Olympus WS-300M 256 MB Digital Voice Recorder and Music Player

I had high expectations for the Olympus WS-300m but I find it does not record well beyond a distance of a couple of feet. It's great for dictation and the tiny size is much appreciated, however, when voice activation is turn on and set to the highest level of sensitivity it shuts down and misses nearly everything when placed a few feet from the source. As a test, in case my voice is too soft, I turned on the radio and adjusted the volume so I could hear it easily at a distance of 15-20 feet. The Olympus WS-300m goes into Standby mode when it is only 2 feet away from the radio. I put in a new battery and the result was identical. I also made sure I had the microphone set to "conf" and not to "dict" for dictation. I studied the manual carefully. I compliment them on the clarity and comprehensive nature of the manuel. But nothing worked to enable me to record with voice activation at a distance. Either I have a lemon or I have failed to comprehend the instuctions or this is the most overrated digital recorder sold on Amazon.

I purchased this a little over a year ago for about $90 total. I was surprised with the small size of the recorder when I first opened the package and thought, "Oh well, might as well get used to the digital age." I have just concluded my 15th interview with the recorder for newspaper articles. The clarity of the voice recording is excellent. I was truly surprised to see how well this works. After an interview, I immediately transfer the recording to my PC (have recently switched to an iMac and haven't figured out if it will work the same or not--so far doesn't look like it). I then transcribe notes either from the PC or using earphones with the recorder. I am not an expert on things digital and still don't know all the intricacies of this machine, but I highly recommend it for sit down interviews. One interview I did walk around with it in my shirt pocket and it worked just fine.

I'm a hypnotherapist and make recordings for my clients. They have to be very good sound quality. I always used cassette's, but who has those anymore, so I needed a digital recorder. I looked at recorders $300.00 and up but too costly and too complicated, unless you're a audio tech.

I have an older model that was OK but NOT so good for making CD's. Sound was not good. When I read the reviews on this model, I wanted to know why the difference and what made this so much better. I called the Olympus help line and asked. They were very helpful and said the sound is better because this model records in Windows format. They also told me that by doing about 6 steps I could make my older model sound better, changing formats and on and on with the computer. Too much trouble for me.

I payed about $80.00 for the model WS-300 and it's GREAT, but you do need a plug in mic with a mono to stereo adapter, or stereo mic. No cords, it plugs right into the usb on my computer and the sound quality is fantastic. I highly recommend it. Great little recorder

I love this product and have been using it for a year now but what happened to the price. I bought mine last year for around $80 and now the price listed is $199?? That is quite a shocking increase?

Having purchased several of the Olympus WS-100 voice recorders with no problems, I was extremely disappointed with the problems I had with the WS300M. I purchased this newer model because it had more storage capacity, but unfortunately have had problems with some of them failing to operate after a month or so of use. Out of 8 purchased for law enforcement officers to carry in the field to record interviews, we had to throw away 2 (with crucial evidence nearly being lost in the process). Just not good enough!!! I'm going back to the WS-100 and if I have any more problems will look to another manufacturer entirely.