Dictaphones and voice recorders are not something that everybody uses and are usually bought to perform specific tasks, so they have to perform well.
At a glance the Olympus is not something i find particularly aesthetically pleasing, but this is an unimportant aspect of what is overall an excellent product. The colour is decribed as "champagne gold" but don't let the elegance fool you- the internal memory of the device stores up to 138 hours of recording time (in WMA file format), or 512MB. Some would argue that for a device which can be used as an MP3 player, this does not match up to the competition. But the Olympus is a voice recorder first and foremost and in this field it certainly scores points for memory.
Created in two parts which slot together, once seperated the Olympus plugs directly
into your computers USB port to download the voice and music files stored within. I found this particularly appealing: no wire is needed and when on the move, it is often necessary to use computers that are not your own. The last thing you want to be doing in a hurried situation is unravelling wires! As a storage device it is also possible to keep images and documents, just as you would on a normal USB memory stick.
A word of warning though- the Olympus uses AAA batteries which essentially expire every six hours, meaning that if you are embarking on a heavy day of researching or lecturing (or whatever your purpose), it is wise to carry spare batteries. The batteries last longer if you do not use the "HQ" or "High Quality Stereo" setting but to gain clear audible data i found that the HQ setting is absolutely essential.
On the subject of audibility, the microphones in the Olympus are situated at the front and the back, meaning that if you lay it down flat on a surface, you are losing the stereo effect and the sound is less clear on playback (as one microphone is always covered). The fact that the Olympus is less than half an inch thick means that it is impossible to lay it on its side without it falling over, so while a small and compact recorder is desirable, it makes sense to check where the microphones are before purchasing, otherwise you're going to be holding on to it for the duration of the session.
The storage on the device is seperated into five folders, each holding 199 files each, more than enough! Unfortunately it is not possible to rename these files until you link it up to a computer (PC or a Mac), and the buttons take some getting used to before you can seamlessly switch between recording modes and different files and folders. I think the addition of alphabetical buttons would cause the Olympus (or my head) to implode.
The Olympus is incredibly light and is not even four inches tall which makes it great for carrying around as it fits in your bag neatly. One gripe is that it does not come with a carry case or pouch and if you're anything like me, it's not nice to have something valuable floating around in your bag at risk of getting damaged. Earphones, a USB cable, a rather hefty instruction manual and one AAA battery are included in the box.
'Conference mode' and 'dictation mode' are available to suit different circumstances, although i have found that the quality of sound is far superior on the latter. There is a facility to remove unwanted noise, although this is very much dependent on the environment you are in and i'd recommend making sure the sound quality is good to begin with without relying on deleting interference later. A particularly useful tool (especially whilst in conference mode) is the addition of voice activation rather than just manual controls. This enables you to take notes and operate the machine simultaneously.
I have another dictaphone which has external microphones which can be pinned to a persons clothing or hidden discretely which will be far more useful to some people; it is best to regard the Olympus as an overt rather than a covert research tool, as no such features are offered
Prices seem to float anywhere between £100 and £140 so shop around. The other dictaphone i have is, i believe, a superior model and i'll be writing a review of it soon. With this in mind, i conclude by suggesting that the Olympus is excellent at recording sound and is very portable, but it does not seem to have all the 'extra' features that someone who uses recording equipment might need. I think using AAA batteries is rather dated for such a new model; they cannot keep up with the storage space or the speed of their host- yet AAA batteries are readily available to many people, as annoying as they may be to purchase constantly.
For basic uses e.g. in the home/ listening to music/one to one discussions, the Olympus is ideal, but for anything larger such as social research/ lectures/ conferences/ journalistic purposes, the Olympus is not at the top of its field thus far, and i believe you can obtain superior models for a lot less money.
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