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Olympus WS-400 S Digital Recorder (White)
 
Manufacturer: Olympus
Customer Rating:
 
List Price: $79.99
Sale Price: $63.99
Availibility: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Capture over 272 hours of audio in high-quality stereo sound with the compact, stylish WS-400S. Easily store and organize your files and transfer them to your PC with the easy-to-use "USB Direct" design. Simply plug the recorder into a computer, with no USB cable necessary, for easy downloading of audio files, documents, image files and more.

Product Details
  • 272 Hrs. of Recording
  • USB Direct link to PC
  • 21 hrs battery Life on 1 AAA
  • Voice activation
  • Built in Stereo Mic

Video Reviews
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Customer Reviews
comparing Olympus to Sony
 
Review Date: October 19, 2009
Reviewer: J. Dougherty, Hartford, CT USA
My colleague and I compared notes on the Olympus WS-400 versus the Sony ICD-UX71 digital voice recorders for use by our undergraduate social science students, and here's a copy of what we agreed on:

Both the Sony and the Olympus have nearly identical features:
- 1GB storage
- stereo microphones
- USB direct connect
- 1 AAA battery
- about 2 seconds to start up

The Sony creates MP3 files, and the Olympus creates WMA files, but this is not a big problem for Mac users, since many of us have the free Flip4Mac download that automatically converts WMA files for Apple Quicktime player.

I think that the Olympus WS-400 is a better product for student interviewing, for the following reasons:

1) the Olympus has fewer buttons, and better placement of them

2) when you record on the Olympus, you can see the input sound levels on little bar charts, which confirms it's actually working

3) the Sony has a plastic cap that covers up the USB direct connect, which comes off and can easily be misplaced. But the Olympus uses a simple slider button to move the USB connector outside of the case, where you can use it. No parts to lose!

4) when I connected both units to PC and Mac computers, both units appeared on the screen within seconds, but the Olympus had a simpler file structure (only one level) to locate the recorded files.

5) Based on my simultaneous recording test, the sound quality was very similar on the PC, but better for the Olympus on the Mac (not sure why). For file size, the Olympus is about 2/3 the size of the Sony files (I think, because the default sound quality level on Sony is 192k, while the Olympus is 128k)

6) The Olympus is a better price.

If you buy the Olympus, one very simple but important setup instruction: the AAA battery has a thin transparent plastic covering that must be removed before inserting it into the unit
Great recorder, far superior to comparable Sony
 
Review Date: December 18, 2009
Reviewer: Wesley Everett, Bellingham, WA
I've owned this recorder for about four months, using it mostly for interviews (I'm a journalist). It's far and away the best DVR I've ever owned. Very simple to use, decent battery life (love that it can recharge through USB port while plugged in), good mic pickup, super-easy file transfer with built-in USB dongle. It's even better when used with the small Olympus noise-cancelling mic.

As previous reviewers have noted, this recorder has some clear advantages over the Sony UX71. It's much more intuitive to operate, and better built. But the main advantage is battery life: The UX71, which I unfortunately bought, routinely kills a battery in one day, even when set to "hold." It's worthless, and Sony hasn't been too anxious to do a thing about it, beyond offering exchange for a refurb (I suspect its endemic with the model, and haven't bothered.) I was a Sony user for a long time, but no more.

The sole advantage to the Sony, in my mind, was the fact that it records in MP3 format, which is handy for web posting, etc. But that's not an advantage anymore. Olympus has posted a firmware update for this recorder on its web site that gives you the option of recording in .wma or mp3. So there you go. A much-appreciated update. Download it.

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