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Olympus WS-510M 4GB Digital Voice Recorder and WMA/MP3 Music Player |  | Brand: Olympus
Category: CE
List Price: $149.99
Buy New: $85.00 (On sale from $99.00)
as of 9/6/2010 06:16 GMT-5 details
You Save: $14.00 (14%)
New (31) Used (2) Refurbished (4) from $49.99
Seller: 17th Street Photo
Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 981
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Battery: 1 NiMH Rechargeable
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 1.5 x 0.4 x 3.7
MPN: WS-510M
Model: WS-510M
UPC: 050332169081
EAN: 0050332169081
ASIN: B002650XNQ
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | With 4GB of internal memory and 1,088 hours of recording time, youll be able to capture notes, lectures, and more and still have room to store documents. | | • | With the "USB Direct" design, it is easy to transfer your files to your PC. Just plug the recorder right into your computer for fast file transfer no cables needed. | | • | Store and listen to up to 1,000 songs on the go. Have your music readily available wherever and whenever you are. | | • | Extend recording time and save memory by setting the device to only record when the microphones sense sound. | | • | Experience long battery life with the included rechargeable battery. When the recorder is plugged into the computer, it will recharge your battery. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Olympus Digital Recorder
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
 I LOVE MINE September 17, 2009
R.A. (Destin, FL United States)
48 out of 48 found this review helpful
I own another Olympus recorder which I bought years ago and I paid a ton of money for it. It was money well spent. I was intimidated by the "digital" part of it for a long, long time, but once you get the hang of it, these are so fabulous.
There's a button on the front that lets you move between folders A-E. That letter will appear on the screen and you can work on 5 different projects easily---just press the little button and it will take you to the folder you want where you can store all your notes for that project.
Within each folder are 199 files---I know this sounds confusing if you are new to the digital world, but the recorder does it all for you. You just go to the folder (tap the far right top button several times and it will go from A to E on the screen. You stop at the letter you want). Then press record and Talk! Easy!
When you are done, you'll see on the screeen 1/1---which means two things: you have just created a file and there are a total of 1 files in your folder, 1/1. The next time you record, it will say 2/2---which means you are in the second file and there are 2 files in your folder and on and on it goes until you get 199 files.
Now let's say you want to go back and listen to file 1 of your 199 files. You click back through them manually with the (<---) arrow which is on the front wheel until you get to it. The screen will say 1/199 and you will be at the first file and know you have 199 files total. I think that is just so easy and so cool!
To record, you press the top button in the middle which you can see in the picture (it's just below the screen) and talk---that's it. You don't press two buttons at the same time like in the olden days.
If you want to pause, click it again. If you want to stop recording, the top button on the left is stop and you click it. NOTHING could be easier.
At first, I was afraid to buy a recorder with the buttons on the front because my old one had them on the side, so I went to a store and looked at the product. THE FRONT IS BETTER. You have to remember that this little guy is the size of a heath bar. It's small! And holding it in your hand makes it super easy to click all the buttons with your thumb. Another reviewer said they were too small---I think they are PERFECT...go and look at Office Depot and you'll see the size. If you can't read them, the red one is record and the black one is stop. I can see them just fine, and if you can't remember this few buttons, then you probably are not reading this review.
Now, this gadget has all sorts of hidden menus to do all sorts of detailed things---I flip through the menus now and then and check them out, but basically, I just want to record and download.
It comes with a foam pouch which is really nice. My old one didn't have that.
It comes with a rechargeable battery and it's supposed to recharge anytime you have it hooked up to your computer. I haven't taken the time to charge it.
The second reason I bought another olympus is because my first one had 1/4 of a gig and this one has 4 Gigs! I filled the old one up in a week, so I'm thinking this one should last two months!!! Unbelievable for the price I paid which was $109---my old one cost over $300, I think.
Olympus makes a ton of these little recorders and I went to their website to try to figure out what was what. They could do a lot better job of telling you.
I narrowed the choices by the USB port. The old one I have snaps apart (too cool) and one side is a usb insert (like a flash drive). This one has a little USB thing that slides out of the bottom and then retracts. This was a deal breaker for me with the other models---I will lose a cord and I wanted the USB thing to be built in. The whole point of having a digital recorder is to hook it to your computer.
I like the voice activated feature(unlike another reviewer).
The other reviewer is right that you do have to go through several buttons to erase, but if you think about it, better to be asked to confirm, then to erase by mistake. I *think* (but I'm not sure if I remember this correctly) there might be an erase for the whole folder on one of the menus.
At this price and this size, there's no reason not to have one with you all the time. It will work with Dragon and actually type up your files, but I am here to tell you that the Dragon people are as unfriendly as they come. After I spent DAYS trying to figure out why my Dragon software would not work when I was trying to train Dragon with their mic, I paid the $20 to talk to someone who
He/she finally said it was an issue they knew about and that I could not use their headphone/mic that came with the software. They refunded my $20 and I bought a new mic---but what about all MY TIME!? The DAYS I lost!?
I think they owe me for that. And Dragon ruined one of my audio drivers on my computer causing it to crash over and over---GRRR and I had to pay to get that fixed by the Geeks, like I will ever see that money back from Dragon.
If anyone knows of any voice recognition software that actually works and is made by a company that's nice, responsible, and friendly, please comment to this post. I paid Dragon to figure out how to convert the wma files this recorder produces to wav files (I know it can be done because I've done it), but he said it couldn't AND took my money. Yes, I love them. If anyone knows how to do it, please also comment. Using voice recognition with this recorder is a very important reason for getting it.
UPDATE: If Olympus reads these (and they should)---could you please make one with more files---5 is not enough. I work on a lot of projects at once. Give me 10! And could someone please explain what the index thing does?
ANOTHER UPDATE--May 22, 2010: Amazon just sent me a product update on Dragon, since they now make software that converts WMA files to print. In other words, I won't have to convert the voice files I make on this recorder to WAV files before they will print---at least that's what the box says. We'll see. I'll be back with an update after I use it.
you may need to format September 23, 2009
doubleganger
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
I love everything about this recorder except that it created corrupt wma files. By corrupt I mean that after I downloaded the file to my pc, when I listened to the file it played fine for a while then the playback would hang in the middle of the recording. I figured out, and a few hours later was instructed by Olympus support, to format the recorder. So far that's fixed the problem. Also, it's in the manual but be sure you realize that if the battery runs out during a recording the file doesn't get closed and you lose that recording. So don't forget to press stop when you're finished recording. One nice surprise is that the battery supplied is a 900mah NIMH AAA which is as far as I know is currently about the highest capacity AAA nimh available.
edit: There is an file copy of the user manual in the recorder's memory that's accessible when it's connected to a pc and is considerably easier to read than the paper copy. If you care anything about it copy it to another location since if you format the recorder the file goes bye bye. It's available on the olympus web site though.
edit: there is now a firmware upgrade that allows mp3 recording
question: I finally got around to using the mp3 music player function. Rewind works but I simply cannot get it to fast-forward. If anyone knows the secret I'd appreciate a comment. thanks
Another great evolution January 14, 2010
Ken Randall (North Carolina, USA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
You can read my previous posts on this product line (WS-331M) - this model is another great evolution to the Olympus line of Digital Voice Recorders. Olympus has the BEST sound recording quality of these devices - I have used others mfg. tools and was not impressed. This model represents my 5th generation since 2000. These recorders are fantastic tools for students and professionals. I record meetings, calls, training materials and listen to all my podcasts. Having 4G is a tremendous improvement.
Real Positives...
1. Mic pickup & recording quality is just as good as previous models.
2. Storing 1,000 hours in the Long Play mode - which is easily a usable quality
3. the WMV encoding is very efficient - creating incredibly small files
The menus have changed a bit from the WS-331M with 2G - all the control buttons have been moved to the front of the device and the push-out USB port with in-unit recharging is a nice addition. Battery life seems to be a little better than the 331. USB interface is 2.0, fast and convenient - no cables. Listening to recordings and podcasts without earbuds using the built-in speaker, try that with an iPod. They have even added a lanyard connection point - a suggestion I made in a previous review. There is a dual-sided record LED (that can be turned off from a menu option). I am so glad the unit still uses AAA batteries - it's nice to recharge and go, but sometimes you are traveling and can not recharge - so a few spare AAAs give you unlimited recording time.
Negatives:
1. Earbuds that ship with the device leave much to be improved - plan on purchasing or using your own favorites ear buds or headphones
2. New user manual is brief and compact with tiny fonts - could be a little more user friendly / easier to read - but, you can download the manual in PDF form and the online version is more complete.
Bought for college lectures January 31, 2010
mamamia
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I bought my recorder for my college lectures. I'm a nursing student and I was told that recording the lectures would be helpful. It is great! I'm soooo pleased with my purchase. Whenever I might've missed any of the notes, I have a digital recording of everything that was said! I plug it right into my usb on my computer to charge it (and yes, you have to hold the STOP button down as you insert it in order for it to charge, but that's no biggie). It is Mac compatible!!!!! I have a Macbook Pro and there are no compatibility issues there. I don't charge it up but every 2-3 days. Easy to use, just read the manual. As for portability, it's super small, so make sure you don't lose it! I always triple check to make sure I have packed it away. The sound quality is wonderful. When you play it back live it sounds only ok. When I put it on my computer and listen back, I hear everything so clearly! Yes, I sit at the front of the class in order to get good audio, but when the professor walks around the classroom to the middle and back, it still picks it up well. So, I'm thrilled with my purchase and would highly recommend it to you!
Excellent DVR/music player September 12, 2009
Mark A. Koshmrl
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I purchased this for voice recording and also for the MP3 music player. Its amazing how well it picks up all the sounds around it, very impressive. The music player also sounds great, and with 4 gigs you can put lots of songs on it. Overall I'm very happy with this unit and would highly recommend it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
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