Olympus VN-900 Digital Voice Recorder

I wanted a very compact voice recorder for only ve ...

Strengths: 1.Layout of controls is so good, it could be operated by feel. 2.Playback quality is very good: no tape = no tape hiss. 3.Size is amazingly compact, yet easy to use! 4. Clips to shirt pocket.

Weaknesses: Sound quality is very good, but not as good as that of a full-size cassette recorder which, of course, has a larger speaker and is bulkier. However, its better than a microcassette recorder's.

Summary: I wanted a very compact voice recorder for only very occasional use. Since I have only one immediate use for it, I could not justify spending much for it. Yet, I wanted good playback quality. A techie friend who owns four voice recorders informed me that microcassette recorders, while compact, often have distorted playback sound. Digital recorders are compact, but the playback sound is not as good as a full-size cassette recorder. He advised me to get a small, inexpensive full-size cassette recorder. However, I learned that, since the microphones are built into cassette recorders, they pick up and playback tape hiss. I decided to accept the somewhat lesser playback quality of a compact digital recorder and avoid the hiss and bulk of a full-size cassette recorder.

My choice came down to a Sony or an Olympus. It seemed to me that Sony's placement of controls close together on the thin edge of their recorder would make it difficult to press the desired control without possible pressing the wrong button. The Olympus' controls were all on the wider face of the recorder, and it appeared that their layout was such that they could be operated by feel.

Now that I have used my Olympus digital recorder for a couple of days, I know I made the right choice. The sound quality is very good. The controls layout is superb. They can indeed be operated by feel, which could be useful in a darkened conference room or lecture hall.

I ordered the Olympus VN-900 from New World Electronics, doing business as Click2Digital, who shipped within 24 hours. Apparently the VN-900 was out of stock, because they upgraded me to the next model, the VN-1800, at no additional cost. The VN-1800 is identical except for greater record and playback capacity. The firm provided excellent communications about ship date and tracking number. I would certainly buy again from this vendor, and definitely recommend them.

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Terrific product for the money. Light, small, easy ...

Strengths: Very easy to use. Good audio from speaker. Like the 30% faster to find a file.

Weaknesses: Wish it had a date/time stamp when recording was made.

Summary: Terrific product for the money. Light, small, easy to use with a "WOW whats that?" when someone see it. Olympus has 2 other models in this series, each with more record time. But the one I bought fills my bill perfectly.

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