Olympus DS-40 Digital Voice Recorder

1. Posted: Aug 31 2008

   I wanted a something I could use to make recordings of our 45 minute Sunday school class to send to one of our class members serving in Iraq. Our classroom is the size of a regular conference room but with terrible acoustics. The last time I used a voice recorder was back when cassette tapes were popular, so I'm a total novice. Here's what I found: a 1) Learning curve: 1 hour to read the whole manual, configure the device, and make some tests 2) Effort to record: easy (turn on, press the record button, press the stop button when done, turn off) 3) Download & conversion to mp3: 10 seconds for me, 2 or 3 minutes for the computer. 4) Sound quality: excellent - very clear with very little background noise. 5) Overall experience (usability, etc): excellent. The manual and interface were both easy to read and use.

2. Posted: Aug 16 2008

   This recorder is great for those who need to take voice notes and also want to record music at a decent quality. My only complaint is that there are only three microphone sensitivity levels, which is the only thing that makes this thing not all that ideal for music.

3. Posted: Aug 11 2008

   The Planning Office needed a reliable, quality unit to tape public meetings and hearings. The DS-40 replaced one that recorded well, but had tiny, multi-function, hard-to-operate buttons. The DS-40 has been a terrific unit. It records well, whether it is a small group meeting or a larger public hearing. Its operation is intuitive, which is a blessing when we're using temporary employees. It arrived at 4 p.m. in the afternoon, and it operated flawlessly for recording a meeting at 6:30 p.m. that same evening. For doing minutes, download the file and listen from the computer as it is easier to do the forward and reverse. I would recommend this unit to anyone who has to record meetings.

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