Samsung Yepp VY-H200S Digital Voice Recorder

Rating:
Summary: I was pleasantly surprised!
Review: This is a very nice, well-designed all-around voice recorder. I owned an Olympus VN-3600 which costs something $10-20 less, yet is such a very poor device compared to this Samsung Yepp.
Compared to the Olympus, the Yepp VY-H200S has:
64 MB of storage vs. 8 MB (64 MB should be pleanty for everything except heavy MP3 useage)
5 folders vs. 3
MP3 player functionality -- I've tested it and it's worked nicely -- good quality, clean sound, too. I didn't expect this as such an added bonus for this voice recorder.

Even at high-compression, low sound quality setting, acceptable voice recording sound quality
At highest sound quality, SUPERB sound quality -- leaps and bounds ahead of the old Olympus. The built-in microphone works well, and definitely much better than the Olympus's.

Voice activation works WELL and RELIABLY (so long as you're within a foot or two from the microphone), unlike the Olympus's, which tends to cut off beginnings of words after pauses.

The Olympus VN-3600 also features a voice speed-up/slow-down feature, but unlike the Yepp's +-60%, the old Olympus only scales to +-30%. However, I found this feature unuseable on the Olympus because it distoreted the pitch to either make you sound like a slow giant or like a chipmunk -- very distracting! Samsung's device, however, scales speed WITHOUT pitch distortion, which, as far as I know, is relatively unheard of in a portable device. So if I'm running short on time, I can comfortably listen to my voice messages 60% faster than the speed at which I spoke while recording.

The device really is handsome and fits neatly into a pocket.

With the included USB cable, it interfaces well with the computer and acts as a standard USB mass-storage device like an external hard drive where you can easily transfer vy4's (the native proprietary Samsung voice codec) and MP3s between the Yepp and the computer. No software is necessary to install for Windows 2000 and later (including XP). Note, this should also work for modern Macs as well as for Linux and any other operating system compatible with the USB mass storage standard. However, if you want to listen to the VY4's on your Windows PC, you must install a program from Samsung's mini CD. It does work, but forget about seeking throughout the file because it is a pain due to some strange bug with the slider in Samsung's less-than-well designed program!

However, this is my only minor gripe, and there's even now a VY4-to-WAV conversion program available on Samsung's website, if you really wanted to scrub through a voice record, you could convert it to a WAV and then listen on your favorite WAV-playing program such as Winamp.

Overall, this device surprised me with its functionality and quality. You can even change the screen's colors to orange, green, or blue. I kept discovering new features with this device, but that isn't what was so surprising. What astounded me was that every one of the features worked WELL and RELIABLY. What more can you ask for in this age of mass-produced electronics?

Rating:
Summary: I was pleasantly surprised!
Review: This is a very nice, well-designed all-around voice recorder. I owned an Olympus VN-3600 which costs something $10-20 less, yet is such a very poor device compared to this Samsung Yepp.
Compared to the Olympus, the Yepp VY-H200S has:
64 MB of storage vs. 8 MB (64 MB should be pleanty for everything except heavy MP3 useage)
5 folders vs. 3
MP3 player functionality -- I've tested it and it's worked nicely -- good quality, clean sound, too. I didn't expect this as such an added bonus for this voice recorder.

Even at high-compression, low sound quality setting, acceptable voice recording sound quality
At highest sound quality, SUPERB sound quality -- leaps and bounds ahead of the old Olympus. The built-in microphone works well, and definitely much better than the Olympus's.

Voice activation works WELL and RELIABLY (so long as you're within a foot or two from the microphone), unlike the Olympus's, which tends to cut off beginnings of words after pauses.

The Olympus VN-3600 also features a voice speed-up/slow-down feature, but unlike the Yepp's +-60%, the old Olympus only scales to +-30%. However, I found this feature unuseable on the Olympus because it distoreted the pitch to either make you sound like a slow giant or like a chipmunk -- very distracting! Samsung's device, however, scales speed WITHOUT pitch distortion, which, as far as I know, is relatively unheard of in a portable device. So if I'm running short on time, I can comfortably listen to my voice messages 60% faster than the speed at which I spoke while recording.

The device really is handsome and fits neatly into a pocket.

With the included USB cable, it interfaces well with the computer and acts as a standard USB mass-storage device like an external hard drive where you can easily transfer vy4's (the native proprietary Samsung voice codec) and MP3s between the Yepp and the computer. No software is necessary to install for Windows 2000 and later (including XP). Note, this should also work for modern Macs as well as for Linux and any other operating system compatible with the USB mass storage standard. However, if you want to listen to the VY4's on your Windows PC, you must install a program from Samsung's mini CD. It does work, but forget about seeking throughout the file because it is a pain due to some strange bug with the slider in Samsung's less-than-well designed program!

However, this is my only minor gripe, and there's even now a VY4-to-WAV conversion program available on Samsung's website, if you really wanted to scrub through a voice record, you could convert it to a WAV and then listen on your favorite WAV-playing program such as Winamp.

Overall, this device surprised me with its functionality and quality. You can even change the screen's colors to orange, green, or blue. I kept discovering new features with this device, but that isn't what was so surprising. What astounded me was that every one of the features worked WELL and RELIABLY. What more can you ask for in this age of mass-produced electronics?

Rating:
Summary: Very impressed
Review: Used this item for a couple of occassions. I am very impressed by its sound quality ease of use. Highly recommended.