Olympus digital advice

I think this has been discussed before but I didn't want to dig that deep in the archives. Simple question, really: I bought the Olympus WS-700M. What's the advantage of selecting MP3, PCM or WMA as the recording mode?

 

Sound quality and the amount of space left on your recorder, basically. Unless you plan on putting the files on, say, your iPod.

If you're ever asked to put audio up on your newspaper's website, you should see what format they use so there is no conversion necessary if you need to email them a clip.

 

I finally got one of our techies to tell me to use MP3 for our web site, as DDown suggested. Thanks DD.

 

No problem. Recording in MP3s is also an easy way to store the files in, say, iTunes on your computer.

So if you have an interview with a golfer from six months ago that you don't want to delete (because maybe it's with John Daly and you don't want to bother transcribing it since you've written the story about him 17 times) but you'd like to have it around for his obit, it's pretty easy to plug the recorder into your computer, drag and drop the file into iTunes, then label it "John Daly Interview 7/19/11" for when he's found face down in a sand trap one morning.

 

Ogg Vorbis ao we can confuse the readers even more.

 

You reminded me a great story. A friend told me his parents used to live in a house on a golf course in Florida that hosted a PGA Tour event in the 1970s. Their upper balcony faced the 17th hole, which had a large fairway bunker. One night, the week of the tournament, they're on the upper balcony enjoying the balmy evening when they see two people walking down the fairway -- a man they recognize as a PGA Tour player and a woman. They have a blanket, get into the sand trap, and are hidden from view for about 15 minutes. They emerge, fold up the blanket and start to walk away, but not before the player comes back -- and rakes the trap.
Got to love a guy who observes golf course etiquette.
Pissed that the guy's father to this day refuses to name the player. During that era, my money's on Tom Weiskopf.