Thursday, January 15, 2009

Which Digital Voice Recorder Suits Me? Focus Groups & Meetings

Each week The Transcription People will be giving advice on digital voice recorders that would best suit certain individuals and circumstances. Last week we looked at a digital voice recorders that suit a single speaker, note and letter taking professional, these types of recorders are commonly known as digital dictaphones.

This week we are looking at a digital voice recorder that can be used to record focus groups or meetings. The key with recorders for this type of scenario is that they have to pickup large numbers of speakers spread across a fairly wide area. Maybe five ors six people around a table, 14 people in a boardroom or a large number in a classroom o lecture hall.

Below is a summary of what this typical user needs:
  • I will mainly be recording large meetings or focus groups.
  • I may want to record single speaker notes and letters but I do not require a rewind/review function. I record in one take.
  • I am ok using a recorder with batteries but I also want the ability to plug my recorder into mains power.
  • I want the ability to record directly to my computers hard drive bypassing the inbuilt memory (Windows only).
  • I do not need the ability to rewind audio, hear what was just said and then tag audio on the end, much like the old style analogue dictaphones. I am happy just hitting record to start and stop to end the recording.
  • I use Windows XP. I use Windows Vista. I use a Mac.
Then the recorders best suited to you are:


The Olympus DS-30, DS-40 or DS-50 all offer outstanding audio quality and pickup and are perfect for focus groups and large meetings. They record in .WMA (Windows Media Audio) format which can be easily played back on any Windows or Mac computer.

Any questions about the Olympus DS-30/40/50 can be directed to the friendly people at Dictate Australia who are always happy to help with advice an information.

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