Rating: 
Summary: Misleading Package Information
Review: I purchased the Olympus DW-90 over other digital voice recorders because of its ability to download to a PC via USB cable. The package stated that it was compatible with, among other OS, Windows 98. When I attempted to install the included software, it would not install. Finally, in small print, the manual informed me that the software would not run on an OS that was upgraded from Windows 95. I emailed Olympus tech support and they confirmed that condition and informed me that the package provided that information, so that I could have made an informed purchase. Digging the package out of the trash to return the recorder, I looked it over carefully. No where does it inform the customer of the actual capability of the recorder. Now I question all the claims made for these things, particularly Olympus. The ...(website's)tech specs aren't any better.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I purchased the Olympus DW-90 Voice Recorder to record ambient sounds for some web work I'm doing. I found the DW-90 easy to operate after browsing the manual. Loading the included software was a non-item. Once you record a sound you just plug the unit into a USB port and the software automatically pops up on the computer screen. You then push one button and it uploads the file or files to the computer. Fast, simple. You select the file (it records in .wav file format) with your mouse and hit the play button and there you are. I'm into recording sounds of doors creaking, birds chirping, water dripping, etc. I record outdoors and in, on the hiking trail, voices in the park, the crackle of a fire in a fireplace, children's voices. In short, I record anything that might make a digital scene come to life. I also use the sounds for link buttons: the ping of a pencil on a drinking glass or china, the crumpling of an aluminum can, fist on a tabletop. Once I've uploaded the sound, I open it in my sound editing software (Sound Forge) and go to work on it. The sound that comes from the DW-90 in HQ mode is crystal clear. Since it's designed to record voices, I was worried that it might muffle background noise, but found this to not be true. Everything the ear hears, the DW-90 records (not the same frequency response, of course), which can at times be a problem for me. Human hearing is selective, so we don't ordinarily hear the refrigerator running or whir of our computer's fan. But they will all be there when you replay a DW-90 sound file. The DW-90 is smaller than it looks in the pictures, ~3.5 inches in length, and extremely light weight, so you can take it anywhere. But it definitely has its limitations. File storage volume is one. Just make sure that prior to purchasing the unit you evaluate its specifications against your requirements. I'm immensely pleased with it, but then I'm not trying to record a one-hour lecture in HQ mode (limit 22 min) or LP mode (limit 90 min) where so many of the reviewers here on Amazon have complained about sound quality.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Small Capacity
Review: I purchased this thinking that I was getting a recorder that would actually hold 90 minutes of audio. Unfortunately that capacity is only available for "LP" mode which is highly distorted. HQ and SP modes record very well, but only plan on getting 20-30 minutes of use out of it before the memory is full.The PC connection was not automatic, despite the instruction manual comments that no additional software was required. On the whole, I found no little to no support material available on the Olympus website. I returned the recorder and am still looking for something <$100 that provides 2-3 hours of high quality recording with a PC connection.
Rating:
Summary: Very Small Capacity
Review: I purchased this thinking that I was getting a recorder that would actually hold 90 minutes of audio. Unfortunately that capacity is only available for "LP" mode which is highly distorted. HQ and SP modes record very well, but only plan on getting 20-30 minutes of use out of it before the memory is full. The PC connection was not automatic, despite the instruction manual comments that no additional software was required. On the whole, I found no little to no support material available on the Olympus website. I returned the recorder and am still looking for something <$100 that provides 2-3 hours of high quality recording with a PC connection.
Rating:
Summary: Very Small Capacity
Review: I purchased this thinking that I was getting a recorder that would actually hold 90 minutes of audio. Unfortunately that capacity is only available for "LP" mode which is highly distorted. HQ and SP modes record very well, but only plan on getting 20-30 minutes of use out of it before the memory is full. The PC connection was not automatic, despite the instruction manual comments that no additional software was required. On the whole, I found no little to no support material available on the Olympus website. I returned the recorder and am still looking for something <$100 that provides 2-3 hours of high quality recording with a PC connection.
Rating: 
Summary: Handy, lots of features, not enough space
Review: I really like this little recorder. It's quite small, has lots of features like 3 folders, voice activation, hold (so you don't accidentally press a button), unidirectional/omnidirectional recording (record from one direction or all directions), and good control over the files. It also has very easy-to-use USB connectivity to download the files to a computer. I has everything I need, except for one big problem. As the previous reviewer noted, the LP recording mode is hard to make out what's said. The best way of describing it is that most of the consonants are lost. Instead of hearing "Jim is going to the kitchen" you hear "Chim ith going do da gitchen", which makes LP mode rather useless. Which leaves me with SP (33 min) and HQ (22 min) modes. Don't get me wrong, SP sounds really good and HQ sounds crystal clear, but they just aren't enough time. I am a student and got this mainly for taking notes in class. And when a class is 50 minutes or more, 33 minutes of recording time just won't cut it. I'm sure that this recorder would work great for someone dictating, but it just doesn't cut it for students.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good sound, missing some features
Review: I was actually pleasantly surprised at the sound quality this unit gives, considering that there is no way to attach an external microphone. If you look on the Olympus website, you'll see that the DW90 has a sampling frequency of 22 kHz in HQ mode. That's better than the norm of 8 to 16 kHz that many others use (although not as good as something like the DM10 or new DS-2, which record at CD quality 44.1 kHz). The frequency response is only 300 to 5,800Hz, so I wouldn't try recording a symphony, but that's comparable to many of these voice recorders (again that DS-2 actually covers 100 to 17,000Hz. Impressive). If you're willing to download to PC frequently and don't need to capture more than 20 minutes at a time, it's a pretty good little device.
It's also impressive that even after my wife dropped the recorder in the bath, it still works. Now the batteries don't last long, and I can't rewind, but everything else works great.
Rating:
Summary: Buyer Beware! USB Software and Hardware Don't Work!
Review: I'm surprised that no one is complaining about the poor quality of the USB software and/or the USB hardware on this device. I've had nothing but problems under 3 different OS versions (Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP), 3 different computers, and 2 identical DW-90 digital recorders. In all cases, the "Digital Wave Player" software will lose connection with the recorder within a few seconds of plugging it in to the USB cable. Under Windows XP, the connection isn't lost for 6-7 seconds (yippie!) so you still have a chance to download *some* of the WAV files before the connection is lost, but folks, this "workaround" is PATHETIC! What's worse, Olympus's web site has no updated drivers for this recorder. In fact, the DW-90 doesn't even show up in the dropdown for "Digital Voice Recorders". Gee, I wonder why? I've sent email to Olympus describing this issue; if they come back with anything enlightening I'll be sure to update this post on Amazon. In the meantime, don't buy this recorder unless you don't need USB capabilites (...but then isn't that was made this recorder so appealing in the first place?).
Rating:
Summary: Proved with time
Review: I've been using this recorder for about 5 months now, and I love it now just as much as I did when I first purchased it. One thing that I like very much about the design is that the Erase button is extremely hard to accidentally push (and that, twice) - which shows someone was thinking when they designed it. The software installed perfectly, and works perfectly. I am very satisfied with this little recorder; it does not weigh much, but it gets the job done - and very well at that.
Rating:
Summary: Proved with time
Review: I've been using this recorder for about 5 months now, and I love it now just as much as I did when I first purchased it. One thing that I like very much about the design is that the Erase button is extremely hard to accidentally push (and that, twice) - which shows someone was thinking when they designed it. The software installed perfectly, and works perfectly. I am very satisfied with this little recorder; it does not weigh much, but it gets the job done - and very well at that.
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