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Olympus DM 550
by 2night
When I first started in med school, this little hand held Dictaphone by the market leader Olympus came in so handy it was unbelievable. Why buy a Dictaphone when most phones have a recording device built in?
We had a lecturer that hated mobile phones and would insist we turned off ours right in front of him as we entered the ... hall. So to be able to record not only what he had to say during his lectures, but notes and quotes and statistics and the correct way to pronounce the almost impossible to pronounce medical terms, made this an absolutely priceless tool to have
The play back is crystal clear of course depending on surrounding sounds. But the microphone picks up directly what is in front of it, or the loudest thing around and focuses in on that. This is dew to it's brilliant noise cancelling technology. I also would change the quality of the recordings from high, for my lectures, to low for my own personal notes. This saves a lot on memory space and if you use the headphone jack everything sounds fantastic either way. I also would transfare files to my computer using the handy USB slot.
The blue LCD display is easy to read and understand. Highlighted sections are displayed with a heavy bar through them so knowing where you are on the screen is as easy as can be. You can delete one file at a time or all files at once. As each time you press stop it will put it into an individual file. However if you press pause this doesn't happen. The battery lasts a long time which was great for my long lectures it takes 2 AAA rechargeable batteries.
This is of course small enough to have with you at all times and is simple to use with great sound (especially when on the high quality setting)
If you're creative and don't want to forget your ideas or like me need it for studying this is great.
The Olympus DM-550 can be purchased online at Amazon.co.uk for £130 + shipping.
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Olympus DS 5000iD
by NicndDan
I recently started a new job that involves intensive training in a classroom environment as well as the need to be constantly on the move as a tutor within the classroom itself. I quickly realised that, as I had had a fantastic Dictaphone at University, it seemed to be a logical solution and alternative to intensive note taking and ... making notes on scraps of paper. After previous positive experiences with the Olympus brand I had no hesitation in purchasing this when I came across it in a local store. I paid a mere £14.99 for it and it has made my work life a heck of a lot easier!
Olympus are a top quality brand name especially when it comes to the Dictaphone market so I knew what to expect here. This is one of their cheapest models and will suit most casual users. If you are going to recording hours and hours and hours of info on a regular basis that you wish to store and save then this may be too basic for you, but for a simple device with reliable recording functionality this is ideal.
The first thing you will notice about this is that's its nice and compact, by which I mean small but not "too" small that it becomes fiddly. It is easy to handle, easy to operate and even a technology novice will have it recording what he/she wants in minutes. Perfect!
It only takes one push of the button usually to get it to do what you want. Its so intuitive and simple that it really works a treat! I have had no issues using this and that's without reading the short manual which shows how easy it is. Start, stop, save, pause, erase....all done easily! The backlit LED screen is clear and vivid and the device runs off normal rechargeable batteries
The sound quality is the main selling point here though and this little device picks it up with a crisp clarity I was surprised at. Its really surprising how clear this is and it has little if any interference, no crackling and picks up clearly from quite a range. I honestly was gobsmacked when I played this back for the first time.
At 1.5gb of memory its ample for most people unless, as I said, you want to record streams of audio its fine. It records my weekly training sessions and meetings with ease and plenty room for the 10-15 or so audio notes I leave myself during the day! Its just ideal and there is little more I can say.
Everything is so simple to use, reliable and quality that I would struggle to recommend another brand or model than this!
Also on CIAO
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Olympus DM 550
by thedarkfighter
The first i heard of these dictaphones was when I was given a demonstration of one so I could make a decision for my Disabled Students Allowance claim for university. The first thing that struck me was the compact size. It will easily fit pretty much anywhere and not hinder the people around you. In terms of ease of use, you won't get ... much better. It is easy to navigate the menus, initiate recordings and play back what you recorded. As a person studying film and television production I know a reasonable amount about sound and sound quality and can honestly say the audio files are great! No quality issues at all and you get a huge recording time on top of that! The internal microphone is surprisingly good considering its built into such a small unit but I would still advise a small external microphone, probably a small Audio Technika boundary mic just so you can get better audio. This is one of the better dictaphones I have used and certainly the most compact and useful one.
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