Hi,
I've been reading the posts here Re: the DS-30 lately. I'm a
naturalist, birder, etc. and I've recently become very interested in
nature recording. I've collected all of the info that I could from
the web. I have a small collection of Olympus recorders that I use
for my bat detectors. I thought that the DS-30 might have been a
good step up, but now I'm second guessing my purchase. I'm concerned
about the WMA recording format - I would have preferred WAV
(especially for my bat detectors).
The DS-30 is sitting on the table un-opened: because now, I'm
thinking I may want to return it and get a more serious recorder.
Like the Zoom H4 or other units in that price range.
I also purchased a new ATR55 mic - real low budget stuff...
To be honest, about 95% of my recording will be trying to record
Nighthawks from about 25 yards away and recording the output from my
frequency division & heterodyne bat detectors.
Would you, or any other folks in this group think that the DS-30
would be enough for my purposes?
--- In "oryoki2000" <>
wrote:
>
> Previous mention of the Olympus DS-30 pocket dictation machine
piqued
> my interest, so I took a quick look.
>
> I can't recommend the DS-30 as a primary recorder, or even as
a "point
> and shoot" recorder for casual recording. The recorder's preamp
is a
> bit too noisy for these duties.
>
> However, this $100 machine is great for note-taking in the field.
All
> files have date and time stamp so you can match them up with your
> activities. The DS-30 works OK for capturing nature sound "notes,"
> too. My impromptu recording of quail with chicks on my patio was
clear.
>
> The DS-30's internal speaker has 250 mW of power at full volume,
> enough to share a recording with a friend. When I captured the
songs
> of my resident mockingbird and played them back, he flew over in a
hurry.
>
> The DS-30 does double duty as a personal music player. The machine
> can play files in MP3 and WMA formats. Unlike most voice
recorders,
> the DS-30 can record stereo WMA files, too.
>
> The advantage of using WMA format is twofold. First, WMA files
sound
> good despite being strongly compressed. Second, WMA files can be
> converted easily to WAV format for use by audio editors. Most
pocket
> note-taking machines use proprietary recording formats that need
> special software to edit.
>
> The DS-30 is designed to work with music libraries created using
> iTunes and Windows Media Player. If you have imported your bird
song
> recordings into either program, you can easily transfer the songs
to
> the DS-30. The DS-30's file structure has 128 folders for music
> files, and each folder can hold 200 files. During playback, the
DS-30
> displays the long file name, artist and album information.
>
> The DS-30 is very small and so light you can barely feel it in your
> pocket. Yet it has a useful range of recording and playback
features.
> One of my favorites is recording using a timer. If you want to
sample
> nighttime sounds, just set the start and stop times. The recorder
> will wake up on schedule, and you can stay in bed.
>
> If anyone is interested in learning more about the Olympus DS-30,
send
> me email and I'll share my notes.
>
> --oryoki
>
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