One of the leitmotivs in David Allen's "Getting Things Done" methodology is to find a system that you can trust to record ideas, to do lists and the like, so you don't have to clutter your brain with them and can use your undivided attention to, well, getting things that matter to you done.
Many people use PDAs or fancy notebooks like the Moleskine, and there are partisans of the "Hipster PDA", a stack of 3x5 index cards. That said, PDAs or smartphones are expensive and fiddly, and paper systems are not usable when you are driving.
I bought my Olympus WS-110 voice recorder to record quick notes before I can forget them. I would actually have preferred a simpler device like a keychain voice recorder, but no one seems to make any worth buying. I chose Olympus because they have a long history of making voice recorders (I used to have a microtape-based Olympus when I was in college). Theirs and Sony's have the best quality, but I boycott Sony because of their despicable DRM practices.
The main reason why I picked up this specific model is that it is inexpensive, very compact, and notes can be transferred over to a computer. There are fancier models with metal bodies, stereo recording, higher-quality modes and sound-level vu-meters, but they start getting to price levels where for a little more, you can buy a full-featured and much higher quality field recorder like Olympus' LS-10, devices that record better than CD quality sound and are often used by professionals.
I use Macs and the recorder saves files in Microsoft's proprietary WMA format, but you can decode them using the free VLC software (www.videolan.org) so you won't have to infect your Mac with Microsoft codecs to read your recordings.
This recorder has a clever two-piece design. One piece holds one AAA battery (it can work with rechargeables), the other has the recorder itself with a USB plug that is revealed when you separate the two parts. The USB plugs directly into your computer and appears like a standard USB Flash drive, so no drivers required.
The recorder only records mono and does not have sound level meters or finely adjustable mic sensitivity that would be required to avoid overloading, but those are not features that are critical in a device meant primarily for bare-bones voice recording. It does allow you to select between a conference mode (high sensitivity, useful for recording meetings) or dictation (low sensitivity, for use close to the mouth).
The 256MB capacity is not upgradeable, but that's more than plenty enough capacity for any reasonable use (17 hours). Sound quality is surprisingly good at the high-quality setting (I don't see why anyone would use anything less). There is little wind or handling noise, even if you use it outside. Keep in mind this is a voice recorder, it won't record music without mangling it, and it does not record all the nuances of speech timbre and voice richness that you want for podcasting applications or if you want to send a voice email to loved ones.
Otherwise, the list of features is pretty good. It has voice-activated recording, a.k.a. VCVA, a tinny but serviceable speaker to review, slow and fast-speed playback modes that digitally compensate pitch, 5 selectable folders to organize the notes, and the ability to set markers at key points within a recording. I set mine to play fast by default, to speed up reviewing, but do not use the other features. In fact, I seldom ever use the USB connection either, because most of the notes I will review on the unit itself, transcribe on my computer, then erase.
It doesn't have speech recognition transcription software, unlike some higher end units designed primarily for dictation use, but I doubt that software works on the Mac anyway, and I am quite skeptical about voice recognition accuracy. You can plug in an external microphone, but apart from lavalier users, anyone who cares enough to use a dedicated microphone would probably get a higher-spec model like the Yamaha Pocketrak.
Battery life on the WS-110 is very good. A single battery lasts for months on end.
My only reservations about the WS-110 concern ergonomics. The buttons are tiny and hard to use by touch alone. A device like this should have a large record button that dominates everything else. You get the hang of it after a while, but I did not use the recorder much for a couple of months after buying it because using it was not yet second nature.
With no docking cradles or cables, users of the WS-110 voice recorder can enjoy a great sense of freedom. You can record and play back your meeting re...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Professional-grade digital voice recorder Record up to 69 hours of digital audio 256 MB of internal flash memory Can be used as a USB mass storage dev...More at Amazon Marketplace
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