Are there iMac-compatable voice recorders?

I appreciate it!

Writerdog

Paul, I just ordered an Olympus DS-2200 YESTERDAY, after months of research, to be used in interviews with corporate executive to help me writing speeches, as well as for some casual dictation. I had some specific needs (fast and slow playback), substantial recording time, and the ability to send files to transcribers and clients in standard formats who are in the Windows world. Also, the form factor (small and lightweight) was important to me.

I discovered a few things that might be useful to you:

1. Olympus is the only major-brand digital recorder that is Mac compatable (and none yet for Tiger). However, not all their recorders work with Macs. You have to read the specs carefully.
2. Olympus has a regular line and a "pro" line. The difference primarily is one of removable media (a photo-memory card) in the pro line, and additional features (number of folders, etc.). That's what I decided upon, even though it was a little more expensive than the consumer model.
3. Olympus has a wide range of Mac-compatible models, at various prices, depending on recording time and features. Olympus has a pretty good Web site for comparision, but I found it kind of confusing with all the choices.
4. I was unable to find a retailer in LA carrying either the full line of recorders, or with any knowlegeable sales people. (Don't get me started on this.) I really wanted to see them in person, but after a while, I gave up.
5. After six months of research (and frustration), I ordered mine from novuscript.com, a company that specializes in transcription management, rather than just an electronics retailer. Brett, the president of novuscript, was incredibly helpful on the phone, and his prices were very competitive. He says that the DS-2200 is the most popular model with his writer customers, and after downloading all the manuals, brochures, etc., on different models, I came to agree with him.
6. My recorder will arrive next week; I will post a follow-up on my experience with it when I get it set up and working.

Hope this is helpful to you! --David aka Writerdog

I've had my digital recorder for about a week, and I am very pleased with it. The software was easy to install, and works flawlessly on my iMac and G4 Powerbook. (The specs do not say if it works with Tiger; I would check with Olympus to see if there's an update.) I have not yet moved to Tiger so that's not an issue with me.

The fidelity of the recorder is excellent, and it's very small and lightweight. I'm happy I spent the extra $ for the pro model, although I think one could live with the lower-priced one.

The file sizes for WAV and AIFF files are pretty big if you record an hour interview; DSS seems the way to go, although you have to step down in quality. Seems to work fine, though, with very little loss of fidelity.

On a related topic, I recently saw a demo of iListen, which will transcribe notes from a digital recorder (not from an iPod—not enough data) into Word or Apple Works or any other program. I was quite impressed, and plan to order it. It is a Mac exclusive program and is Tiger-compatable.

I hope this is useful.

Best,

David aka "Writerdog"