We recently added a private speech recognition VAR Forum (value added reseller forum) to the KnowBrainer website so that around 600 speech recognition/microphone resellers could share marketing strategies and technology. We mention this because some microphone resellers have informed us that they have discontinued selling the Olympus ME 31 since a number of non-speech recognition websites started offering it at a couple of dollars above cost which has effectively killed the profit and vendor popularity on the ME 31.

We have only received a handful of returns and heard no complaints about this microphone (which we have been selling for about a year) when it is used as recommended; in quiet environments. Although this microphone can be used from as far away as 4 feet and has been known to pick up a command from over 10 feet away, we agree with Martin in that the microphone should typically be used within the 2 to 2.5 foot range but the reason why we still carry this microphone is because it serves a purpose that we found to be unmatched by any other affordable microphone. We briefly considered discontinuing sales of the ME 31 but we cannot in good conscious suspend the availability of this microphone to our clients. Profit$ have to take a backseat to ethics.

One of the biggest end-user complaints we hear is having to take the time to put on a headset microphone or having to position yourself within 4 inches of other relatively inexpensive desktop microphones such as the Q7, Buddy Desktop etc.. Our favorite microphone is the Airline 77 because it's highly accurate and highly noise canceling but it still takes 2 or 3 seconds to put on the headset and perhaps a couple more seconds to power up the microphone so when offered the option of not putting on the headset, as silly as it sounds, many end-users will resort to typing until reality settles in and they realize they are working too inefficiently. What breaks the ice for us is the ME 31’s 4 foot range. Having an effective 4 foot range means that we can verbally turn the microphone on as we walk towards our desk. As Martin pointed out, we also aim the microphone towards our chin, which we 1st reported in our ME 31 Review early last year but the reason why we point the microphone element towards our chin is so that when we lean back in our chair (which we know is a nasty habit), the microphone element lines up directly with our mouth and that's where the 3 to 4 foot range comes in. We realize that taking 2 or 3 seconds to put on a headset sounds ridiculous but we also believe it's human nature and we've heard the same story from possibly hundreds of our clients since 1996. The ME 31 microphone definitely isn't for everyone or every situation but we believe it is well-suited to extremely lazy people like moi, who work in quiet environments. Especially if they like to listen to music through a pair Sennheiser HD 800 headsets; because the Big Haired Lady simply doesn't appreciate Jon Stewart's - “Gold” or the Doors - “Light My Fire” at 90 dB. And... she really hates Iron Butterflies - In-A-Gadda-Davida. Go figure.

To put it another way... I can use any speech recognition microphone I want because I test and sell more microphones than I can easily count. For my specific situation, which I realize may be somewhat unique, my personal favorite microphone is the ME 31 which I now use approximately 90% of the time. We typically recommend the ME 31 microphone for quiet environments, doctors who don't have time to sit down and put on a headset, attorneys who need to talk on the phone while simultaneously making speech recognition notes and programmers/developers who typically listen to loud music through headsets to block out everything else in their environment (my personal poison). We not only used the ME 31 to dictate this posting but as with all items sold on our website, the ME 31 includes a 30 day customer satisfaction no restock fee guarantee which I believe KnowBrainer Inc. was the 1st microphone reseller to introduce.