Melville, New York, March 18, 2004 - Olympus America, the leading manufacturer of digital voice recorders in the United States, adds to its arsenal of reliable and easy-to-use voice recorders with four new VN-Series digital voice recorder models that are designed to do more. These stylish, ergonomic and portable voice recorders have greater memory than their VN-Series predecessors, resulting in enhanced sound quality over longer recording times ranging from 2 to 8 hours. They are the ideal choice for anyone looking to capture superior quality audio with a superior device.

"Olympus is proud to add our greatly improved VN-Series digital voice recorders to our award-winning voice recorder line-up," said Andy Flagg, senior national sales manager for Olympus America. "With greater memory and better sound quality, our new voice recorders are designed to do more for consumers and provide the level of design excellence they have come to expect from Olympus products."

Designed to Do More
Whenever a demonstration, teleconference, face-to-face or boardroom meeting runs longer than anticipated, the VN-Series voice recorders have what it takes to go the distance. Because each new VN-Series digital voice recorder offers greater memory than previous models, they deliver enhanced sound quality with a higher sampling rate. Designed with three recording modes, users can retrieve superior sound through the HQ mode or use the LP and SP modes for extended recording.

Olympus has a solution for everyone's recording needs. For example, VN-480 with 64MB of memory records up to 8 uninterrupted hours in LP mode. The VN-240 and VN-240 PC digital recorders each have 32MB of memory allowing both to have up to 4 hours of uninterrupted recording in LP mode. And the VN-120 comes equipped with 16MB of memory for up to 2 hours of quality recording in LP mode.

Designed for Excitement
Users of the VN-120, VN-240, VN-240 PC and VN-480 digital recorders will revel in their ability to seemingly control time with different playback settings. After capture, the slow playback option allows recordings to be listened to efficiently with playback that is 20% slower than real time. Or, with fast playback, recordings can be played 30% faster than real time. With slow playback users will be less likely to rewind to hear what was said, and with fast playback they can skip ahead to the essential sections - a real benefit for transcribing dictation.

Delivering Style
Whether in the hand or tucked away in a shirt or a jacket pocket, the new contoured, compact design of the VN-Series voice recorders (3.9 L x 1.54 W x 0.85 D) and light weight (2.35 ounces for each model except 2.4-ounce VN-240 PC) makes them ideal travel companions. The sleek VN-120 and the VN-480 are coated in a shiny durable silver polycarbonate exterior, while the VN-240 exterior is accented in bold metallic blue. The VN-Series recorders all come standard with large, easy-to-read LCD screens that reveal file information, recording time and events. Speakers for audio playback are located on the back of the recorders.

Intelligent Design
Each model is equipped with an ergonomic jog-dial thumb pad allowing the user to play, stop, fast-forward and rewind with the touch of one button. The record and erase buttons are positioned individually for easy access and less confusion when handling.

Ideal for professionals who want to archive their recordings for their colleagues, the VN-240 PC digital voice recorder with "PC Link" connects to Windows PC for quick downloading of audio files to a computer. A USB cable is provided for easy and efficient downloading to a PC from the USB port on the voice recorder.

Designed for You
The new VN-Series digital voice recorders deliver an easy-to-use interface that allows users to accurately organize digital voice recordings. The new VN-120 has three separate file folders that provide users with unparalleled organization while the VN-240, VN-240 PC and VN-480 all have four folders - three file folders plus a convenient schedule folder for meetings, dates, reminders etc. Each folder holds 100 messages.

The VN-Series digital voice recorders have up to 25 hours of continuous operation made possible by the long battery life of two AAA batteries.

Availability
The VN-120, 240, and 480 will be available in March and VN-240PC in April 2004. All voice recorders ship with two AAA batteries, and the VN-240PC alone ships with Digital Wave Player Software, Earphone and USB Cable as standard accessories.