Olympus WS-400S (1024 MB, 272 Hours) Handheld Digital Voice Recorder

I attend several lengthy meetings and it is necessary to record what was said and what was not said. The Olympus WS-400S fits the bill.

With about a 12 hour capacity, I don't have to fumble every 30 minutes switching micro casette tapes.

It is compact and requires very little to set it up (you have to push two or three buttons). Plus there is an externtal audio input if you want to plug a microphone into it (I do).

The range is pretty good - it can pick up everyone seated at a 15-seat boardroom table.

The battery life is good. One AAA battery lasts about 12 hours of recording.

The audio quality is mediocre - but then I not recording a concert.

The feature that sold me is I can simply take the unit, plug it directly into my computer (no wires) where there is a retractable USB plug that I can directly download what I just recorded to my computer.

Excellent, just what I was looking for. I am overall a fan of the Olympus WS series (I had the WS-100, 300 and now this one). I did have trouble with my FIRST one, purchased new with extended warranty, and VERY dissatisfied with the warranty company, but as for the product itself, its just what I need for listening to tx sessions, recording music, notes, etc. I train doctoral students in psychotherapy and recommend this for them to use for their mandatory recordings. I am very familiar w/the VN series and they record fine, but they are no where near as convenient for transporting data as the WS series.
JCG

This is the second recorder I buy and I use it almost all day long. It uses one AAA battery and it lasts a long time. I study voice and use it for my voice lessons and rehearsals. It's easy to carry, easy to use and the digital sound is excellent. It has a USB connection so I plug it in the computer (Apple) when I want to back up all my recordings onto a cd and erase the info to start clean again. I open the files in my computer using Quicktime and export as Aiff, then I can drag this files to Itunes to load my lessons to my Ipod. I absolutely love this recorder.

I bought Olympus WS-400S initially for recording lectures as well as meetings and I found it perfectly useful for me. I love it: As far as the quality of the sound, I could not complain. I have just tried to use it to record our trio in the church and I was surprised that it sounds terrific. It actually exceeds my expectations about it. The bass sounds great.... Also, one of the good thing about it is that I was able to save and transfer all of my recordings to my hard drive, So far, I think I have made the right choice of buying it. And it is definitely recommendable to anyone....

Very good sound quality in an extremely small package. The microphones are very sensitive, but do not translate handling noise nearly as much as some higher priced digital recorders that have used. The WS-400S appears to be a decent comprimise between small, poor sounding digital recorders and high end (and priced) recorders.