Product Description

This pocket-sized recorder is sleek in style and powerful in performance with over 300 hours of continuous recording capability. The easy-to-use thumbpad makes for quick and convenient operation of functions like file management, choosing playback and recording modes and more. Timer recording and voice activation provide excellent versatility.

Product Details

• Color: Silver
• Brand: Olympus
• Model: VN-5000
• Platform: Windows
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: .74" h x 1.45" w x 4.02" l, .14 pounds

Features

• Professional-grade digital voice recorder
• Records over 300 hours of audio; HQ, SP, and LP recording modes
• Voice activated and timer recording modes for versatility
• Easy to read LCD display
• Powered by two AAA batteries; 25 hour battery life

From the Manufacturer
With 512 MB of built-in flash memory, the Olympus VN-5000 Digital Voice Recorder provides over 300 hours of continuous recording. Recordings can be organized in up to four folders (each folder stores up to 100 files for easy file management). Key features include a large LCD display for keeping tabs on recording status, battery life, and more, an easy to use thumb pad and file management system, and HQ, SP, and LP recording modes. The VN-5000 also provides voice activated and timer recording for maximum flexibility and usability. Other great features include slow and fast playback modes for listening to audio 25-percent slower or 50-percent faster than real time. The VN-5000 is powered by two AAA batteries.

Customer Reviews

No bells and whistles, but who needs them
Back to basics. This Olympus DVR works just fine for recording mock therapy sessions in my psychology class. It's easy to use. The sound reproduction is clear. It has a long battery life.

I'm not a technie or a teenager. So navigating digital equipment isn't organic to me. I need instructions. The more cookbook-like, the better. Before I bought this model, I considered purchasing a similarly priced Sony model because after all I had a number of other Sony products in my audio visual stable. But, eek, reviews of Sony's murky instructions scared me off. The Olympus instructions sheet isn't the best--pictures instead of words. But when I got stuck, I called the Olympus toll-free line, and got through right away to a friendly customer service rep, who easily resolved my issue.

One nit: The "Hold" button is really the on/off switch. I'm not sure why Olympus doesn't call it like it is.
And a caveat: You can't transfer recordings from this DVR directly into a computer. You'll have a pay more to get this feature.

good performance/poor design
I have owned three or four digital voice recorders over the years and don't have high demands. I mostly use it to record reminders while commuting. This one performs well enough (good voice clarity), however the design is very poor: 1.the record button is not recessed so it regularly starts recording when in my pocket; 2. recording requires pressing two different buttons, one to record and another to stop recording; 3. erasing a message is a three step process that requires pressing three different buttons. This is not the recorder to use while driving! My old SONY ICD-B5 was much easier to use and thinner, if a little heavier.

Amazing tool for implementing a GTD system
It's the first recording device I ever owned and I'm extremely happy with this purchase.

WHY BUY SUCH A THING:
1. if you have watched THE SIXTH SENSE, you should have remembered that Dr.
Malcolm Crowe used such a device to record down any thoughts he had after he met
his patients. IMHO, since most of my inventive ideas pop into my mind when it's most
inconvenient for me to take notes of such fleeting thoughts, a recorder is by
far the best device for taking them down. Even if most cellphones nowadays have some
functionality similar to a recorder, their performance and usability are much
worse.
2. David Allen's masterpiece about time management, Getting things done, also
recommends various kinds of in-boxes to store all the internal commitments you
may have anytime and anywhere, and a recorder is much easier to carry with you
than paper and pen and to use in various places out of office.

PROS:
+++ VCVA: this is a killing feature! it will only be recording when there is
sound louder than the threshold you set, so all silences in lectures, meetings
and dictations when you are thinking will not appear in the recordings! REALLY
GREAT FEATURE!
+ can be a good toy for children; help them musing over various sounds in Nature
++ amazing battery life: though I didn't use it intensively, that the included
batteries still being indicated as 'FULL' after 4 month of using, is extremely
satisfacory.
++ easy management of recordings: there is A, B, C, D, 4 folders for storing
different kinds of notes, and I found this very useful. I use A as an in-box for
my GTD system, B to store memorable quotes and sayings I encountered when
reading books, C and D for storing any thougths coming into my mind when I brainstorm
about a project.
+ LED indication of recording status:

CONS:
- no appending/inserting: recordings cannot be edited later. But I think it's
not a big problem since nobody is going to use it record an album.
- no connection to computers (for models without suffix of PC in their model
names): I don't care about the absence of this feature, since I only use it to
temporarily store things that I would never want to preserve for later use. If
some students want to use this to record lectures, they may want to buy models
that have a PC/Mac connection interface.

CONCLUSION:
A must buy for any intellectual worker. I would recommend this to
anybody!