Customer Reviews
Olympus ds-40 
2008-05-29
This is an excellent voice recorder, but don't get it if you wish to record live music or your practice sessions with a guitar or piano. I tried it and the resulting sound was just plain awful--just one mushy sound. I returned it to Amazon and bought the LS-10 which just arrived today. I've already tried it out and it's a hundred times better than the DS-40 for the purpose of recording live music.
Excellent item - louzy Olympus Support 
2008-05-16
I purchased this item on Feb 2008 and on May 2008 it started having problems with recording. I bought it from the States and I live in Greece so I went to local Olympus service to find out that I had to ship it back to US in order to get support otherwise I would have to pay about 70 USD in order to get it fixed. One way or another I contacted US Olympus support via email and after a week I still have no reply what to do. One more example on how excellent products are buried by companies who do not respect the consumer.
Get a Sony / Panasonic or something else. At least they reply to emails.
Amazing! 
2008-05-10
I LOVE it! Whenever I play back my recordings on the stereo, my wife says it's like having two of me in the room because the sound is so amazingly clear! I can't imagine how this product could have been made any better.
Olmpus DS-40 Digital Recorder 2008-05-04
This recorder is a first rate choice. It is priced mid-range for products of its type, but its quality of performance is extremely high. It has different playback speeds so you can speed up or slow down what you have recorded. The sound on playback speed is not distorted. Battery life is very good.
The most impressive attribute of the Olympus DS-40 is the sound quality of what you are recording. I have had other digital recorders and this is by far the best.
It has three recording mode selections - dictation, lecture, or conference. Most frequently I use lecture and I can pick up voices with excellent clarity.
Given its weight and small inconspicuous size, the quality of the recordings is outstanding. If I had to repurchase another mobile recorder, this would be the one I would select.
Oahuan 2008-05-02
I bought this little recorder and its the best thing I bought. The sound is great for such a little recorder and the sub files is very useful. Great product.
works as expected 2008-04-23
In addition to capturing over 136 hours of meetings, interviews and other critical information expected of digital recorders, you can download and create podcasts with the DS-40. The super-high-quality sound is also great for listening to audio books and music - it's the ideal all-in-one audio device.
learn the basics first, then start recording to save hassles 
2008-04-15
* good sound, but learn about various recording levels (ST XQ, ST HQ, HQ, SP, LP) first before recording. the long recording time they promise is actually LP-setting, which is a narrower width/lower quality of recording.
* advice: set the VCA as soon as you get it to prevent accidently shutting off mid-recording without you knowing it. familiarize yourself with mic levels early, as well as noise reduction, lowcut filter.
* stylish, thin, light, easy to navigate once you learn the basic ropes. I use it to teach workshops and lectures, myself speaking as well as participants across the room. I prop it up by a speaker, or keep it on me with a collar mic.
* REALLY needs more memory though, like 4 or 8gb, (I'm spoiled after using ipods for years, even a shuffle with more memory than the ds-30, 40, and 50 combined) but at a reasonable price. 512mb or 1GB doesn't allow you to "store" recordings in there and keep recording!! So, you have to be diligent about downloading the files onto your computer to avoid filling memory that prevents you from recording when you need to.
* MAC compatibility? YES>>> Download: Flip4Mac, switchmac, you don't need to buy QuickTime Pro. Open files in QuickTime and drag them onto your desktop of Music folder.
A Powerful Professional Tool 2008-04-07
The Olympus DS-40 delivers on its promise as a professional recording device. Its combination of small size, bright and informative display and ease of use, along with long battery life and excellent audio fidelity, makes it a must-buy for many users. The issues that hold it back from a five-star rating are rather loud handling noise--it picks up a great deal of noise from your hand while the holding it, rendering it virtually unusable for newsgathering or "found audio" music recording--and its WMA-only recording format. Professional audio users will easily convert Windows Media Audio files to other formats, but the handling noise and lack of a high-bitrate .WAV recording option keeps this otherwise excellent and affordable device primarily in the on-the-desk dictation category.
Secretaries vote yes! 2008-04-04
I purchased this recorder to test it out for recording meetings in a medium sized conference room and transcribing notes . We had previously used Lanier handheld tape recorders and a transcription machine and wanted to update to digital. Right out of the box I was hooked. It is so user friendly. The software that comes with it is easy to use. All the features for transcribing are right on your screen, no need to buy any periphial components to transcribe. You can set up subdirectories and really organize all your files. Any questions we've had have been addressed by the online help. The quality of the recording is fantastic. It picks up a whisper! The background noise reduction does its job also. After a couple of meetings I ordered 4 more for all my secretarial staff. A helpful tip I picked up from another review - buy a hardcover glasses case to pack it in. I bought one of the covers with the first one but it is soft and offers no protection and was more money. Great product. I'd recommend it to all secretaries looking for a new machine.
lonman 2008-04-04
We are very pleased with this device. Bought it almost a year ago for my wife to record lectures in class. We were amazed at how well it picked up the voice of the instructor without hardly any background noise. This device has many features that are easy to use. Excellent folder system for saving individual lectures. Comes with software to enable computer interface for saving/playback of files. Has high quality playback from the recorder. I fully recommend this little unit for anyone desiring to record classroom lectures. It's just like being in the class. Also, plenty of room for hours of storage. This device is worth every penny.
