Olympus Olympus WS-822 Blue Voice Recorders with 4 GB Built-In-Memory

Terrific recorder. I wrote some detailed comments in the review section for the silver version (same model) previously, so won't repeat here.

All the features that i need. I can record my reading sessions, automatically cut silence spaces, and speed up to 1.7 without loss of quality. If you like it you can change the voice pitch to be more comfortable for you. Lightweight, acceptable construction. Buy it now!! ;) ... PD: The external speaker is of very poor quality. Battery life very extensive, a lot of hours, and come with included rechargeable battery, and you can charge de battery with USB port (connecting the device and pressing ok button).

Great with a good pair of noise cancelling stereo mics if used for transcribing with Dragon Naturally Speaking.

This is a very nice little recorder with many features. The fact that it has a built-in USB connector and is compatible with dragon software makes transcriptions a breeze, even though proof reading is a must. This recorder will be a great help during interviews for book research.

I purchased this to record a series of training sessions to make review easy. However, this device has a number of issues; I'll try to return it for a replacement. 1) the battery can be full, but the screen will say it's empty. if you remove and reinstall the battery, it seems to reset and work fine for hours. 2) I'm not able to charge the unit while is being used... Not sure if that's a design flaw or a defect. 3) When you plug it in to a USB hub port, you have to press "ok" to start charging. During this time, the device is unusable... no functions work. If you don't press ok to charge, and say, press "record," it goes in to a "please wait" state with a moving "magnifying glass image." After several minutes, I tried to turn it off, but no buttons work when it's plugged in to USB hub. Seems to work ok when plugged directly in to USB port.... Problem is, where is the USB Port on my computer? In the back... not convenient.As for the known "good" functions, I don't think the menu choices / icons are intuitive. The screen is very small (as expected), but the menu choices just don't seem very logical or intuitive. I guess I'm just used to the "ease of use" of today's "smart" devices, and I don't think this device has kept up.The quality of the recordings is very good. No issues with that. I think my unit may have some defects.11-2015: Update: I decided to keep recorder as I had had it over a month and committed to just get used to it since the quality of the recordings is good. Fast forward 2 months: Today, I recorded a training event with the intention of reviewing the recording along with my notes and slides. However, all my files are gone. I have no idea why, but all my files were somehow erased.Buyer beware! Maybe I got a bad one, but I do not recommend this product.