Review on Olympus Digital Voice Recorder 6200PC by William Stewart

I bought this recorder to record lessons with local high school students. After putting in the batteries and setting the date and time, I took a quick test shot. I put the recorder on the table in recording mode. My whiteboard position was about 12 feet, at about a 45 degree angle to the microphone. The distance to the student area was 5-7 feet, with a microphone angle ranging from 45 degrees to a full 90 degrees. Tests in all of these areas showed clear reproduction. I then connected the USB cable between the recorder and the computer (Windows XP Home, USB 1.1). After the automatic installation of standard drivers, Explorer only showed the device as another hard drive - like a USB stick. Using File Explorer, I copied the test WMA file to my hard drive, then opened Windows Media Player and played it perfectly, with great volume and clarity. To finish, I simply right-clicked the recorder's drive in file explorer and clicked eject, unplugged the recorder from the USB port and that was it. All this only using the factory settings. I'll play with them later. The only problems: 1. The batteries were in a plastic case. Until you realize this and remove the plastic, they won't work well.2. I agree with others that calling what is essentially an on/off switch "hold" is idiotic.3. I also agree that the USB cable is really short - too short. This is not a problem for me, but maybe for you.4. Recorder controls are hard to read and easier to remember in a dimly lit room.5. As others have pointed out, this is a WMA format and is fine if you have Windows Media Player. If you need WAV format, I think you can find a good free Windows converter program. Added note: WMA files are small and fast - I can confirm that. When you need to convert to WAV, you may find that the conversion time is very slow and the new file is very large. Consider downloading a WMA compatible player. Last time I checked (September 2009) Windows Media Player V11 is free (25MB to download) and if it still is, download and install it. I think the first WMA->WAV conversion will make the Windows Media Player long loading process look much nicer. Other than that, this little thing works great for what I intended. A great product for my use.