Audacity Forum

If you set the recording mode on the Olympus to PCM (i.e. WAV format) at 44.1kHz, 16-bit, it will produce WAV files that you can transfer to your computer and import into Audacity.
There should be no need to play the file on the Olympus and record in Audacity, as you are doing.

When you do open the file in Audacity, you should then see the waveform clearly. If not, try adjusting the recording level on the Olympus. With the recording at the correct level, you should easily be able to see the difference between the music and the chat between takes.

Be sure to note Koz's point about file sizes. Try to split the recording into approx. one-hour chunks to keep it manageable.

PO'L

I am with Irish on this one.
Whopper said

some olympus users have reported their files are not usable in audacity

If this were really true, then the raw data could still be imported into Audacity no matter what. Audacity can handle PCM of any bit depth or any sample rate.

There should be no need to play the file on the Olympus and record in Audacity, as you are doing.

Yep, there is no reason you can't read the data off the Olympus directly.

Yep, there is no reason you can't read the data off the Olympus directly.

plenty of reasons why that might fail

faster better cheaper easier to drag and drop the file to the pc
instead of ever trying to read directly from an external recorder

I mean you can transfer the data directly instead of playing it off the Olympus and rerecording it in Audacity. One way or another that shouldn't be necessary.