Olympus VN-4100PC Digital Voice Recorder

Excellent. I love it. Since heaven did not bless me with much of a memory for details, I couldn't survive without a pocket recorder. I have tried several. My favorite was the VT-300, but I think they are no longer made. My wife gave me this Olympus as an anniversary gift. It has been my constant companion. since. I wish it were a bit smaller, but that is not a big issue. It fits in my pants pocket just fine. Lots of recording space, good sound.

I primarily use this recorder as a back-up/accompaniment to my camcorder's audio. Even at the highest recording quality I find that it stores many hours of quality audio. Far more than I need of it. The sound quality is good. I love that it has an external microphone jack and a headset jack.

My secondary use for it is to make voice notes while driving or in situations where I don't want to or can't write down notes/reminders.

The built in microphone is a "you get what you pay for" microphone. In this class of entry-level audio recorders you aren't going to get great audio quality on the built in microphone. It's okay for voices. But for anything that requires a more nuanced recording, use an external microphone.

Overall I'd say that this recorder is worth the money. It packs a lot into a small case. The batteries last a long time, it records forever, it is easy to use and easy to transfer audio to a computer.

I wanted so much to give this product a 5-star rating. The recorder itself works beautifully. It's quick to set up, it takes no time at all to get acquainted with its operation, and it works well for phone interviews, which is why I bought it. I had concerns about its compatibility with my existing Radio Shack phone recording device, but the concerns were quickly alleviated.

However, what this product lacks, and what has caused me no end of frustration, is a decent PC application that supports it. Oh sure, it works great the first time you hook it up and transfer those files. But just try doing it a second time. Or a third. I cannot access my Olympus-produced files from the Olympus software application because guess what? They did not include an "Open" function, nor any other way of accessing files that are uploaded to the PC. Worse, beyond the few I was able to transfer that first time, none others will even appear on the menu in the application. You can transfer the contents of any one of the four folders on the recorder to the corresponding folder in the application, but forget opening it. You can see the file folders, which list how many files are present, but you can't access them to open them. So close, and yet, so far.

For some reason, the company fails to address this issue, either online or in its accompanying literature. If you don't mind using QuickTime to play back your files on the PC, you won't have any worries. If, however, you expect the application to do more than simply download your files (it DOES have playback functions, though they're just decoration for me), you'll be disappointed. I'd say use the recorder to listen to your files, but with it running on AAA batteries and not set up to even accept an AC adapter, you'll go through some batteries pretty quickly.

I would recommend this product only because the recorder does have great functionality beyond the PC, and because once you figure out the best sound setting for your situation (I set mine on LOW for phone interviews), the quality will be near perfect. I just wish the company paid more attention to detail, more attention to years of customer complaints, and upgraded that nasty software.

Great item for taking notes in class if you are a slow note taker. Highly recommended.

This thing has worked very well for picking up my professors voice in the lecture hall. I am in a Large University so it can be difficult to find a recorder good enough. I used the recorder on top settings and turned the microphone on low to negate the classroom noises.
I was impressed! It caught every word of his clearly and quiet well.

I run on Windows Vista, and the uploading went smoothly as well, no bumps in the road.
I will caution that the users should READ THE DIRECTIONS! It says to install the software fully before plugging the device into the computer.

I think I will be keeping this recorder.

It comes with:
instructions in multiple languages.
Carrying Case
USB cable
CD