Customer Reviews
Low Battery could make the screen go from English to Chinese (or Japanese) mode.
When batteries go low or the device isn't used for a long time and batteries are replaced, it can suddenly give you a menu in Chinese or Japanese instead of English. I had to call Olympus customer support to fix. Fix is below:
1) Take off hold and put in voice mode. (2) Press 'display menu' button for a couple seconds to get to menu mode. (3) scroll down (using the lower end of the 'fast forward' button) by hitting it 6 times. (4) hit 'play' button once (5) scroll down once (using the fast 'forward button' again). (6) hit 'play' button once,(7) scroll down once (using the 'fast forward' button yet again), 8) hit 'play' button once. A bar will show up across the bottom of the screen (it takes a few seconds as the bar goes solid black). This reformats the recorder (you lose any recordings on it) and puts it back in English. You can try to download files before this to keep from losing any files on your recorder.
Quite nice
I've been using this recorder for about a month, buying it after reading a few reviews about its great sound quality. At first when I recorded my voice and then played it back in what I thought was HQ, I was somewhat dissapointed since it sounded okay, but not anything special. Then I realized it wasn't set at HQ, but at SP. So I tried again on HQ and was blown away. It didn't even sound like a recording, it sounded crystal clear and lifelike. A very compact and small device, operating it is extremely simple as there's five folders to have recordings in, all you do is press the folder button to switch between folders then hit record. Also the case is robust, actual metal that makes the recorder seem indestructible. The battery life depends on what you do with it. Just recording doesn't drain the battery much, however having the internal speaker running or listening to recordings on headphones drains the battery in just a few hours. For me having rechargeables was a must. Overall being able to record lectures in such great quality(with HQ) makes this purchase worth it, not to mention that for dictation purposes voice is crystal clear.
Also a comment to the reviewer who talked about the newer WS models, I was interested in this and sought out to read some reviews of these recorders to see if they actually were a better buy. However the reviews I read weren't too great, as one said that despite having a lot more memory, the WS had dissapointing sound quality. I don't know about the DS-2, but just make sure to read up before deciding.
good sound quality and couldn't be easier to use
This device couldn't be more intuitive. Without having to look at the technical manual, I was able to get the thing set up, record multiple tracks, and download the tracks to my computer. All this within about five minutes of taking it out of the box.
I've been using this for recording interviews, as well as music tracks from my mariachi band so I can learn the songs. The sound quality is GREAT, and I have no problems hearing dialogue and chords clearly the first time through. And, the thing is ridiculously portable. If there's something better out there, that would simply be overkill...
