Technology is so cruel. I imagined the gadget I wanted, reviewed one that seemed close, bought an almost-there model that came out just after the review . . . and now the company releases EXACTLY what I wanted.
Fortunately, there’s an upside.
The Quest
Earlier this year, I was looking to replace my shattered pocket voice recorder, and laid down these criteria:
- USB 2.0 interface for fast data transfer
- Built-in USB plug for convenience
- Driverless USB communication with Windows XP and Mac
- Removable, standard battery (e.g., AA or AAA)
- Reasonable audio quality
I was also hoping the gadget could double as an MP3 player. Then Olympus announced the DS-2, which met or exceeded all of the items on my list except for the integrated plug and MP3 playback. What was exciting, though, was that it offered built-in stereo mics, which I thought would make it idea for recording sound effects on the go.
The Test
I requested a review model from Olympus, waited for many weeks for it to arrive, and then tested the heck out of it. I was right: It was great for capturing those cool sounds that only seem to pop up when you aren’t carrying a recorder. The only thing I didn’t like was the recorder’s size; it was a tad too big to disappear in my pocket.
As the review wound up, however, I learned of an upcoming model, the WS-200S, that was significantly smaller, packed twice the memory (128MB), and somehow came with an integrated USB plug as well. So, returning the DS-2, I bought a WS-200S instead. (You can read my side-by-side comparison here.)
Olympus WS-200S, DS-2, and the broken V-90 duke it out.
Life was good. Although the WS-200S seemed to have more handling noise, it was the perfect size, so I snagged a bunch of juicy sounds. Its ability to double as a USB flash drive saved the day a few times when I had to transfer files. And I discovered it could also work as a WMA music player, though not an MP3 player.
Depressed
Then, a few days ago, Olympus announced a new batch of voice recorders, the WS-300M, 310M, and 320M, which add up to 1GB of memory, a backlight, and MP3 playback to the WS party. Doh!
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| WS-320 (1GB) | WS-310 (512MB) |
I was somewhat heartened to notice that the new models haven’t completely eclipsed the DS-2; they lack its alarm clock and a few other features. And as a reader pointed out, the WS series compresses recordings twice as hard, saving them at 64kbps instead of 128kpbs. (That fact is listed on Olympus’s European site, but not its American one.)
I decided the best way to cure my early adopter’s remorse was to think about all the fun recordings I’d made in the time I’ve had the older WS. Several of those were one-of-a-kind events. But . . . dang. Technology is so cruel.
What do you wish you’d bought?
Categories
Audio
Comments (13)
Read More Entries by David Battino.
@Kim:
I can imagine the perfect device — dictate a change order, list, or notes and be able to immediately print these from the device
That’s pretty sci-fi! I imagine the shopping-list devices work because they restrict input to a tiny list of words.
I’m not aware of any general-purpose pocket recorder/printers, but perhaps your husband could phone his orders in to a transcription service. My quick Google search turned up iDictate: You call their number, dictate your message, and they supposedly send you a written transcript by e-mail within as little as two hours.
My husband builds homes for a living and often skips doing change orders because these slow the building process down (and time is something he doesn't have). He's not the type to sit and write anything! I can imagine the perfect device for him- dictate a change order, list, or notes and be able to immediately print these from the device - no need to hook up to a computer. I've seen this for simple shopping lists. Is there a more advanced version available?
Contractor's wife.
I have an Olympus VN240PC that worked pefectly fine on my Pentium 3 but will not work on my 64 bit P4. The digital wave player software works reasonably well with the Vista upgrade from the Olympus website but when I connect the USB cable, the computer cannot find a driver. I checked Olympus, Sony and Panasonic's websites and it doesn't appear that any of their current (or past) models them will work with a 64 bit system. Have you run across this problem an if so is there a solution.
@Austin: I visited the VN-4100PC's support page, but the manual was not yet available for download.
For transferring files, I assume you can simply drag ’em over USB, as on other Olympus recorders, but you may want to buy the recorder at a place that will let you return it if it doesn’t work with your Mac.
I did notice that the recorder uses DSS and CELP audio formats. Olympus’s free DSS Player will handle the former. You may be able to play the latter in QuickTime Player because it appears to be a variant of MPEG-4.
Will the Vn-4100PC work with a mac?
Luke: I haven't tried the 4100PC, but I notice from the specs that its frequency response is a tinny 300Hz-7.2kHz, whereas the WS-300 specs 100Hz-15kHz. The new WS-331M extends that to 50Hz-19kHz and doubles the compression bit rate, which should provide the best sound of all.
@Sean: my Windows XP won't intall the bundled driver software.. something about it not having a "digital signature" endorsement from microsoft
It costs money and time to get Microsoft's endorsement, so many companies skip that step. Windows then generates the scary warning, but I (and all software manuals I've read) recommend just ignoring it, especially for a commercial program.
You may not need to install a driver for some Olympus recorders, because they appear to the PC as external flash drives.
Driver question:
I just got a 4100pc and my Windows XP won't intall the bundled driver software.. something about it not having a "digital signature" endorsement from microsoft
Any ideas on where I can get an XP compatible driver?
I'm a songwriter looking for a digital recorder to capture ideas. I tried a friends Olympus VN-4100PC and the sound quality was too low quality for my needs. The WS-300M is the one I am looking at. Will the sound quality be significantly better?
Thanks.
Scott: Please see my response to Nile below; the new WS-331 appears to use the same data-compression level as the DS-2 (producing better sound quality than the older WSes). I'll try to get a review model. I've also found that external mics make a big difference with my WS-200S.
Our article on noise reduction has some pointers to hiss-removal software: http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/06/22/noise.html
I recently purchased the WS 300M, based on what few reviews I could find on the web. I can't believe that Olympus has so many different voice recorders! Couldn't they trim it down to a few models! I have to say your site always comes up when I'm looking for reviews - keep up the good work.
The WS 300M works for me because it's light, it has USB built in, it's stereo, and it's not too menu burdened as some devices are. What I wonder about is the sound quality. Obviously it's better than a micro cassette, but it does have a digital aliasing sound, and I wish the mic had a more sensitive setting. I can live with it, but I wonder where it ranks.
Some people say the sound quality of the DS2 is noticably better.
I would pay more for a better model if it had noticably better sound quality and a more sensitive mic - but I'm assuming that any differences in this price range are negligable.
Have you used any models that you think stood out as being much better quality than the WS 300M?
I might look into software to remove hiss from the files, and see where that gets me.
Nile: Thanks for the compliment! The WS-331 sure looks like the model to beat today. I couldn’t find the manual online, but I did leaf through the 320 manual and I’m confident the 331 will work on the Mac, just as all the other Olympus USB recorders I’ve tried do. They’re essentially flash drives, so a few seconds after you plug them in to a USB jack, they pop up on your desktop as an external drive. At that point, you can simply drag files back and forth.
Some models come with Olympus’s DSS Player software, which lets you download everything at once. (I think the free version, DSS Player Lite, supports file transfer as well.)
Before buying external mics, see if the internal ones work for you. The closer you can get to the source, the better. I’ve had good results (with a speaker who didn’t move around too much) simply by placing my WS-200S on the table in front of the speaker.
For interviews, you might try the hat mic trick. In addition to the Giant Squid mics mentioned in that blog, you might look at Sound Professionals’ lineup. By then, though, you could almost have paid for one of the higher-quality recorders we’ve reviewed, like the Zoom H4.
David
Could you enlighten me as to whether the WS 331m will be compatible with my Mac osx 10.3.9 ? If so, are there , as a novice computer user, any technical issues you could advise me on regarding thisproduct.
thanks in advance and also for the great reviews that started with me looking for a mac-compatible recorder and have been able to trawl through your experience online to get a comprehensive answer
thanks again
nile
ps could you recommend an external mic for
1. recording lectures
2 recording face to face conversations but with the mic secured-
getnile@hotmail.com