5 Portable Digital Voice Recorders That Make Podcasting Easy

August 28, 2008

Special Series of Articles: "Podcast Production"

If you’re planning on recording interviews, a simple set-up including a quiet location and a portable voice recorder should do the trick. Here are 5 choices of portable digital voice recorders that deliver great digital audio.

1. Olympus WS300M Digital Voice Recorder

Recording, sound quality and storage capacity that doesn’t make a big dent in your wallet - if those are the qualities you’re looking for in a digital voice recorder, this is the digital voice recorder you want. With 256 MB flash memory, the WS-300M voice recorder can store documents and images as well as audio. As for recording, it boasts of up to 68 hours of recording time (or about 66 songs) with features such as index marking and a variety of playback modes. And the sound? Superior for the price.

2. Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder

The Olympus DS-30 is one of the company’s most sensitive recorders and is a great pick for those looking for quality sound recording. The built-in stereo microphone has three sensitivity settings and you can add an external mic if you like. The DS-30 digital voice recorder has up to 67 hours of recording time in LP mode, voice activation recording, five different recording modes, 256 MB flash memory and plays and stores MP3 and WMA files. A USB cable for quick file transfer and DSS Player Software for easy editing of your voice files are both included.

3. Olympus WS-311M Digital Voice Recorder

This one makes the list of best digital voice recorders because of its combination of features and price. The WS-311M has recording features such as a built-in stereo microphone, the ability to set up to 16 index marks within a file, slow and fast playback and voice filtering that are usually only found in higher priced digital voice recorders. To transfer files, all you have to do is plug the recorder into a computer’s USB port. Other features include 138 hours of recording time in LP mode, 512 MB internal Flash Memory and the ability to play and store both MP3 and WMA files. No editing software is included.

4. Sony ICD-SX57 Digital Voice Recorder

This digital voice recorder has two big selling points; a good amount of recording time (95 hours in LP mode) and the ability to play MP3 files. Whether you care about the second of these or not, this is a fine recorder with all the features you need for recording, playing back and organizing your voice files, such as voice operated recording, overwrite, cue and review, easy search and three message folders. File transfer is by USB cable and Digital Voice Editor software is included.

5. Sony ICD-U60 Digital Voice Recorder

It’s sleek and stylish but that’s not what earns Sony’s ICD-U60 digital voice recorder a place on this list; it earns a spot because of its features. The ICD-U60 has functions such as Digital Voice Up (which increases the volume of the person speaking when recorded at a distance from the unit) and Digital Pitch Control (which lets you hear recordings at slower than normal speeds to facilitate transcribing or editing) which I find really handy. It also has 512MB of built-in flash memory, a built-in USB connector for quick file transfer, and up to 251 hours of recording time in LP mode.