I purchased the Olympus DS-40 as an upgrade to my Olympus WS-320M.As mentioned by another reviewer, the DS-30/40 series improves upon the WS-300/310/320M series.I have owned a number of digital voice recorders from Voice-it to Sony and Olympus.
The DS-40 without its external microphone is about the same size as the WS-320M.It is slightly thicker and heavier.The exterior of the DS-40 is mostly metal.On the bottom, the battery door is plastic and hinged like the Olympus DS-4000.The mini-USB port is covered by a tethered plastic cover.On the lower right side,there is a power/hold slide switch.If you do not power the DS-40 off, it will enter a power save mode and the display will blank.Pressing a key brings it out of power save mode.The power save mode time is user adjustable.The control buttons are well spaced and shaped to make the DS-40 an acceptable dictation recorder unlike the WS-320M.The WS-320M has small flat closely spaced keys.The LCD screen is backlit in white and is very legible.The speaker is located in the back and produces enough volume to be heard in a moving car.On the top of the DS-40 is a stereo microphone jack which supports an optional remote control / microphone jack and is where the external stereo microphone is plugged in.Curiously, Nuance in their Dragon testing of the DS-30/40/50 writes that this recorder does not accept an external microphone.
The DS-40 is setup as a standard plug and play external USB drive. So you can transfer audio by using the supplied DSS Player software,Windows Explorer, or Windows Media Player.The USB audio transfer speed is about 140mb per minute.That is about five times faster than the WS-320M.
The DS-40 can be used as a digital voice recorder, a music player, an audiobook player, and a podcast player.
As a voice recorder, the DS-40 offers a lot of flexibility.With the three microphone sensitivies (dictation, conference, lecture), the DS-40 is suitable for handheld dictation (works best with the optional remote control), for meetings, for classroom / lecture hall use.I found the conference sensitivity adequate for a small to midsize classroom.As an aid for dictation, there is a voice activation option with 16 levels of sensitivity.You can adjust the activation level while recording from a barely audible whisper to a very loud trigger level. The voice activation feature along with the disable signal LED option are useful for surreptitious recording (check your local laws).
With the different recording quality modes, you can increase your recording time capacity by lowering the recording quality.I found the HQ mode (over 34 hours of record time) is quite sufficient for normal speech recording.The HQ frequency range is from 50 to 13000 Hz.The ST XQ mode produces very high quality recordings.Using an Olympus attenuator cable, I dubbed a recording from my IHP-120 music player to the DS-40 using line-out to dictation level.The sound quality of that dub was very satisfactory.There was a barely audible amount of added background noise in the recording.I think this is an excellent recorder for rehearsals, jam sessions, and practice.During my recording of a loud music presentation using the conference sensitivity, I noted that the recording levels went full bar and there was some slight distortion when the sound level was loudest.
As a music player, the DS-40 is just adequate.It plays music with a sound quality that is noise-free, warm, and full.Music navigation is by folder.There is no shuffle mode and no equalizer.The play mode allows single, folder, all, and repeat modes.However, the play mode applies equally to music, podcasts, and dictation.The WS-320M is a better music player.The DS-40 will play 320Kbps mp3s.The WS-320M will not.
As an audiobook player, the DS-40 will play audiobook content (after activation) from Audible.com in formats 2, 3, and 4.It supports Audible.com features such as bookmarking, fast and slow play, and book sections.It will also handle mp3, wma, and Netlibrary audiobookswith the useful features of resume position on a power cycle, fast/slow play speed (digitally corrected - no chipmunk voices), fast forward / rewind over track gaps, and audible cue / review.The rewind over a track gap feature is important when a book is split over multiple tracks and you need to review a section you just listened to.If that section is near the end of the previous track, you would have a problem with Ipods and Zens.They both stop rewinding at the beginning of a track.There is no bookmarking with mp3 and wma tracks.You can set a temporary index mark with an mp3 or wma track.The mark goes away when you move to another track.
As a podcast player, the DS-40 will play podcasts loaded from the DSS Player software. You can add URLs to the player software to subscribe to podcasts.There are options to set the download interval, set delete options, and auto update the DS-40.As with audiobooks, you can use fast/slow play speeds and audible cue/review.There is no bookmarking feature.There is a temporary index mark feature.
In summary, this dictation voice recorder is excellent.It is well built, easy to use, and records very well.
Pros:
Small size, good price benefit ratio, long battery life, solid metal construction, standard mini-USB connector, large informative display, excellent quality voice recordings, voice activated recording with sixteen sensitivity levels, WMA codec, dictation capabilities, included external stereo microphone and input, date-time stamped recordings, plug and play for file/music transfers, and music/podcast player.Cons:
No supplied carry case.Back placement of the speaker.No on-device editing capability except for delete and move.FYI, there is a new series of Sony dictation recorders coming this year including the ICD-SX57.The SX57 is an upgrade over the SX46 with 256mb of memory, a backlit display, automatic record level and manual record level, three built-in microphones, an extra high quality stereo recording format, and record level display.A newer version of the Voice Editor software which converts to WAV and MP3 format is included to support podcasting.
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Olympus DS-40 Digital Voice RecorderProduct Description: In addition to capturing stereo sound from meetings, interviews, and important lectures, the Olympus DS-40 allows you to download and create Podcasts for later listening. The DS-40 offers users up to 136 hours of recording time with its 512 MB worth of internal flash memory. For easy organization and storing of files, the player allows users to set up five voice folders, and each folder can save up to 200 messages. Internal files can be easily navigated on the player's high-contrast backlit monochrome LCD panel. Other great features include a built-in variable control voice actuator (VCVA) function, and a timed recording and alarm feature so you can set up automatic recording and playing. Running on two AAA batteries, the player offers up to 30 hours of continuous playback in the following modes: ST XQ mode (8 hour 40 minute capture time), ST HQ mode (17 hour 20 minute capture time), HQ mode (34 hour 45 minute capture time), SP mode (68 hour 30 minute capture time), and LP mode (136 hour 15 minute capture time). For added user convenience, an optional AC adapter can be used with the recorder. Compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional operating systems and later, the player measures a pocket-friendly 4.37 x 1.48 x 0.63 inches and weighs in at a scant 2.80 ounces.
What's in the Box DS-40 digital voice recorder, stereo microphone, USB cables, stereo earphones, DSS Player v.7 software, instruction manual, strap, and two AAA batteries.
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This recorder has a lot great features. However, it lacks any kind of edit functions, such as erase, overwrite, insert and append. These are essential for a recorder at this price point.
