I've done several reviews of these handy little gadgets, and each article has interesting discussions following it. So I thought I'd compile all the links in one place and centralize the discussion.

• MP3 Voices in My Pocket
• Review: Olympus DS-2 Stereo Voice Recorder
• Shootout: Stereo Digital Voice Recorders
• What I Wish I'd Bought
• Your Top Voice Recorder Questions

Also see Mark Nelson's reviews of higher-end portable recorders and my tutorial "QuickStart: Digital Audio Editing."

At the recent NAMM show, Olympus reps told me the company has 60% of the voice recorder market. I thought about that the other day when I saw a photo of Barack Obama surrounded by reporters. At least four of the seven visible voice recorders seemed to be Olympii. I was reminded of those camera ads Canon runs showing a horde of photographers at a pro football game, almost all using Canon lenses.

I've certainly had good experiences with Olympus recorders, but I'm curious what made all the political journalists choose them as well. In my case, the stereo mics were a big factor. And indeed, as I strolled through the voice recorder aisle in Target today, the only stereo model was an Olympus.

What are you looking for in a voice recorder?

To answer my own question , I reread the 80-plus comments on my blog "Your Top Voice Recorder Questions." Your top criteria seemed to be sound quality, easy computer backup, and price. Based on that, I ordered an Olympus WS-311M for review. With "ultra high quality stereo recording" and a Web price under $99, it seemed to hit the sweet spot between price and features. The friendly UPS man just dropped it off.

Please let me know what types of sounds you're especially interested in capturing, and I'll try to seek them out.

Hi David,

I have an Olympus as well and I get pretty good results with it.

The downside is that you need the original CD to install the software you need to download the recordings to your computer.

To this day, I don't understand that madness.

Has this changed with newer models?

Thanks for bringing that up, Dog. The WS models support USB Mass Storage class, so they work just like flash drives: Plug 'em in via USB, a drive icon shows up on your computer screen, and then you can drag files back and forth. I believe it's some of the VN models that require special (and Windows-only) software.

I used the WS-311M at a conference this weekend and was amazed how many helpful little improvements Olympus made since my older WS-200S.

David,

You mentioned that you could help on picking a voice recorder. I'm looking for a very basic voice recorder that I can carry with me and use to remind myself of things. I have a habit of remembering things I was supposed to do when I'm in a situation where I can't write it down, like driving on the highway or fishing for trout on a remote lake. It would be great to have a basic recorder that I could take out of my shirt pocket and record my thoughts.

I'm thinking something small that wouldn't need to have computer compatibility. Any thoughts on a couple that I might consider?

Hi Alaskan.

For those note-to-self applications (meaning convenience and ease of use is more important than sound quality), I'd look for a model that time-stamps the recordings, has fairly big buttons, and boots up quickly. Numerous models from Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony should fit the bill, though you may have to drop by an office-supply store to test bootup time.

For more background, be sure to check my article Your Top Voice Recorder Questions.

Thanks David. I was planning to look at the brands Sony and Olympus but will look at Panasonic as well.

Thanks again