Olympus - VN-4100PC Handheld Digital Voice Recorder Review

I am a professional journalist who is always interviewing people. Having a voice recorder is a definite necessity of my job. The VN-4100 is small enough to fit in your pocket, yet not so small that it is easy to lose. It has four different folders to be able categorize your recordings; a definite advantage for those amnesiacs like myself who have to record several things and can't always remember which interview was which. There is a feature that allows you to set record points, so that you can just jump right to those areas during the playback. This feature, however, is slightly difficult to master. Pausing the recording, on the other hand, leaves no sound marks or ticks that make the replay sound as though it were paused in that spot. As with most recorders, outside noise does interfere slightly with recording, but not enough that the recorded person can not be heard.

There are several great accessories available, such as the phone conversation recorder, the metal neck strap, and the extension microphone. The only draw back is that they are all sold separately, available from the Olympus website at fairly reasonable prices. I find the neck-strap to be particularly handy. Having the recorder in your pocket with other objects is not very advisable as it will come out slightly battle-scarred with minor dings and scratches on the casing. The battery life is only average. It runs on one set of two AAA batteries. All in all, a very handy piece of equipment for the price. It makes my life much easier.