Rating: 
Summary: Once bitten, twice shy
Review: The Good: A nice unit that does voice recording well. The Bad:
1) Does not play back high end mp3 (limit 168 kbits)
2) Requires use of dumb software to load mp3.
3) Software does not work on Win 2000 server/Terminal server
4) No Linux support
5) No Mac Support I never understand why a company shots itself in the foot and limits the appeal of it product. When you attach the unit to a computer via the USB, all operating systems I tried can read the drive via a file manager (Linux, Win, and Mac). You can also drop MP3 onto the device easily. However, you can not play them back unless you use their software to place the music onto the device. In my situation I did not have a computer that would do this since I run Linux, Windows 2000 server, and Mac. You would think I had my bases covered, but their software would not run on the Windows 2000 terminal server and the don't offer support for non-Windows platforms. What happens is they need to place something on the smartcard to enable mp3 playback by the device. This is probably some copy protection utility. Why Olympus cares about this is beyond me.
Personnally, I believe in copyrights and believe if you want something you should pay for it. That said, it up to Olympus to provide a product that does not aggrevate their users with special setups. Once bitten twice shy - My number one concern that has bit me in the past is when your dependent on a very specific piece of software. In a few years who knows if the software will be upgraded or even if you can get a copy. I have lots of old software that no longer runs properly or is so dated that I can not use it anymore. Sadly, this also means I would lose important features of this device such as playing MP3. The lesson for Olympus is just to stick to the standards and don't treat your customers as criminals. You should be able to drop mp3 onto this device using a file manager and play them back as you see fit. (Note: Buried in their manual about half way back is a Microsoft license agreement. Why I have to agree to a Microsoft license agreement when I purchase an Olympus product that I thought had nothing to do with MS is hard to understand. If Olympus want to work with Microsoft I am all for it but they should make their own agreements with Microsoft and leave the consumer out of it.)
Rating: 
Summary: Great product
Review: The quality of this product is excellent. Voices from approx. 10 feet away are clear. Great for meetings, or short voice messages. Software works flawlessly. NiMH batteries last over 10 hours, and included 64mb smartmedia card will record for about 10 hrs. using LP mode.
Rating: 
Summary: Win2000Pro crashes when installing the software
Review: The recorder itself works ok but installing the software crashed my pc several time, and I can't connect the pc to the recorder. so actually I wasted a lot of money for a stand alone voice recorder.
Rating:
Summary: FOR WIN XP/2000 USERS <>
Review: Well, I purchased the DM-1 to record my college lectures, and all I have to say that it works beautifully - it totally records all the lectures with clarity and has such a LONG recording time.Yet, if you do purchase the DM-1, remember that the CD installation kit included does NOT include the most recent drivers for mp3 playback in windows XP or 2000 (out of my fustration, I tried both OS's to make the mp3 player work). If you are encountering this problem, all you have to do is go to: ... and download the most recent drivers. In my case, what I eventually had to do was uninstall all my olympus drivers and jukebox, reinstall them, update the jukebox to 7.5 using the jukebox update (under help), and finally install the drivers given to me by olympus. This finally made the "connect-to-pc" error go away and play the mp3's wonderfully. I hope this explanation helps those who have encountered the same problems - I can only assure you that once you just upload the drivers to the DM-1, you will be very satisfied with the mp3 playback.
Rating:
Summary: Great for Mac users, too
Review: What's with all the carping? My DM-1 records beautifully in a large conference room; I set the switch to CONF instead of DICT. As for the Mac software: it downloaded well and installed well and works as well as the Windows software for playback functions. Meanwhile, for installing MP3's, despite what Olympus says (that music can only be installed on the DM-1 from Windows), the truth is that installing is actually MUCH EASIER in Mac. You just plug in the USB cable and turn on the recorder, which shows up as a hard drive on your desktop. Then drag and drop any MP3's you want (probably from iTunes). Copying is fast and precise, and you can check the playlists and available disk space, throwing away and adding files as you wish. Couldn't be easier. So don't listen to all the carping, and if you're a Mac user, don't listen to Olympus itself.
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