Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2862 in Office Product
• Brand: Olympus
• Model: N2271521
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .18 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
With 1GB of integrated memory, the metallic midnight blue DS-50 offers a truly staggering recording time; over 275 hours in LP mode and over 17 hours even in highest-quality STXQ stereo mode. Of course, you can leave some of that capacity free for your favourite MP3 or WMA tunes, downloaded podcasts or enthralling audio books – all easily navigable via either voice guidance or the intuitive menu system.

Customer Reviews

Amazing
The quality of the audio recordings that this little device produces is astounding for something so small. Its memory capacity and battery life are huge. It is sturdy, small, lightweight, well-designed and very easy to use. I have used it for recording everything from interviews to symphony concerts and it has coped superbly every time. The recording quality is far superior to anything I have heard from a tape recorder and the files produced can (if they are not too long) be e-mailed easily to anyone who needs them. I would happily give it 5 stars on every scale I can think of.

Good quality audio and easy to use
Olympus DS-50 Digital Voice Recorder with MP3/WMA Playback 1GB
I originally started looking for pocket recorders that used uncompressed audio (WAV or Flac format) and was soon put off by the price and complexity. The Olympus DS-50 is a bit like a good quality compact camera compared to an SLR. The controls are limited but very easy to use. If you set the highest audio quality (ST HQ) and the correct microphone sensitivity setting (eg lowest "Dict" setting for a loud concert)you will get excellent audio. The high quality stereo microphone and remote cable extension is a very worthwhile accessory. I am a Mac user and was concerned about sole use of WMA audio format recording. No problem. The files are easily transferred via USB and Amadeus Pro shareware for the Mac is brilliant for editing WMA files and converting to MP3/AAC etc. Very pleased with this purchase and now have a great live audio collection.

Meeting the need to remember meetings
With so many meetings and no chance of being able to take minutes and be part of the meeting or to be able to fully transcribe notes for future reviewing, the requirement for a mechanical memory has become an essential tool. Old tape recording systems worked well in their time but the solid state, low weight and small size of digitally recorded sound devices is in a different league. The Olympus DS-50 is simple and quick to set up and has an incredibly sensitive microphone. Using the high quality settings produces excellent clarity in some very awkward recording environments, even allowing parts of some conversations to be clearly heard when they were difficult to hear at the meeting itself. In the long play mode however the sound is very bad and really could only be used if the speaker was very close to the microphone; basically, don't bother with this setting.
Once back home the recordings can be easily copied to the main PC for use in producing minutes or as a record of a meeting.
Does everything I needed a recording device to do in a very neat package.