Problems with WMA format on the Mac...

I paid a bit more than I wanted at Fry's for this, but I was looking for a dedicated portable recorder for voice and music. The WS-100 certainly fits the bill in the portability department; hand-held, it can easily pick up conversation (and noise) in a room. You can listen via the tinny speaker or monitor using the included earbud headphones but there is really no control of input volume. Think of it as a high-tech cassette recorder.

I was able to record and download audio files into my iMac G5 using the USB port. The trouble began when I tried to edit these WMA files in Quicktime. QT7 Pro will play but does not allow editing the Windows Media format. GarageBand refused to deal with them, and when I tried to import them into iDVD I got a message that my original recordings were "Copy-protected" media. On going to the Windows Media Player website I learned that I would have to purchase an "upgrade" that would allow my Mac to edit WMA files. I was suspicious since it seems that WMP for the Mac had not been updated for a few years.

Fortunately I found a workaround. Switch (www.nch.com.au/switch) is a freeware app for Mac OS X that allowed me to easily convert the WMA files to AIFF. Still, I think Olympus could be more Mac-friendly in their sound formats...