Olympus WS-331M

I hadn't used this recorder consistently since I bought it over 6 months ago and being as how the semester was going to be difficult taking Calculus III and University Physics II, I decided to break out my… very much unused $100 piece of equipment for the Fall semester. It's been a very solid recorder for recording my class lectures so far. I'll throw a few disclaimers out there though before I start the review for the recorder for my school lectures. My classes are about 30-40 people as I'm at a community college so there's not a huge auditorium to compete against or 200 other talking people. I also don't sit as close to the teacher as the first row. I'm usually in the 2nd or 3rd row back out of 4-5 rows. Those two things being said, the recording is amazing even if you don't real real close to the teacher. I do have to turn up the volume on my speakers when I download the recordings via USB, but that's about the only thing that I have to do to hear my lectures well when I'm reading over my notes again. The features are pretty standard I suppose. This is my first time owning a recorder like this with no tapes and a 2 GB usb storage mechanism. The one thing I really love about it is that it's EXTREMELY light weight and compact. The pictures on here almost don't do it justice as to the portability of this device and for a college student looking to not be loaded down with 80 pounds of books and other items, it's a huge plus for me. Battery life is about a good solid 8-10 hours depending on which setting you use. It is best to use rechargable batteries for this kind of thing though since two 3 hour lectures in one day on the high quality settings can tend to run down the battery by the end of the day (although it always makes it through both of my classes with a few hours to spare). I haven't bought any others like this except for an old micro-tape recorder that my dad used to have, but from my experience with this recorder alone, I won't be purchasing anything else until this sucker finally plays out on me! (fingers crossed) :) -Travis

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I work as a Court Reporter and use this handy little recorder as a backup. It is especially handy when I have to move to chambers. I move my main unit and then throw this on the desk as a backup. It is… compatible with my transcription software and I love it. I also use it to record church council meetings - as the secretary, I have to type up the minutes. The voice quality is excellent and it will pick up from an amazing distance for the size and without any external mic added to it.

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