Olympus VN 120

Advantages: Record upto 36 hours, digital sound quality, compact device with mic
Disadvantages: Microphone not as effective as I thought

...The Olympus VN-3100 is known as a Dictation Machine, but I like to simply call it a portable voice recorder. In size it is not very big, thus being portable. It measures in at a length of 10 cm, a width of 3.5 cm and an overall depth of 1.7 cm. The top end of the the device has a depth of 1.3 cm and the bottom end which contains the batteries has a depth of 1.7 cm. The device is made in China, like many things are nowadays. The Olympus VN-3100 does not have a simple on/off button, but instead has a HOLD button on the top left hand side. To turn on the device you simply hold the HOLD button and pull it in a downwards direction. This in turn will turn on the device ready to be used. To turn it off push the HOLD button in an upwards direction. On the left-hand side there is also an area into which a USB cable is inserted in order to... Read review

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Advantages: Practical and Efficient
Disadvantages: Slightly tedious uploading

...I am currently studying in my first year at university, but have experienced some problems with attending lectures and figured it would be a sensible idea to ensure that i have a record of the lectures i have missed. Unfortunitly my university has not started to release podcasts of lectures yet so that was not an option. Anyhow i purchased the VN340 and lent it to a friend in advance of when i knew i had a lecture. Of course i have not actually had much practical use personally, I just have an account of the quality of the recording. The only drawback i have experienced is that the uploading and software required when uploading the files onto my computer was a bit time consuming, but not to an extent where it put me off purchasing the product. Firstly the account my friend gave of his experience in using it was highly possitive; he... Read review

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Advantages: 16 hours recording time, small
Disadvantages: Cannot edit recording at a later date

...When I was revising for my GCSE's I recorded all of my notes onto tape. I listened to these as often as possible: when eating my breakfast, when going to sleep or when I was making cards. I found that this was very effective although I did have two main problems. First of all, it was a nuisance having to keep changing the tape for each subject (I only recorded one topic of a subject per side of a tape and I was studying at least 9 subjects each with at least two topics. So as you can imagine I had quite a few tapes!) My second main problem was when I played it back when going to sleep, the tape continued to whirr after the speaking had finished. So, for Christmas, I asked for a digital voice recorder and I received the Olympus VN 1000. It is small and has a clip so you could clip it onto your top pocket etc. The voice recorder is... Read review

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