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Olympus DS-40 Digital Voice Recorder | 
| Brand: Olympus
Category: CE
Buy New: See price in cart
New (47)
Rating:  67 reviews
Format: Cd
Platform: Windows
Color: SILVER
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries: 2
Batteries Included: Yes
Operating System: Windows
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 4.4 x 1.5 x 0.6
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: 141910
Model: 141910
UPC: 050332159297
EAN: 0050332159297
ASIN: B000MVBHRW
Release Date: February 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| | Professional-grade digital voice recorder with high-sensitivity microphone | | | Up to 136 hours of recording time; 30-hour battery life | | | Connect to PC to transfer files or download podcasts | | | Store and listen to favorite music anytime, anywhere | | | Timer recording, alarm playback, slow/fast |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In addition to capturing over 136 hours of meetings, interviews and other critical information expected of digital recorders, you can download and create podcasts with the DS-40. The super-high-quality sound is also great for listening to audio books and music - it's the ideal all-in-one audio device.
Amazon.com Product Description
In addition to capturing stereo sound from meetings, interviews, and important lectures, the Olympus DS-40 allows you to download and create Podcasts for later listening. The DS-40 offers users up to 136 hours of recording time with its 512 MB worth of internal flash memory. For easy organization and storing of files, the player allows users to set up five voice folders, and each folder can save up to 200 messages. Internal files can be easily navigated on the player's high-contrast backlit monochrome LCD panel. Other great features include a built-in variable control voice actuator (VCVA) function, and a timed recording and alarm feature so you can set up automatic recording and playing. Running on two AAA batteries, the player offers up to 30 hours of continuous playback in the following modes: ST XQ mode (8 hour 40 minute capture time), ST HQ mode (17 hour 20 minute capture time), HQ mode (34 hour 45 minute capture time), SP mode (68 hour 30 minute capture time), and LP mode (136 hour 15 minute capture time). For added user convenience, an optional AC adapter can be used with the recorder. Compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional operating systems and later, the player measures a pocket-friendly 4.37 x 1.48 x 0.63 inches and weighs in at a scant 2.80 ounces. What's in the Box
DS-40 digital voice recorder, stereo microphone, USB cables, stereo earphones, DSS Player v.7 software, instruction manual, strap, and two AAA batteries.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 62 more reviews...
 The DS-40 is an excellent digital voice recorder with Audible.com and music support March 28, 2007
Robert Jung (Massachusetts USA)
241 out of 243 found this review helpful
I purchased the Olympus DS-40 as an upgrade to my Olympus WS-320M. As mentioned by another reviewer, the DS-30/40 series improves upon the WS-300/310/320M series. I have owned a number of digital voice recorders from Voice-it to Sony and Olympus.
The DS-40 without its external microphone is about the same size as the WS-320M. It is slightly thicker and heavier. The exterior of the DS-40 is mostly metal. On the bottom, the battery door is plastic and hinged like the Olympus DS-4000. The mini-USB port is covered by a tethered plastic cover. On the lower right side, there is a power/hold slide switch. If you do not power the DS-40 off, it will enter a power save mode and the display will blank. Pressing a key brings it out of power save mode. The power save mode time is user adjustable. The control buttons are well spaced and shaped to make the DS-40 an acceptable dictation recorder unlike the WS-320M. The WS-320M has small flat closely spaced keys. The LCD screen is backlit in white and is very legible. The speaker is located in the back and produces enough volume to be heard in a moving car. On the top of the DS-40 is a stereo microphone jack which supports an optional remote control / microphone jack and is where the external stereo microphone is plugged in. Curiously, Nuance in their Dragon testing of the DS-30/40/50 writes that this recorder does not accept an external microphone.
The DS-40 is setup as a standard plug and play external USB drive. So you can transfer audio by using the supplied DSS Player software, Windows Explorer, or Windows Media Player. The USB audio transfer speed is about 140mb per minute. That is about five times faster than the WS-320M.
The DS-40 can be used as a digital voice recorder, a music player, an audiobook player, and a podcast player.
As a voice recorder, the DS-40 offers a lot of flexibility. With the three microphone sensitivies (dictation, conference, lecture), the DS-40 is suitable for handheld dictation (works best with the optional remote control), for meetings, for classroom / lecture hall use. I found the conference sensitivity adequate for a small to midsize classroom. As an aid for dictation, there is a voice activation option with 16 levels of sensitivity. You can adjust the activation level while recording from a barely audible whisper to a very loud trigger level. The voice activation feature along with the disable signal LED option are useful for surreptitious recording (check your local laws).
With the different recording quality modes, you can increase your recording time capacity by lowering the recording quality. I found the HQ mode (over 34 hours of record time) is quite sufficient for normal speech recording. The HQ frequency range is from 50 to 13000 Hz. The ST XQ mode produces very high quality recordings. Using an Olympus attenuator cable, I dubbed a recording from my IHP-120 music player to the DS-40 using line-out to dictation level. The sound quality of that dub was very satisfactory. There was a barely audible amount of added background noise in the recording. I think this is an excellent recorder for rehearsals, jam sessions, and practice. During my recording of a loud music presentation using the conference sensitivity, I noted that the recording levels went full bar and there was some slight distortion when the sound level was loudest.
As a music player, the DS-40 is just adequate. It plays music with a sound quality that is noise-free, warm, and full. Music navigation is by folder. There is no shuffle mode and no equalizer. The play mode allows single, folder, all, and repeat modes. However, the play mode applies equally to music, podcasts, and dictation. The WS-320M is a better music player. The DS-40 will play 320Kbps mp3s. The WS-320M will not.
As an audiobook player, the DS-40 will play audiobook content (after activation) from Audible.com in formats 2, 3, and 4. It supports Audible.com features such as bookmarking, fast and slow play, and book sections. It will also handle mp3, wma, and Netlibrary audiobooks with the useful features of resume position on a power cycle, fast/slow play speed (digitally corrected - no chipmunk voices), fast forward / rewind over track gaps, and audible cue / review. The rewind over a track gap feature is important when a book is split over multiple tracks and you need to review a section you just listened to. If that section is near the end of the previous track, you would have a problem with Ipods and Zens. They both stop rewinding at the beginning of a track. There is no bookmarking with mp3 and wma tracks. You can set a temporary index mark with an mp3 or wma track. The mark goes away when you move to another track.
As a podcast player, the DS-40 will play podcasts loaded from the DSS Player software. You can add URLs to the player software to subscribe to podcasts. There are options to set the download interval, set delete options, and auto update the DS-40. As with audiobooks, you can use fast/slow play speeds and audible cue/review. There is no bookmarking feature. There is a temporary index mark feature.
In summary, this dictation voice recorder is excellent. It is well built, easy to use, and records very well.
Pros:
Small size, good price benefit ratio, long battery life, solid metal construction, standard mini-USB connector, large informative display, excellent quality voice recordings, voice activated recording with sixteen sensitivity levels, WMA codec, dictation capabilities, included external stereo microphone and input, date-time stamped recordings, plug and play for file/music transfers, and music/podcast player.
Cons:
No supplied carry case. Back placement of the speaker. No on-device editing capability except for delete and move.
FYI, there is a new series of Sony dictation recorders coming this year including the ICD-SX57. The SX57 is an upgrade over the SX46 with 256mb of memory, a backlit display, automatic record level and manual record level, three built-in microphones, an extra high quality stereo recording format, and record level display. A newer version of the Voice Editor software which converts to WAV and MP3 format is included to support podcasting.
This sound recorder is fantastic! February 10, 2007
Jeffrey Kissinger (Round Lake Heights, IL)
71 out of 73 found this review helpful
This recorder has excellent sound quality, impressive voice guided menu, easy to read display, great performance and key response, and is a great size and can conspicuously be put in your shirt pocket. It records to WMA files and can be plugged into your computer via USB as a USB drive. No software is even required to grab the files from it. It has a file system just like most digital cameras. The external speaker sounds quite good considering its size. The sound quality with headphones is fantastic. I didn't try it with music as there are much better things to listen to music with (i.e. iPod). The Music playback isn't a useful feature to me.
I first bought the Sony ICD-SX46VTP which had terrible sound quality and required software that complained of missing files during the install. I took it back in favor of the Olympus DS40 and I am really glad that I did. The Sony ICD-SX46VTP was terrible all around.
An excellent unit March 9, 2007
A. Williams (Colorado Plateau)
33 out of 33 found this review helpful
I agree with Jeffery Kissinger's review below, but there are a few points he passed over. My previous recorder was an Olympus WS-310, and the DS-40 is superior in every way.
The DS-40 has great battery life, and ergonomically it has a much better design because button operation is much more positive, and since the screen is very clear, it is easy to see at a glance what is happening.There is never a doubt whether you are recording or not. Another improvement is the ability to play recorded books from audible.com. This works flawlessly, and because the battery life is so long, a real pleasure. The only area I would prefer the WS-310 is USB downloading. The DS-40 requires a cable that you might misplace, while the WS-310 has a built in USB plug. They are both good digital recorders, but the DS-40 is better.
Finally a note for shoppers new to digital voice recorders. Note that a bottom level unit, like the Olympus VN-1000, which I once owned, works well for short audio notes, but has a huge short-coming, compared to the units I mention above. The VN-1000 records in a form that cannot be downloaded to a computer. To save a recording, you must play it real time and record with your computer. Both the WS-310 and DS-40, on the other hand, record standard WMA files that you can rapidly download via USB to your computer, and then edit with Adobe Audition, or a similar program.
Great recorder for a band June 7, 2007
dalrymple (SF, Ca.)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
I upgraded to the DS-40 because of its better stereo microphone, higher output to a stereo and better bass response. I use it to record a rock & blues band at practices & gigs. It records incredibly well with plenty of definition and does NOT distort under even very LOUD conditions. Easy to edit with the included software, I can separate the individual songs out from the hour long set tracks easily. Index marks make it easy to mark beginnings & ends of songs or solo's for editing. Solidly built, too.
Since it is not intended for recording music, it needs to be run through an Equalizer to beef up the bass and make it sound like it did live, but it is all there. Without EQ, you dont get much below 125db. About the size of a lighter, I have recorded two 3 hour gigs and an hour jam on it and only used just over half of the built in memory. Easily downloaded to computer, I can play it on my car stereo & home stereo with great results. Recording CD's is a snap. It has a bunch of files you can access so you can organize your recordings easily. Batteries lasted about 12-14 hours too, so it sips power.
If you play in a band and want an easy recording set up that fits in your shirt pocket, get one. For about $150, nothing else I've tried comes close.
Easy and convenient March 28, 2007
Kimberly A. Selber (Austin, TX United States)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
I bought this product to record stories my 4-year-old daughter made up at bedtime. I was amazed how well the built in microphone picked up her voice--very clear. I have a MAC and plugging in the USB and opening files was seamless - it acted just like a jump drive. Additionally, with a free converter (iPod doesn't like WMA files) I was able to put the recodings on my iPod. Very, very pleased with this product.
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