on it and it will play only at a faint volume and I'll need to buy a new unit.

Just in case you are interested, a voice recorder could include the following editing functions:

Track Erase

Track divide

Track join

Track duplicate (this is useful so that you can make a backup copy of an important track before editing it. If you make a mistake, you still have the undamaged duplicate track. It's also good for doing remixes, like repeating the chorous of a song or making your child say something cute several times).

Track move (change the order of tracks).

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The product that came was quite used and a little battered here and there but overall, it works pretty fine. It's great for its price but it could be less, for the quality. But hey, it came with batteries. Thats it. Just the unit itself and the batteries. Everything else you would have to get online or buy it. :C.

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Too bad they don't make this any more. In particular, the new ones don't have the pocket clip, which keeps it from falling out of your pocket. In general, it works just as the manufacturer describes it. The only fault is that the cover for the PC connector is a little flimsy; I worry it will break one day.

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Very good digital voice recorder and easy to use. You get the hang of it quickly. I bought it like a year or so. Haven't had to use it lately, still in perfert condition. Great buy.