The Olympus WS-Series digital voice recorders are packed with features and have a small sleek design. The WS-Series includes three different models which are the WS-311M, WS-321M, and WS-331M. The only feature that makes these models different is there storage capacity. They hold 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2 GB respectively.
The Olympus WS-321M Digital Voice Recorder is the model that we are reviewing and it is the 1 GB version. The WS-321M was designed with the music lover in mind. It can play all your MP3 and WMA music files. It connects to your computer via USB port and can sync with Windows Media Player.
The sound quality when playing back music files is impeccable. It has an equalizer which you can adjust to different listening styles such as rock, jazz, pop etc. Music playback also has SRS Wow technology, which enhances the quality of the playback. I have compared the music playback on other Olympus models such as the DS-30 and the DS-40 and there is no comparison in the richness of the sound. If you want your digital voice recorder to double as portable music player you need to consider the Olympus WS-321M digital voice recorder.
The WS-321M runs on either one AAA battery or an NiMH rechargeable cell. The WS-321M is tiny and measures only 3.7 by 1.5 by 0.4 inches, and the sleek white outer finish makes it look a lot cooler than your average voice recorder. On the top of the voice recorder are headphone and microphone jacks. On the right hand side are the play, stop, and record buttons. On the left hand side there is a slide switch where you can switch between voice recorder mode and music playing mode. There is a round Ok/Menu button on the front of the recorder, when you press it quickly it acts as a play button, but when you hold it down it will bring you to a menu with more options. One of the coolest things about the WS-321M is its ability to break apart and plug into a USB port. There are no cables needed, it essentially turns into a jump/USB drive.
The WS-321M is designed to make transferring music from your pc to the player a breeze. You can use Windows Media Player or just simply drag and drop from any file managing utility. Since the WS-321M operates much like a jump drive/storage device your PC will recognize it as another drive when you plug into your computer. You can arrange songs by artist, album, or genre. You can create folder names for each artist. There a shuffle mode as well.
If you want to record music with the WS-321M it may not meet your expectations, the recorder is primarily designed for voice recording. The WS-321M works great for playing podcasts and your music collection but you shouldn't buy it just for the music playing aspect. You should buy it only if you are planning on using it primarily as a voice recorder. The voice recording functions on the recorder are powerful enough for professional use. The recorder should perform well enough for doctors, journalists and businessmen.
Despite all the music playback abilities of the WS-321M, it is after all a digital voice recorder and that is what it was built for. The microphone has two recording modes for different recording environments. There is dictation mode which has a lower sensitivity and is designed for individual recording or a one on one conversation. The other mode is conference mode which has a higher sensitivity and is designed for lectures or wherever there is a large group of people. One of the neat things that you can do with the WS-321M is attach an external tie clip microphone (Olympus Tie-Clip Microphone ME-52W), you can put the recorder in the pocket of whoever is giving a lecture and have the microphone next to the speakers mouth for a higher quality recording.
Sometimes recordings can have background noise which can make playback difficult to understand. No need to worry because the WS-321M has a noise-canceling function and a voice filter for better quality playback. Noise cancel can be enabled to reduce background noise in recordings made in noisy surroundings. In effect, the function treats the loudest sounds as the most important and reduces other sounds to make dictation clearer. Voice Filter enhances the human voice by cutting low and high frequency noises during playback. Also, for transcribing your recordings, the WS-321M has slow and fast playback speed variations.
There are only a few things that I didn't like about the recorder. Since the voice recorder is so small, the built in speaker is tiny and isn't very loud or high quality. When using the external speaker I found myself putting the recorder up to my ear so I could hear it. If you are going to playback music or your voice recordings, I would highly recommend using the earphones that come with it. The screen size is a little bit small but it does what it needs to do. Other than that, I couldn't really find anything else that bothered me about the recorder.
When it comes down to it, the Olympus WS-321M digital voice recorder is a well rounded unit. It is powerful enough for professional use but can also double as a fun music playing device. If you are looking for a recorder that is good enough for professional use, the WS-321M will do everything you will need it to do. The music playback abilities are a plus but I wouldn't use the WS-321M as your primary music player.
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