I just got a new (well, used) digital recorder from a guy on Amazon Marketplace in the mail today. It’s the Olympus W-10, which doesn’t seem like it’s being made anymore, but I got it because people praised its decent quality microphone, and I really wanted to be able to connect it to my computer via the USB interface. I had a digital recorder already, the Sony ICD-8300, and I used it just fine for like a year. And it holds a lot (64MB compared to the Olympus’ 16MB). But it didn’t have a USB interface, which I quickly realized I really wanted. I’ve recorded a lot of song ideas on the thing, and the only way to get them to my computer is via the headphone jack into my soundcard. Which is just so much more cumbersome than USB. So, I decided to give up some storage space for a cheap one with a USB interface.

Anyway, one of the complaints I had about the Sony was that there was TON (seriously A TON, ONE METRIC TONNE) of microphone hiss. Just the amount of touching from pressing record and setting it down would be all HISSSISISISISISISI. Then there was hiss in the background of the recordings. I didn’t care as much till I started playing around with the Olympus. The improvement in quality is drastic. And USB! And it also has a little camera on it, which seems to work OK, but needs a LOT of light to even know that it can take a photo. The only drawback is the storage space, but that is easily fixed by the ease with which I can copy the files to the computer (they come out as WAVs) and start over.

The new one didn’t come with the USB cable (luckily it’s a standard USB A to Mini B 5pin cable) OR the software, but I easily found the software online and have a USB A to Mini B for our camera. I also ordered up a couple more from a guy on eBay for $1.99 each. So, pretty sweet all around. The thing was $30 including shipping. My Sony was over $50 I think. Now I just have to get all the ideas off it, clean out the memory and give it to my wife to mess around with, as she wants to do that. And I let her do what she wants. I’m cool like that.