Olympus WS-320M Digital Voice Recorder and Music Player

---

---

Editorial reviews

Product Description
Digital Voice Recorder with WMA/MP3 music playback function. Stores digital data files such as music, dictation, images & data. Over 68 hours recording time, USB direct, 4 recording modes (SHQ/HQ/SP/LP), 5 folders. 1 GB memory. Windows & Mac compatible.

---

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-01-11 rating:
Good for Mac users too!
Excellent little machine, though mine came in a white case. Still looks good though.

It's amazingly small and ridiculously easy to use. Plug into your PC/Mac and it appears as an external drive.

Mac users: this recorder uses WMA files. The Apple site states that iTunes will play them, but it doesn't. The fix is simple: go to Microsoft.com; type in Quicktime and download flip4mac; then go to a WMA file's Get Info on and change the file association. That's it!

---

review by: thatandrew13582 date: 2007-09-07 rating:
Tiny package, big machine
I use this machine for:
> recording acoustic music rehearsals
> market research interviews
> snooping on people.
It's excellent for all three, but for music it's much better with an external mike. Plus points are the utter convenience of a recorder the size of a grasshopper's holiday suitcase, tiny weight and simple basic controls. The USB connection is also a fabulous advantage: computers recognise it immediately.
Downside: small controls can be fiddly, and managing files is frankly much better done on PC.
I have one more use for it too - it's got a diddy speaker, so you can listen to stories late at night. Yummy.

---

review by: doug_skinz date: 2007-01-24 rating:
worth a look!!!
The new WS-320M appealed to me because of its 1GB of flash memory, small size, WMA codec, and built-in USB connector.

This DVR is much smaller than other DVRs. It is almost half the volume and weight of the DS-2200 (similar to the DM-20). The WS-320M is constructed mostly of plastic, but it is well made and assembled with screws. There is a mechanical hold switch. The USB port cover / battery holder slides off smoothly after pressing the release button. No significant force is required to slide off the port cover or to reassemble it. There is a groove you need to line up first to reassemble the port cover. The small AAA battery cover is not attached to the DVR and can get lost. There is a hand strap hole, but no hand strap is included. The buttons, switches, and d-pad are well-made and provide a small amount of tactile feedback. The smaller size of the DVR makes it very portable but it can cause problems operating the switches for those with larger hands. Anyone used to small music players should have no problem operating the WS-320M. However, someone who regularly uses a voice recorder for dictation should probably stick to the larger professional DVRs like the Olympus DS-2200 and Sony ICD-BM1.

I started testing the WS-320M without reading the manual. It was easy to use. Button and menu operation is very logical. The LCD screen is smaller and less bright than the DS-2200 / DS-2, presumably to save battery life. The screens displays a large amount of information including folder name, time elapsed, time remaining, battery, record mode, and more, though not necessarily at the same time. A press of the OK or STOP button will change the information displayed. While recording, the screen displays a horizontal bar sound level meter.

The WS-320M uses only the Windows Media audio format codec. Other Olympus DVRs use the proprietary DSS format. I prefer the WMA format over the DSS format because the audio sounds more life-like. DSS format in SP or LP mode sounds harsh and full of compression artifacts. Recording in STHQ mode on the WS-320M with the built-in microphone produces satisfactory recordings but even better sounding recordings can be made using a high quality external microphone like the Sony ECM-DS70P or the Olympus ME51S. Overall, I liked the recordings on the WS-320M more than the recordings from my DS-2200. The DS-2200 tends to clip high volume sounds. Using a stereo dubbing / attenuator cable, I "ripped" some songs from a CD player to the WS-320M in STHQ mode. The "ripped" music sounded like FM radio quality or better. All of the voice recordings are file date-time stamped appropriately and date-time stamped internally. You can see the internal date with the program DSS Player (not included).

When I plugged the WS-320M into PC, Windows XP recognized it and installed it. There appears to be no driver available for Windows 98. A new drive appeared in the My Computer window. I was able download the recordings to the PC at about 50 MB per minute. I then uploaded some WMA format audiobook tracks to the WS-320M voice folders. The transfer rate uploading is about 26 MB per minute. This is faster than USB 1 and is comparable to many small mp3 music players. I was able to play the audiobook tracks in voice mode.

In general, the voice mode operation of the WS-320M is very similar to the operation of the DS-2200 or DS-2.

As a music player, the WS-320M is comparable to a Creative Muvo Nano / N200. The sound quality is good with a strong low end and a very low level of background hiss (only noticeable with sensitive earbuds). The volume levels range from bedtime quiet to painful. Music is transferred to the WS-320M by copying music files to the music folder or to the root. The WS-320M can handle two levels of folders (artist and albums for example). Navigation on the player is by folder and not by tags. The player uses mp3 tag information only for the screen display. This player can only play bitrates from 5 kbps to 256 kbps. It will not play 320k mp3 files.

This player has most of the functions of dedicated mp3 flash memory players. There are settings for RANDOM, REPEAT, REPEAT ONE, Play One Folder, Play All Folders, ROCK, FLAT, JAZZ, POP, User 5 band EQ, SRS WOW (surround sound / trubass). You can change the order of music tracks and delete music tracks. There is no bookmarking function and no sleep timer.

More information can be gleaned from the WS-320M user manual available for download from the Olympus website.

The WS-320M is a good player / recorder for a student. You can fit a week's worth of lectures on the recorder and still have about 500 mb left over to fill with music. I would not recommend it for a business person needing a true dictation recorder because of its small size and small controls. But for someone who wants to record meetings and seminars and listen to music, it is a good choice.

Pros:

Small size, good price benefit ratio, long battery life for a voice recorder, good construction, built-in USB connector, informative display, good quality voice recordings, WMA codec, dictation capabilities, external microphone input, date-time stamped recordings, plug and play for file/music transfers, and MP3/WMA music player with DRM support.

Cons:

Tiny controls, separate battery door (risk of loss), lesser quality built-in stereo microphone (typical of consumer level recorders), no remote control capability, no included dictation software (DSS Player Lite is available for free download), no included carry case or strap.

---

review by: date: 2006-06-09 rating:
Digital Voice Recorder and Music Player - yes!
This is an extremely light unit which could compete with the audio i-Pod since its massive 1GB memory can hold hours of good quality music. Playback through a pair of quality phones was very pleasing. It could do with a bit more output amplification though.
It can record an unimaginably long lecture or meeting in dictaphone mode. Physically its USB connection makes communications with a PC an absolute doddle.
I found that its microphone socket did not appear to accept a signal from an external stereo microphone unless that input was mono'ed.
Input sensitivity for both internal and external mic is automatic, so there was no way of boosting the internal mic or attenuating the external one.
Also its internal clock gained one hour per day which meant that I had to re-adjust the time each time I wanted to use the recorder.
No guarantee or warranty form was provided, so unless the defective product was returned to Amazon within the first 30 days, subsequent contact with the Olympus people became rather convoluted.

Amazon supported the product well and replaced the first one supplied and when the second one proved to have the same problems, offered me a complete refund.
Since I could not find another (non-Olympus) replacement, I decided to refuse the refund and accept the drawbacks as minor irritations.


review by: Mine's an Ardbeg date: 2006-06-02 rating:
Mac Tiger users- buy with confidence!
Great piece of kit. Records beautifully for my purposes (academic interviews and seminars). Audiophiles may not be impressed, but then are they ever? Controls are small but workable, menu system is clear and intuitive. The USB mass storage was recognised straight off by both my PC and Mac. The music player is excellent- the sound is clear and bright, beats my Sony Network Walkman hands down. More to the point, unlike the NW you don't need a horrible piece of software to download your music. Mac Tiger users may be put off by the need to use Windows Media (doesn't work properly on Tiger). Don't worry! You don't even need to use Windows Media Player, as they suggest- just drag and drop your music folders into the 'Music' folder. One star knocked off for the flimsy battery cover, but it would only be half off were that possible. Recommended.

One more thing- it isn't the same size as a Nano, it's slightly longer, so before you buy a case, do your measurements. Don't count on it fitting stuff designed for the Nano.

---

Similar products

Olympus ME-51S Stereo Microphone
Olympus ME-15 Tie Clip Microphone
Olympus TP-7 Multi Purpose Adapter
OLYMPUS CS112 bag WS300 310M 320M
Caselogic Small Hard Drive Case, EVA Outer, Black

---

Similar categories

Electronics & Photo . Categories . Portable Sound & Vision . Accessories . General AAS
Electronics & Photo . Categories . Sound & Vision . Accessories . General AAS
Electronics & Photo . Categories . Computing & Office . Office Products . Office Electronics . Voice Recorders . Digital

---

Accessories

Sennheiser HD202 Headphones
Exspect Universal MP3 Case with NXT Speakers
Duracell Ultra Batteries AAA 4 pack
Duracell AAA Plus 4 pack
Duracell Rechargeable Supreme Batteries AAA 4 pack

---