Recommended digital voice recorders?

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Hi! I haven't posted in what seems like forever. Given things happening with my son, I've been moving more slowly through my prerequisites than I had hoped. I'm getting closer though - I'm applying for Winter 2008 start which is not that far away! :) I'm excited!

Anyway, I will have a fairly heavy load this fall because I still need to take micro, but also am taking another biochem class, patho, and a nursing elective. I know it won't be easy, but I'm trying to take all the classes early that I can. That way I can focus on clinicals. I want to buy a digital voice recorder to record lectures so I can listen to them again while I drive or am studying. I bought one 2 years ago for A&P but the background noise was horrible and I couldn't download anything to the computer either. I want the playback to sound good, to be able to download it to the computer, and it would be nice to be able to put it into MP3 format because then I can plug it into my car's stereo and listen on my hour long drive to and from class.

Any suggestions? Any you would recommend staying away from?

Thank you! :thankya:

Tiffany

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Specializes in ER/Ortho.

I bought an Olympus WS-100 from frys about 2 years ago, and love it. Its small enough to go everywhere, and runs on 1 triple A battery that seems to last forever. It records crystal clear with no background noise. I was putting it on the teachers desk, but found it was just as clear if I kept it on my desk. It pulls apart, and the usb hub is built right into it so you can hook it right up to your computer, and download the lectures to save without needing or keeping up with any cords. In addition it doubles as a memory card you can download things from your computer on, and carry with you, or transfer to another computer. It have recorded 4 hours of lecture/lab on the best recording mode, but I think if you want to record up to 8 hours you can on a lesser mode. I paid around $80 for it a couple of years ago when it was new, but I bet you could pick it up a lot cheaper now. Good luck.

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I'm shopping for one right now as well. It seems that Olympus has a good selection of products, I found one at thier website for around $60 that had all the basic features + usb. I'm also planning on using it to make audio flash cards to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome with all the flash cards I've been hand writing!

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Thank you! It seems Olympus is widely recommended. I'm going to buy one soon so I'll let you know how well it works. :)

Tiffany

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Thank you! It seems Olympus is widely recommended. I'm going to buy one soon so I'll let you know how well it works. :)

Tiffany

I have an Olympus VN-3100PC. The one thing you need to know is that while this model does export recordings in .wav format, they are compressed and can't be converted into either .mp3 format or burned to a CD that will play in an audio CD player. (I don't know if this is true of all Olympus models) When I bought it I assumed that I'd be able to do this, but I can't. However, I'm very happy with the sound quality both from the device and my PC. Even when recorded from the quality level one down from best (10.5 hours of recording time) it's great. BUT, I can't convert it and put it on my ipod to listen to when I'm grocery shopping (I have to leave the lectures on the recorder to do this, and you can't transfer from your PC back to the recorder, so I can only listen to my last 10.5 hours from the recorder.) Just something to research and think about if you really want to have ALL your lectures available to listen to in any format anywhere.

M

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I bought an Sony digital voice recorder and love it! You miss so much valuable information while you are taking notes. Sometimes the notes you took are wrong because you are trying to listen, take notes, and absorb all of it! I always go back to listen to the lectures while I walk or run. I highly recommend it!

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I bought an Olympus WS-100 from frys about 2 years ago, and love it. Its small enough to go everywhere, and runs on 1 triple A battery that seems to last forever.

I bought the Olympus WS-300 and have since returned it. Yes it did record crystal clear but I was going through 1 AAA battery a day. I did like the features of being able to plug it straight into my PC via a USB port and yes it is light weight as most are now a days. I returned it though in favor of the Scandisk Sansa and am much happier with that. Sure the recording quality isn't as good but I sit fairly close and can hear it clearly on my PC at home. I don't think it would be good to put in a car though as it is not THAT loud (I have to turn up the volume to max on my pc).

However, it also serves as a MP3 player which I didn't have (and yes can listen to recordings) and it runs on a Litium battery which is rechargable - seems that most common DVRs run on AAA and for me I was going through 1 day. I never used it for anything else but recording and even then after a 3 hour class of recording it would flash "Low Battery".

That's just my two cents. I'd like to get a better one that has a mic atachment, either way a DVR is highly recommended while taking classes (I wish I had thought of that while in college!).

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