Olympus WS-822 GMT Voice Recorders with 4 GB Built-In-Memory

This is a great recorder, with assorted features, and several drawbacks.I've used this recorder extensively, as well as most other Olympus recorders currently available.It's interface is very simple and intuitive; it's main screen has three options.1) Music. This feature allows you to use your recorder as a standard mp3 player. It plays most mp3 and wma files (as well as pcm wav files). But it has features only recorders have, and almost no mp3 players have. For example, it has the ability to adjust the speed and pitch of any music file. Also, you could set it to stop playing after finishing the track. Plus, you could set the skip space to suit your needs, and allow you to skip 5 minute chunks with the click of a button. These features make it useful to use the music function for listening to long lectures and recordings.The music function allows you to play all the music in the "Music" folder on the internal memory or microSD card. It allows folders and sub-folders to be used (and displays them properly grouped); but folders inside sub-folders are not accessible. Any music file not saved under the music folder (or the 5 recording folders) cannot be accessed on the device. You cannot record when on music mode. Certain features are exclusive to music mode (equalizer, shuffle); certain are exclusive to playback from the recording function (voice balancer, noise cancel). The index feature (allowing you to put bookmarks during a recording to allow you to find it easily) isn't dependent on whether you're on music mode or recorder mode; however indexes are only saved to a file recorded by an olympus recorder.2) Recorder. This mode allows you to record. (You don't have to actually activate the recorder mode in order to record. Once the recorder icon is highlighted, you could press the record button, it it will begin recording on Folder A.) It has 5 built in folders for recording, named folders A - E. You can't edit the names of these folders; nor can you add to the amount of folders.(If you try to rename the folder names on a computer, it will be undetected by the recorder, and it will recreate the folder that was renamed. There are actually 2 ways to modify the names of the folders. One is to insert the microSD into an Olympus recorder that has the ability to modify the folder names. The DM-620 has this feature, the DM-720 doesn't. However, you're limited to the few options they give you there. The other way to do it requires more technical skills. If you're a little more tech savvy, you could edit the system file that names the folders.)It actually contains some very cool features for recording (like most other Olympus and Sony recorders). One feature is called “VCVA”, which basically pauses the recording during short breaks during lectures; and automatically resumes when the lecture continues. (You could set the volume that defines no noise during recording when VCVA is enabled by using the right and left arrow keys. This should be customized depending on the mic sensitivity level, the volume of the lecturer, and the level of background noises.)To pause a recording, the record button is used. To stop a recording, the stop button is used. There’s no way to add to a recording once the stop button was pressed. You can split a MP3 recording once you stop it.The default recording format is mp3 128kbps. (Other options include PCM raw 44.1kHz, mp3 256kbps. Plus for lower quality recording, they have WMA options for mono 32kbps, or mono 8kbps. I’m not sure why they don’t allow low quality recording on mp3. Newer Olympus recorders don’t come with WMA support, and allow recording lower quality mp3.)3) Calendar. This is a useful feature to find recordings by date. Just make sure before you record that the date is properly set. (The date gets messed up when the battery removed for more than about a minute.)The hardware: It contains 2 moveable parts, both of which were very poorly designed. I’ve seen tens and tens of these recorders, and they all had the same 2 problems. The battery cover needs to be opened to replace the battery, and to replace the MicroSD card. The cover is designed in such a way that it closed tightly, and the small latch hooking it closed is very flimsy. Eventually; the latch falls off, and the battery cover doesn’t stay closed. (This doesn’t affect the functionality of the device, but it’s a minor nuisance.) The other moveable part is the built-in usb. The way it’s build is very flimsy. It involves a mechanism that opens a cover to reveal the usb dongle. This mechanism usually breaks first, and requires manually opening the lid to allow the usb dongle out. (Another that commonly occurs to the cover is that the spring that shuts it when the usb dongle is slid back in disconnects, and it stays open.) Then, the actual slider mechanism commonly breaks; leaving no feasible method to slid the usb dongle in or out. Also, sometimes the usb just doesn’t work. This could be due to one of 2 problems (and can only be diagnosed if taken apart). One reason is because the flexible wire (which connects the usb dongle to the rest of the system), tears after being bent to many times. The other reason could be because the wire got loose (probably due to the tilting of the usb dongle in relation to the rest of the device). However, it’s definitely something to consider, that the usb will eventually cease to work, and it will be difficult to retrieve files stored on the internal memory via a computer.The other problem with this device is its microSD card slot. Firstly, its design makes it difficult to get grip of when removing the card. Secondly, the transfer speed is very slow. Which means, that when copying file to or from the microSD card, it goes really slowly (approx. 1mbps). And it also means that whenever you insert a microSD card, it takes a while for it to load it. (A 32 GB card takes about 35 seconds to load onto the device if the cards empty. A full card takes even longer.) (The dm-720 touches on the speed issues; it’s approximately twice as fast. But it’s still very slow.)All in all, it’s a very good recorder, but its plastic is flimsy and will break if used too often.

This is a really fine digital (voice / sound and music) recorder and player.It is very compact and the design of the product and the menus is done very well, with one minor exception. It fits in your hand. The controls are easy to understand and use although it will help to read the instructions. Some buttons have multiple uses (e.g. a short push versus a long push or different functions in different operating modes.) One poor design choice: Button labels are in white print on a silver-colored case. Black or dark gray would be a lot easier to read!!A note on instructions: The quick start guide that comes with the recorder is pictorial and next to useless. Go to the Olympus website and download the PDF user manual.You can use either a NiMH AAA rechargeable battery (comes with the unit) or an alkaline non-rechargeable. When you install a battery it initializes for a time (maybe 20 seconds?) and then you need to set in a soft menu which battery type. You can also operate it off a USB charger or power pack through the USB connector (see below.) I tend to use an alkaline battery. Why? I use the recorder very intermittently. If I used a rechargeable battery it probably would need to be recharged each time. If you use it frequently (e.g. more often than once per week) then the rechargeable battery will be a good choice.The built-in, slide-out full-size USB connector lets you connect to a computer or a USB charger. There are menu choices to make for changing between charger and computer interface. This could be easier than it is. The menu choices design remind me of USB connection technology as of about five years ago.Use the internal 4GB memory or add a micro SD card up to 32 GB. I added the card. Note - you choose which memory is in use - internal or external.It pays to explore the recording and playback menus. While recording a low pass filter can be used to avoid recording low frequency noise such as AC or machinery hum. In playback, noise cancellation can be turned on and a volume stabilizer that boosts the volume of lower-volume (farther away) voices. Both are REALLY useful and effective. I find even if I am about 50 feet from a speaker (e.g. in a lecture) recording on medium volume is plenty sufficient. Playback can be slowed down (if noise cancellation is NOT used) which can help in transcribing although I find noise cancellation more valuable than slowing down the speaker.It can record in WAV (poorest quality, smallest files), MP3 (at various bit rates up to 256 kbit/s), and PCM (highest quality, largest file size.) PCM files are about 10 times the size of MP3 256 kbit/s. I find MP3 256 kbit/s works completely fine. It might also be great at 128 kbit/s but I have not tried.Recording is through the built-in stereo speakers (mono for WAV) or through an external microphone.The speaker gives excellent sound although it does sound a bit tinny. What do you want or expect for a speaker in a handheld recorder?? Attached a high quality set of headphones and the sound is very impressive. There is also a microphone IN jack through which you can record from a microphone or any device with a Line Out jack. The jacks are 3.5mm.There seems to be a bug in the unit's firmware. While recording in a particular mode (e.g. PCM) it tells you the amount of time left on the memory in use (internal or micro SD) in the active recording mode. It reports more time remaining for PCM than for MP3 256 kbit/s, which is way wrong. PCM uses by far the most memory per minute of recording.Overall: A really great recorder. Highly recommended. If for some reason I lost mine I'd repurchase this one. There is also a WS-823 - the main feature is an FM radio. I have no idea how good it is, and I don't need my recorder to be an FM radio.If this review was helpful, please let me know by voting for it.

I started out looking for a no nonsense simple mp3 player to play music, wanted a player that has drag n' drop file transfer, integrated USB plug, and a player with replaceable battery that I can just simply swap out as I run dry. I had no luck finding such a player now amongst the conventional MP3 players; as Apple products dominate that market so no other big name manufacturers even wants to compete in that market with decent products. I came across this Olympus Voice Recorder and thought why not use this as an mp3 player, afterall, it has all the feature sets I was looking for.I have been using this player for several days now and I am really pleased with it, your music can be played in album folders and the sound output is as good as any of the best MP3 players out there. The built-in speaker, as expected is not for music playback, but has no problem used for voice playback. The screen is backlit so there's no problem operating it in a lecture hall, or in the dark cabin of my car. I have also tried the recording feature, very intuitive to operate. Another great feature is the battery, it ships with a Ni-MH AAA rechargeable battery, to charge it you just have to plug the recorder to your computer's USB port. If you are on the go and need power, you have the option to put in a regular alkaline AAA size battery, a super convenient feature for me. The recorder also displays East Asia characters, Chinese in my case.All in all, a solid, no-nonsense product that is built to a quality that is above and beyond the average MP3 player. For my sole purpose of MP3 music playback, it works great!

seems great. i haven't used it that much, but the few trials i gave it were good. good price, lightweight, and lots of features.

Sound playback is poor !

Poor quality recordings

Great Recorder I use it every day for work.