Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-853, Black – V415131BU000

Bought this for my daughter who is a journalist. She loves it. Having a reliable device that makes high quality recordings is critical for her work. She raves about it. I with I could say I need one myself because I would love a good reason to get one. Instead I’ll have to concoct a flimsy excuse.

Al no contar con un cable para conectarla al ordenador, se convierte en poco práctica porque no siempre hay un puerto USB en posición horizontal. El audio es de buena calidad y la relación costo-calidad también lo es.

This little recorder is very easy to use. It seems complicated, with all the folders and stuff, but if you just save it it will auto save it and you can drag it to whatever folder you want.
It has a little stand so you can prop it up to point at the person being recorded. If it loses battery, just plug it in to your computer for a while. It can’t record while charging, but at least it doesn’t have to have a whole separate charger.

Helpful tip: if you have to finish the recording and don’t have time to upload it (just plug it into the computer and it will upload in SECONDS) then DON’T turn it off. When you’re ready, click the middle “OK” button so the screen comes back on and you will keep your recording.

This is a great recorder for what it’s meant to do. Note that if you need the words transcribed, you will need to get a transcribing service.

(4 stars because the sound quality is good but can’t seem to get some thicker accents, and that’s kind of why I need it, because I can’t understand thick accents well- I’m hard of hearing)

I would highly recommend this recorder to anyone who needs to record lectures, meetings, etc. It comes with a protective sleeve and is easy to carry around.

The only problem with this recorder is that it’s not possible to append to the end of a recording after a pause has timed out; you have to create a new file instead of continuing on the old one. This was a feature that my old Sony recorder had, and I assumed it was a pretty standard feature on any brand. I’d buy another Sony next time because of this.

This is the third digital Olympus VR I have used. I use these for recording field notes on biological surveys and similar outdoor activities.

I bought it on Amazon UK, but from the US site as it was mysteriously cheaper than the same one from UK. I could wait for the longer delivery time. It means guarantee leaflet info is only for North America but that wouldn’t affect my statutory rights.

New features I like:
– the built in pop-up USB connection allows charging of the supplied rechargeable batteries from any USB port and transfer of files to a PC etc without needing a wire, although that is also possible.
– recording time is massive
– rechargeable batteries supplied. I could use my own rechargeable ones in previous versions, but this one has a setting to say which is in use – I’m not sure what it does, perhaps prevents charging if you set to non-rechargeable?

Features I don’t like:
– it is important to me, for my records and other reasons, to be able to easily see the exact time and date of each recording as I scroll through them. While this information is displayed as you advance yo next recording, this is for an extremely short moment of time, then being replaced by play symbol and other info. I’ve searched every function and can’t find a way round this. there is a calendar index, but only by date. The file name doesn’t indicate this information. I wouldn’t have bought such a device knowingly, so can’t give above 3 stars – it might not matter to another purchaser though. The previous recorder displayed this info by holding down one of the buttons – this one doesn’t.
– the on-off power switch feels flimsy, I am not confident this will last.
– the power-on time is rather slow compared to previous two recorders.
– you need to wait a second before speaking after pressing record or you can lose a few syllables.
– the power switch is on the right so needs to be used with right hand. My previous recorder was ‘left handed’ which was better for me when using with another implement

Other features are as expected. Sound quality is good but not amazing. Battery life didn’t seem fantastic from new, but I always carry spares.

I was disappointed. I owned an earlier model (the WS-822) that I really liked. With this new model Olympus seems to have crippled the software. I can no longer see a list of the files that are in a folder. And strangely, even though there is a “Music” folder, I can’t access it. I can only access the folder called “Recorder”. You can create your own folders (when connected to a computer) but you can’t access the files from the device. With the previous version I could create my own folders and store audio files more efficiently and conveniently. Also, even though you can add additional storage with an SD card you can’t access both the internal storage and the SD card — you have to choose one or the other.

Biggest irritation is that, for every file on the device, it also displays an “alias” file that starts with “._” and is blank. As I add more files, this has become very irritating to scroll through lots of false files. I can’t seem to get rid of them and they don’t show up when I connect to my computer.

Not a total loss however. For the price the unit performs well. Audio quality is decent. Playback volume through headphones is a bit better than the WS-822. The new version features two rechargeable batteries — nice touch. The power controls on the new unit are better than the older version — it’s less likely to turn on accidentally in your backpack.