Olympus WS-300M 256 MB

Author's product rating:   

Sound Quality	Excellent
Ease of Use	Simple
Look & Design	Good
Range of Features	Diverse
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	*
Disadvantages:	*

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

As many of you know, I am studying Speech and Language Sciences at Newcastle University. As part of the course we have to do a child study and record a language sample from the child. Our lecturer recommended that we should get our own voice recorder as the university has a limited number for loan and we will need it for other assignments too (including a phonetics assignment we are currently working on) I decided to buy one as I also use a voice recorder to record my lecture notes to listen to when I'm going to sleep. I went to see the technical support staff and the man I spoke to recommended this voice recorder.

Recording on this device is easy. You just press the record button and speak into the mic. There are two little built in mics at each side and when it is recording there is a bar displaying the amount of sound each mic is picking up. This is good as if one bar if further along than the other, the device can be moved to pick up the most sound in each.

There are different recording settings depending on what you are using it for. HQ minimizes background noise and is really good for recording people speaking; LP and SP allow extended recording times and can pick up noises from further away. I think I used the LP setting for my child study and I got good results. Recordings are automatically saved once you stop recording.

You can select voice activation from the main menu and this allows recording only when a noise is made so if you are recording speech it will pause when no one is talking. I have tried to record some lectures but unless I am right at the front it doesn't pick the lecturer up very well. I tried voice activation in one lecture and it wasn't very successful as when the lecturer moved out the optimal range for the recording it didn't record so I got 10 minutes from a 50 minute lecture.

It is small and has a clip so you could clip it onto your top pocket etc. The voice recorder is silver and looks really good. As well as the built in mics it has a space to plug an external mic. Due to the nature of my usage of this device, I have an external microphone, which gives excellent results. I got this for Christmas (from Maplin for around £15). I would definitely recommend getting an external mic if you want to record from a longer distance. The mic is however, about twice the length of the recorder, so it uses more space.

You can play back on normal, fast or slow speed. The volume is easily adjusted, which I find useful depending on when I'm playing it back. For example when I'm making cards I have it on the loudest setting because I don't have it on the surface where I am working. I have it on a lower setting when I'm holding it or using headphones. There is a space to plug in earphones and this is easy to do. Earphones are provided with the voice recorder.

I have played back both with earphones and on the built in speaker and both have given excellent results. I usually play back from the built-in speakers because it means I can put it on the surface next to where I am (eg the table or chair) When I go back to university, I am going to start recording all of my notes onto the voice recorder and I'll use the headphones to listen to my recordings while I'm travelling to university on the bus.

The voice recorder uses one AAA battery. I have made quite a few recordings, some of which were over an hour, as well as my child study recordings and I am now using my second battery. The battery life seems to last a while but when I turned it on after having used quite a bit the screen displayed 'system check' and it wouldn't do anything until I replace the battery. I don't recall seeing the battery display going down but this could be my lack of observational skills. I always have a spare battery at hand so that I know I have a replacement if the one I'm using runs out.

If you are recording and make a mistake you cannot stop and rewind. If you stop the recording you cannot edit it (as far as I know - it doesn't say anything in the instructions) You can pause while you are recording and then go back to it but it only pauses for a few minutes. When you stop a recording before it finishes, it plays from where you stopped it from if you don't play another recording. You can also turn it off and play the recording from where you left it.

When recording if you are running out of recording space it tells you how long is remaining (usually less than 1 hour) so you can delete recordings which are no longer needed or upload them onto the computer.

The voice recorder has a USB connection, which plugs straight into the computer. You can save music onto the device and upload your recordings onto the computer. I think this is really good because it means I have unlimited recording time as I can upload the recordings onto the computer then I have all the space on my recorder to make new recordings.

Although there is no off button, you can slide the hold button along and this turns the device off. If you slide it the other way it comes back on to display the screen that you left it on. If you don't do this it turns itself off after about 1minute but I generally use the hold button to save the battery life.

The instructions are fairly easy to follow and I have referred to them a couple of times and found the answer I wanted.

Overall, I am very pleased with this digital voice recorder. I think it is ideal for what I want and with it being so small (9.5cm x 3.8cm x 1.1cm) it can easily fit into my pocket or my handbag. It fits well on the desk at university and made it easy to find a place to stand it when I went to collect the data for my child study. I also think people who would like to record meetings etc would find this useful. I paid £79.99 for this device from Argos at the beginning of December.

Thanks for reading!