 My new, useful toy |
| Review Date: August 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: David J. Morrison, Philadelphia, PA |
As a musician, singer/songwriter, I started to find a need to record my music ideas. My phone has of late been recording a lot of small samples, but I wanted something with better quality. After asking around, Olympus seemed to be the best option. I first came to Amazon and felt confused by the different options. When I went to Olympus's website regarding their Digital recorders, it was a big help. They have charts which compare their models and it was easy to discern what models contained what features. I wanted a model that could plug into the computer and had two mics for a speaker effect and that's what I got for a good price.
So regarding the actual recorder, like I said the 2 mics are nice for recording guitar, voice, piano... etc. Not the best for drums, but you could have figured that out. It's not flimsy, it fits into my pocket and it takes 1 AAA battery that can recharge (provided). It's a pretty straight forward piece of hardware and the only thing I ever needed to use the directions for was how to charge it (hold the stop button as you plug it into the computer, otherwise it just opens files and doesn't charge). I like that it can just plug into the computer with the switch on the side but they also give you a cable incase you're using a desktop (sometimes USB's aren't in the best places).
Anyway, the only thing I would mention to someone buying this is that the speaker doesn't represent the quality of the recording. I mean look at it. It's about 1.5 inches in diameter... if even. Plug it into your computer/headphones/or speakers and you can tell the difference immediately. I like that I could rename files on my computer and then it stayed like that on the device because it records things as numbers with dates and times. Oh, and I really haven't used it for this, but there is a way to use the device for playing MP3's which is pretty nifty. Not really necessary if you have an iPod and it isn't going to replace your iPod anytime soon, but cool nonetheless.
Hope that helps! |
Good for musicians
|
| Review Date: December 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Shane Scollins, Ithaca, NY |
I bought this recorder basically on the back of the other reviews here. Up to this point I would just use my laptop and a mic, and record into my Cakewalk program. But I wanted something more mobile for when I was driving or not near my music room to get ideas down. After talking to a few people the name Olympus was the one that came up often so after weighing all the options the WS-500M was the one I wanted. I loved the idea of the internally stored USB because I hate cables that I have to worry about not losing. And I wanted something simple, and it had to have stereo mics.
On to the actual review of the product now. After realizing the rechargeable battery was DOA, I didn't feel like waiting for it to charge so I tossed in a good old reliable AAA alkaline battery that I had in the drawer. The device sprang to life quickly, I hit record and said "testing 1-2-3" hit playback and sure enough it was working that fast. I didn't even need to read any instructions at all, it was pretty much that simple. I played around with the settings and creating index marks and various other things. Operation is very much intuitive if you've ever worked with any old fashioned tape recorder.
The interface between the WS-500M and my Windows XP/SP3 laptop was flawless. It was totally plug&play, no software required. I could drag&drop any files back and forth. You can even rename a file and the name changes right on the device too. So you can do away with the random file names the device creates.
Recording quality is very good. On the highest quality setting, with the mic set to high sensitivity this little device picks up every sound in stereo that your guitar or voice is making from pretty far away. You can adjust them down and get different acoustics in the recordings giving you some flexibility. For the money this device records very high quality. Even by today's digital music standards. The bad thing is that it won't hide your mistakes and pick scrapes like analog recordings will.
2GB of storage is more than enough for me. I will never fill that up before I get to my laptop to off-load anyway. The MP3 player is a nice little feature, although I won't use it much as a true MP3 player, I have a Sansa for that. It will be nice to have the ability to upload my own songs as MP3 though so people can have a listen. The playback quality of the WS-500 is very good. MP3s and WMA both sound very clear.
I probably won't use the recharge feature much either, it tends to take so long to charge anything through a USB port to being with. I will either just keep using alkaline, or buy a lithium AAA for now until I can get a AAA recharge station. If you do use a non-rechargeable battery make sure you don't use the charge feature when you plug it into your USB. That would be bad.
The physical interface is good. The device is small, so too are the buttons. But the main buttons are big enough to find by feel. REC and STOP are both sized well enough. The screen is not huge, but you can read everything easy. Some people might like a more fancy screen with colors and pictures...well you won't get that here. Its old school black-on-gray "Etch-a-sketch" all the way. But that is fine by me. I didn't buy it for a pretty interface.
All in all, if you are looking for a high quality device at a fair price to record music this one is a great option. The WS-500M is small, portable, and easy to use. |
great little recorder.
|
| Review Date: September 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: G. Brach, |
| This recorder is one of the better ones out there. The sound clarity when recording is better than the rest. It was simple to transfer files to my computer. All in all a great little gadget. Just purchased another one as a gift. |
Overall decent except for the documentation and charging method
|
| Review Date: January 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Matthew M. Moog, Milwaukee, WI USA |
I purchased this DVR for a number of purposes which include both work and personal use. I'll keep this short for those looking for quick information:
Pros:
It works as advertised.
Easy to operate (I'm technical by trade)
Easy to get data on and off the device
Cons:
The charging method. A number of other people commented on the battery not charging however I have discovered why. When you plug the device into a computer you MUST hold down the "STOP" button while plugging it in. The display will then say that it is charging. This makes sense to a point. If you have a standard AAA battery in the unit, it won't attempt to charge unless you follow the charging procedure. Is this a con? I don't know. It would have been nicer in my opinion had they brought up a dialog on the screen indicating "data link only - charge?" and then you confirm yes or no. It's a cludgy way to do things but I guess that's OK.
The other problem (although I didn't really need it) is the manual. Seriously? Isn't Olympus a multi-national company with offices throughout the world? You think they could get someone who speaks english to proof readh this thing? It's horrible.
Outside of that the unit is solid and does what I need.
|
Olympus WS-500M
|
| Review Date: December 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mike Heckman, Johnstown, PA |
| I bought this little device to record the sermons at my church, and what a gem it is. The unit doesn't come with any instructions for use, but it only took me 10 to 15 minutes to figure everything out - it's super simple! For all that I use it for, the battery only needs charged once every 5 or 6 weeks - just hold down the "stop" button for a few seconds while plugging it into the computer's USB port. The folders can't be renamed, but each file that you add can be by using your computer's keyboard while the unit's plugged into the USB port. The sound quality is only as good as the sound system being used. The unit's two little speakers do o.k. for what they are, and the earphones that come with it do a great job for sound quality - I burn everything to a disc or copy to a flash drive so the speakers aren't a big concern for me. This unit has only one drawback that I can think of. As opposed to the old analog mini-cassette recorders, with this unit (as far as I can tell) you are unable to add to an existing recording without beginning a new track with a separate title. You can pause the recording and continue on without a problem, but if you stop the recording, then you cannot add to it. Typically that's not a big deal unless you are dictating and get interrupted and need to rewind to re-gather your thoughts. Over all, this is a great little tool that is well built and very much worth the price. |
Best buy for " Olympus WS-500 Digital Voice Recorder (Silver) ", Lowest Price Olympus WS-500 Digital Voice Recorder (Silver) + Free shipping. Get Olympus WS-500 Digital Voice Recorder (Silver) Now! |
No video reviews found for this product.
0 Comments on “Olympus WS-500 Digital Voice Recorder (Silver)”
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.