My New Choice For Best "tune Sucker"

[Michael Eskin]

Hi y'all,

 

For grabbing tunes at workshops and lessons, I've upgraded to a new voice recorder from Olympus, Model number is DS-2. I just wanted to pass on the info. It’s a keeper!

 

At its highest setting (WMA, 128 kbit stereo, 44.1 KHz sample rate) it records about 1 hour, and even the 4 hour setting (32 kbit WMA Mono) it does an excellent job recording music. There are lower quality settings primarily for voice that support up to 22 hours of voice recording.

 

Here's a good review, including some sample audio files: http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/05/18/ds2.html

 

Has USB-2, includes the docking station, USB-2 cable, headphones, batteries, and software. Like the Sony ICD-ST10/25/MX20 also slows down tunes without changing the pitch. Supports both Mac and PC. Shows up as a standard Mass Storage Class USB device, so you can just drag and drop files from it to the desktop. File format is standard WMA so no need to run any proprietary software, although the supplied application is very good for organizing files.

 

The built-in speaker is pretty small, so you can't turn the volume up too much on playback without distortion, but it does have a headphone and plug-in power microphone jack. Recordings at the highest setting using an external Sony stereo "T" mike sound nearly as good as my minidisc and much better than anything I've heard come off even the latest generation of Sony voice recorders (which are priced over $240). Battery life is supposed to be 18 hours on two AAAs.

 

Bestbuy.com has them listed this week for $134.00 (have to add it to your shopping basket to get the reduced price), but you should print out the website page with the online price to get the sale price at your local store. The bestbuy.com website can tell you if they are in-stock at your local store.

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

[Michael Eskin]

Just found out from the review, and confirmed online, that my local Radio Shack sells the DS-20, which is the same unit with double the memory for $199.00... Probably going to return the DS-2 and get the DS-20.

[Henk van Aalten]

Hi y'all,

 

For grabbing tunes at workshops and lessons, I've upgraded to a new voice recorder from Olympus, Model number is DS-2. I just wanted to pass on the info. It’s a keeper!

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Thanks for the info Michael. I will have a look if they are available in Europ and at what price. I'm afraid it will be higer

[Jeff Stallard]

I don't have that model, but I do have a similar digital recorder. It doesn't have that much memory, but enough to suit me. Yeah, they're pretty handy.

[Animaterra]

I've recently purchased the Olympus DS-30 and it's as easy as can be to use, but does anyone know if it's possible to convert the files into mp3 format? I'd like to share the recordings I made last week in Ireland with my fellow singers there, but can't figure out how to do that!

 

Many thanks-

[Larryo]

I've recently purchased the Olympus DS-30 and it's as easy as can be to use, but does anyone know if it's possible to convert the files into mp3 format? I'd like to share the recordings I made last week in Ireland with my fellow singers there, but can't figure out how to do that!

 

Many thanks-

 

I'm sure that the more technical minded can give different ways of doing do but what I use is a fairly simple and inexpensive piece of software called Total Recorder. Converting files is just of the things which it can be used for. It can be purchased and downloaded for a few dollars. Hope this helps

[Woody]

I've recently purchased the Olympus DS-30 and it's as easy as can be to use, but does anyone know if it's possible to convert the files into mp3 format? I'd like to share the recordings I made last week in Ireland with my fellow singers there, but can't figure out how to do that!

 

Many thanks-

 

I'm sure that the more technical minded can give different ways of doing do but what I use is a fairly simple and inexpensive piece of software called Total Recorder. Converting files is just of the things which it can be used for. It can be purchased and downloaded for a few dollars. Hope this helps

I've got an Olympus DS-30 and couldn't recommend it more highly - excellent tool. I use it mostly for quickly grabbing a section of music playing on a CD player & then slowing it down (whilst retaining the same key) to practice a difficult bit. Great recording quality for the price.

 

It records in WMA format and there are many free software tools to convert WMA files to MP3 files. I've used this software in the past and was very happy with it....

 

Jodix free WMA to MP3 Converter

 

- W