Perfect recordings from something that fits in the palm of your hand

I recently purchased the Olympus VN3100 Digital Voice Recorder from my local Target. It is a compact, easy to use recorder that provides excellent recordings. Read below for more specific details!

Availability & Pricing
The VN3100 has been around for about two years now and is readily available at stores such as Walmart, Target, Radio Shack, or online at eBay and various online stores. As it is not exactly a "top quality" recorder I wouldn't expect the VN3100 to be behind the counter with some of the more expensive recorders, although the quality of the VN3100 certainly would rival even the most expensive competition. Pricing is approximately $30, give or take a few dollars.

Physical Design
The VN3100 is extremely small and fits compactly in the palm of your hand. Physically the device is approximately 3 inches tall, one inch wide, and 1/2 inch deep. It could be discretely placed in a shirt pocket.

Initial Setup and "Figuring it Out
The hardest part of setting up the VN3100 was opening the packaging. But after cutting it open with scissors and putting in two AAA batteries, the VN3100 was ready to go. Directions are included in English, Spanish, and French and the getting started instructions follows a logical order - putting in batteries, setting time/date, recording, playback, and advanced options.

I am a fairly tech savvy person so I was able to do everything mentioned above (minus the advanced options) without reading the instruction manual. Even if you are technologically challenged, you will certainly be able to figure it out with a little help from the instructions.

Recording Quality - The Important Stuff
The VN3100 provides outstanding quality when it comes to picking up voices. Immediately after setting up my recorder I tried out the following "tests" and discovered the following:

Recorder in front breast pocket of button down shirt - No problems, very clear recording of my voice and other voices sitting across the room.
Recorder in front pants pocket - No problem. My voice very clear, other voices softer, but clearly audible and understandable. Heard ruffling of pants pocket when walking.
Recorder placed on desk - Clearly picked up all voices and sounds around the room. As I walked up to ~30 feet away (the size of my room) with my back turned towards the recorder my voice was clearly picked up.
Recorder placed on desk whispering near recorder - Clear and understandable with even the softest whisper.

Playback
Playback is instant and easy to operate. Navigating through different recordings isn't a difficult task and very similar to navigating through an Ipod. Dates and times are attached to each recording. The VN3100 also lets to put index marks in the middle of recordings to quickly jump to sections of a recording in the future.

Other Options
The VN3100, although not an advanced piece of technology, has a few cool options for the more advanced user... timer recording lets the user schedule an automatic recording specifying a start and end time. Four "folders" in the flash memory let you organize recordings and it is easy to move recordings between folders. Recordings can be played in slow or fast modes as well.

Olympus offers an accessory which allows the VN3100 to connect to a telephone to record telephone conversations, although I have no personal experience with this accessory.

Problems
There is only one area for improvement with the VN3100. The volume of playback can only be controlled through the main menu... once a playback starts the volume cannot be adjusted.

The VN3100 also says that it cannot be connect to a computer and files cannot be transferred... (for this, you need the VN3100PC - basically the same device with PC compatibility). However, with a little ingenuity files actually CAN be copied onto a computer. (Connect the VN3100 from the EAR PLUG to to a computer's LINE IN and use a program such as Windows Media Player to record).

My Conclusion
For around $30, you really can't get a better digital recorder. With clear recordings, easy navigation to file recordings, and clear playbacks the Olympus VN3100 provides an effective method to record lectures or conversations.