Olympus have released an update to their DSS Player software for Mac to version 7.3.0 – don’t get too excited, it is mainly just a compatibility update. Included in this update are:

• DSS Pro files that were encrypted in High Encryption mode (using 256-bit encryption keys) can now be decrypted and played back. (They cannot be encrypted.)
• Downloading and playback of WAV files is supported. Index marks and comments can now be acquired and edited.
• MP3 index marks are supported. MP3 index marks can now be acquired and edited.
• The new foot switch RS-31 and also DR-1200/2100/2200/2300 are supported.

With this version your Mac will now be fully compatible with the new(ish) DirectRec II hand held USB microphones which were released early last year, I know a few people have been hanging on this. The Olympus DirectRec II are USB connected microphones (DR-2100,DR-2200,DR-2300) that allow dictation directly to your Mac.

Also included in this update is compatibility with the very latest range of professional digital dictaphones released just a couple of weeks ago in Australia along with the new Olympus RS-31 four pedal USB foot control. The RS-31 is most commonly used with the Olympus transcription module but can also be used with the Olympus DS-7000 via the dock for hands free digital dictation, quite often commonly used in the medical sector.

Click here to download Mac DSS Player update to v7.3.0 or from the Olympus Australia website

That is it, our stock of the DS-5000 has gone and a quick phone call to Olympus in Sydney confirmed that they too have none left, the Olympus DS-5000 is now officially discontinued in Australia.

So what are we to make of its replacement the new Olympus DS-7000. Well to be honest a close look at the specs doesn’t show anything too hugely different. This is a good thing, anyone who deals with professionals who dictate will know that big change is not always welcome – experienced dictators don’t have time to learn new devices and those already used to the older Olympus digital dictaphones (DS-5000/DS-4000) will feel right at home with the DS-7000. For those new to digital dictation, people moving from the analog micro and mini cassettes should also feel comfortable moving to the new generation of Olympus professional digital dictaaphones, especially the DS-7000 thanks to that slide switch control.

The stand outs for me with the Olympus DS-7000 are:

• New larger colour screen
• New rechargeable battery that charges quicker and lasts longer than the DS-5000 battery
• Improved microphone
• Better integration with Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Windows directly via the ODMS (Olympus Dictation Management System)
• Improved Dragon accuracy score assigned by Nuance themselves – scoring five our of six Dragons

Full details of the complete comparison between the Olympus DS-5000 vs DS-7000 can be found by clicking here. This shows the changes between the two models.

In a first of its kind Olympus Imaging in Australia held a product launch at swanky Woolwich eatery Deckhouse today in Sydney. Spoiled only by the torrential rain, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge seen in the murky distance stood several Olympus branded pedestals covered in magician black velvet hiding what was about to be announced.

Olympus Audio Pro dealers from around the country had gathered to listen to Olympus Imaging Managing Director Marc Radatt present his spiel starting with the history of Olympus, building thru to the imaging range and culminating with the announcement we audio people had gathered for … the new Olympus DS-7000 digital dictaphone.

In fact it wasn’t just about the new DS-7000 there was a slew of new digital goodies on offer which single handedly wiped out the current DS-5000/DS-3400/DS-2400 recorders, all now replaced by the DS-7000/DS-3500/DS-2500 models. So what new features will we see in this new Pro dictation range:

• Large 2″ colour screen (similar the LS series screens)
• 256-bit real-time .DS2 (DSS Pro) audio encryption
• New Li-Ion battery giving up-to 21 hours of recording
• Two SD card slots (1x microSD and 1x SD) in the DS-7000 plus in-built memory
• Uncompressed PCM .WAV recording in the DS-3500 for meeting/conference/music recording
• Capsuled 10mm mic specifically design with voice recognition in mind

Not content with revamping the Pro dictaphones a new Pro transcription kit was also birthed, the AS-7000 which replaces the AS-5000 and comes with a new four pedal USB transcription foot control (RS-31) and new under-the-chin stethoscope style transcription headset (E62). I like that, it’s kind of retro and will likely be embraced by most transcription typists, especially those that find over-the-head headsets mess with their hair.

Wait there is more … new Olympus Dictation and Transcription module software taking the release from R5 to R6 and given a new name. Gone is DSS Player Pro and in its place comes ODMS or Olympus Dictation Management System which is not just a user interface revamp but promises a more improved interface and interaction with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium/Professional/Legal versions most notably real-time transcription and background transcription using Dragon. Sorry Mac fans still no link to Dragon Dictate for Mac for transcription of recorded voice files, Nuance dragging their feet here a little.

The DS-7000 and DS-3500  are available from today in Australia, the DS-2500 will make its debut down under mid-May 2012. Amazingly the RRP of these new recorders have dropped significantly and are lower than the previous Pro range – kudos to Olympus for this, continuing to innovate while driving pricing down. RRP’s in Australia are:

• Olympus DS-7000 RRP $699 incl. GST ($150 cheaper than the DS-5000 it replaces)
• Olympus DS-3500 RRP $549 incl. GST ($150 cheaper than the DS-3400 it replaces)
• Olympus DS-2500 RRP $379 incl. GST ($110 cheaper then the DS-2400 it replaces)

Some light reading for you to download (all in .PDF format):

• New Olympus DS Series Pro Digital Dication/Transcription Brochure
• Olympus DS-7000/DS-3500 Australia Press Release (17th April 2012)
• Olympus DS-2500 Australia Press Release (17th April 2012)

Is there a trial version of the Olympus DSS Player R5 Dictation Module and Transcription Module software? YES THERE IS !! …. read on

Olympus DSS Player Pro r5 software comes in two forms, the dictation module and the transcription module. The Dictation Module software comes as part of the package when you buy the Olympus Professional dictaphones (DS-5000 and DS-3400). The transcription module accompanies the AS-5000 professional transcription kit.

Why download and install the DSS Player Pro R5 trial version?

• Maybe you have just upgraded to a new PC and can’t find your original licence key. With the trial you get 60 days to find it or purchase a replacement licence – no lost productivity.
• Thinking about converting from analogue tapes to digital dictation and transcription? Have a look at the software and test it out on your computer and office setup prior to buying your digital dictaphones or transcription kits.
• Desperately need to convert Olympus .ds2 audio files for playback in older Olympus R4 transcription modules or Express Scribe, dictation module will convert from DSS Pro .ds2 to .mp3 .wma .wav or .dss

Dictation Module (Olympus model number AS-5001)

This software is used by the person who dictates using either the Olympus DS-5000 or DS-3400 digital dictaphones. It is fully featured software and assists the person dictating by automatically downloading audio from their digital dictaphone to their PC. Not only that the software can automatically send your dictation audio files to your typist via either email, FTP or by dropping the files onto a shared network drive or third party file sharing software like Dropbox. Audio files can also be edited by the user prior to sending for transcription.

The Olympus DSS Player Dictation Module software is also very popular with transcription services as it will easily convert .ds2 audio files to .dss or .wma for load into older Olympus transcription kits or free transcription software like Express Scribe from NCH Software.

Transcription Module (Olympus model number AS-5002)

This software when used with a headset and USB transcription foot control (known as the Olympus RS-28) is used by professional transcription typists to start/stop/play/rewind audio as they type into their favourite word processing software.

Software Licence

Both the dictation and transcription module software are licenced meaning they require a purchased software licence key to function. If you would like to try either the dictation or transcription module in your business before you purchase a valid licence key then a free 60 day trial is available. Simply download the software and follow the special trial install instructions and you can see just how powerful the Olympus DSS Player Pro software is. If you would like a copy of the software please email me directly sales@dicate.com.au and we can give you a copy of the DSS Player Pro R5 software (or grab it from the link below) and the instructions to install the 60 day trial version. If after 60 days you decide you would like the software you can purchase it from us at Dictate Australia and we can simply email you your valid licence key.

Download The Latest Version Of DSS Player Pro R5

Want to get a head start and download DSS Player Pro R5 now? Click this link dictat.es/dss-player to download the latest version to your PC (225Mb). Unzip the contents and then be ready to follow the instructions we will email to you to install either the dictation module, transcription module or both in trial mode.

Please note the trial version of DSS Player Pro R5 is only available for Windows standalone installs and is not available for Workgroup, Citrix or Mac users. Software licences are available for purchase outside of Australia from us.

This post is only applicable in Australia. Here is a freebie from Olympus, take it while you can as these things are rare. From 1st march 2012 until 31st May 2012 if you buy an Olympus DS-5000/AS-5000 bundle then you are eligible for a free gift. The bundle is available from us for $999 incl. GST delivered.

Why bundle? Well many people looking to upgrade from analogue tape to digital will generally purchase both a transcription kit and a voice recorder in one go. If you have been thinking of moving to digital dictation now would be a great time especially as you can pick up a free digital camera or free WS series voice recorder as a part of your bundle.

This is the first promo of its kind from Olympus Australia where redemption is via the official Olympus Australia website. In the past Olympus have posted out cameras to its Pro resellers as a give away, this is a smart move again from Olympus as it starts to centralise its legitimate Pro customers in the Olympus Australia system. By legitimate I mean customers who have purchased only from official Australian Pro voice resellers and not the grey market responsible for cheap overseas imports and refurbished dictaphones with no warranty in Australia.

Which one shall I  choose, the camera or the WS series recorder? Of course you should choose the WS series recorder … but I would say that, i’m a digital voice person rather than a photographer. However, the WS series is an excellent little recorder to have handy in your office for recording team meetings etc.

To redeem your free gift you will need a receipt number from your Pro reseller and supply all your details. The small print says that delivery of your gift can take upto 6 weeks so be prepared for a wait. We have already started to email our customers from the last couple of weeks who purchased an Olympus DS-5000 AS-5000 bundle as the promotion although announced yesterday (26th march 2012) is retrospective to the 1st march 2012.

This offer is only available from official Olympus Australia Pro resellers – click here for the Olympus DS Series Special Offer terms and conditions.

Voice recognition software is nothing new, it has been around since 1997 on Windows with the well known Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. Nuance the makers of NaturallySpeaking also have a Mac offering in the form of Dragon Dictate which shares the same voice recognition engine known as Dragon. In the following quick video I wanted to just show you Dragon as it is most commonly used, simply to type as you talk.

Perfect for those of you just want to speak your thoughts, maybe writing a blog post, your first novel or a story for publication if you are a journalist. Simply sit back, relax and talk using Dragon – yes there will be mistakes (there is one in the video, did you spot it?) but the key point is you can get your thoughts out without being interrupted or slowed down with your typing speed. Voice recognition, as I mention in the video, is said to be upto five times faster than typing yourself. Couple the speed of transcription with a quick run through proof read and you still have text down much quicker than typing it yourself.

Of course the Dragon offerings from Nuance for both Mac and Windows can do more than just dump out your spoken word into a document. You can pretty much control your PC just using your voice to write emails, surf the web and switch between and launch applications but the majority who use this software rely on it to enable very fast transcription of spoken word.

The above video shows Dragon Dictate in use to simply type as I speak in real time. The following text is what was dictated into Dragon to make the video:

“Hello world this is Dave from the iDictate Digital voice blog.

I just wanted to show you Dragon Dictate in its simplest and most commonly used form which is to just dump out text from your spoken word. For this example I’m using text edit on my Mac. Dragon Dictate however will work with any text editing software, in fact Dragon Dictate will convert voice to text in any window that you can type in. As you can see Dragon Dictate is very fast and very accurate.

Not only can you create documents in text edit but also pages, Microsoft Word, Google Docs or any word processing application. You can also use Dragon to write text in your favourite chat application, write e-mails or dictate a blog post directly in WordPress or using an application like Mars edit. As I said, anyway you can type then you can dictate and Dragon will do the typing for you.

So what are the advantages of using voice recognition technology to write? Obviously the speed of transcription is way faster than if you were to type yourself. Typing can often impede your thought process so with Dragon Dictate you can just sit back, relax and just speak what you’re thinking.

Nuance, the makers of Dragon Dictate for Mac, claim that this is up to 5 times faster than typing the text yourself. I tend to agree.

Dragon Dictate and its Windows equivalent Dragon NaturallySpeaking is perfect for students, journalists, bloggers in fact anyone who writes can utilise voice recognition to quickly get their ideas, thoughts and essays down in writing.”

Do you use Dragon Dictate on Mac or NaturallySpeaking on Windows, how do you like it? How has it changed what you do?

YouTube video created using iShowU screen capture software for Mac which also captured the voice feed from my Parott VXI noise cancelling headset/mic direct into Dragon Dictate.

Transcription like most things these days has gone digital. Gone are the days of loading and listening to poor quality analogue tapes now we just load and listen to crystal clear digital audio which arrives via email, on a shared network drive or downloaded from a cloud. Regardless of whether you are an experienced micro cassette transcriptionist or someone who is new to transcription the equipment you will need is the same. Transcribing voice to text for digitally recorded audio letters, notes, interviews, focus groups, meetings etc is a highly skilled job, below are the key tools you will need to make this task easier:

1. Computer

Obvious, yes but needs to be pointed out. This can be either an Intel Mac or a Windows PC (running anything from Windows XP up to Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit). The software available to make transcription easier is commonly available for both Windows and Mac users.

2. Software

This is the key component of transcription typing. The software is responsible for audio playback and audio control from within your preferred word processing or text document software. This means that you never need to leave the window you are typing in to stop/start/rewind the audio – the software handles this for you which saves a huge amount of time as those of you who have tried to transcribe using Windows Media Player or QuickTime will know.

3. USB Foot Pedal or Foot Control

If you have come from a transcription typing background, i.e. you have used a foot pedal before then you will need a USB foot pedal to go with your software, experience has shown us that once a foot pedal user always a foot pedal user. For those of you who are new to transcription you have the option of using a foot control or alternatively using keys on the keyboard to control the audio playback. The pedal or the keys are used to stop/start/rewind while listing to and typing the audio.

Software Options

There are a number of software options around for transcribing audio, we will look at two of the most popular – Express Scribe from NCH Software and DSS Player Transcription Kits from Olympus. The transcription software is key for transcribing digital audio files, it replaces the old tape playing transcriber units of days of old.

Express Scribe from NCH Software – $free or AU$35/US$35/GBP23 approx.

Express Scribe has been around for a very long time and is hugely popular with the micro (WAHM – work at home Mum) and VA (Virtual Assistant) style businesses due to both its cost and functionality. Until late 2011 Express Scribe had been free and could play just about any audio format you could throw at it. This recently changed and NCH now offer a free edition and a Pro (paid) edition of Express Scribe. The Pro edition can play a huge range of audio file formats including the very common .ds2 (DSS Pro) audio files now created on the Professional range of Olympus and Philips digital dictaphones. The free edition is restricted to open audio formats like .MP3 and .WMA (Windows Media Audio). Earlier blog post explains the difference between free and Pro version.

Both Windows and Mac compatible Express Scribe can run on either platform. The software can be downloaded and up and running in minutes and is very easy to use and set-up. I recommend you start with the free version first, install it and have a play to see how it works. Scribe comes pre loaded with a sample audio file containing a welcome message – this is perfect for practice in using the software and transcribing from it. Obviously as a download they haven’t yet perfected squeezing a USB foot pedal down the phone line so to start with use the Hot-Keys to define the how you would prefer to stop/start/rewind your audio.

My tip: use three of the F keys towards the middle of your keyboard and clearly label them with STOP/PLAY/REWIND – you will very quickly get used to which key does what. Should you require a USB foot pedal then I highly recommend you buy one via the NCH website. Pricing is in US$ but they do ship to Australia and other countries outside of the US.

You will also need to find yourself some good headphones to wear as you listen to the audio. I recommend you buy USB headphones and not the headphones that connect via your sound card. Make sure they are comfortable as you will be wearing them a lot.

Olympus Transcription Kit – AS-2400 or AS-5000

These are the Pro kits from Olympus and are typically used by serious transcription typists either running their own transcription service or used by customers who use the Olympus range of recorders in their office. Deciding on which kit is the one for you is fairly easy:

Windows users: AS-5000 will work with all Olympus voice recorders, current and past models including the latest Pro range Olympus DS-2400/DS-3400/DS-5000. Choose AS-2400 if you have any Olympus recorders other than the current Pro range.

Mac users: If you are going to transcribe on a Mac only choose the AS-2400 kit, the software for Mac is exactly the same in the AS-2400 and AS-5000 kits so save yourself some money and only buy the AS-2400.

The cost of these kits when compared to Express Scribe is quite high but remember the kits contain the latest transcription software from Olympus, a transcription headset and a USB foot control (known as an RS-28). The Olympus AS-2400 transcription kit costs approx. AU$349/US$349/GBP234.00 and the AS-5000 kit is approx. AU$449/US$449/GBP300.00 – expensive yes but you do get what you pay for. Including support from your Olympus reseller and from Olympus themselves.

What about Dragon? Dragon is the speech engine that drives the best voice recognition software for Mac and Windows from Nuance. Dragon is excellent at converting voice to text but it only works with one single, trained voice. Being able to use software to accurately convert speech to text for multiple speakers is still a long way off. Transcription is here to stay for a few years yet. See previous blog post – Can Dragon Be Used To Transcribe Interviews and Meetings

<– What is that ugly thing pictured to the left? That is an Olympus Pearlcorder micro cassette transcriber, we have one in our office as a reminder of how our sister company The Transcription People started. If you have a Pearlcorder transcriber that needs replacing you will need to look at going digital. If you are in Australia gives us a call to discuss your options on 1300 787 092 or email me at dave@dictate.com.au

Another example of digital voice being put to a great use is at a website I recently stumbled upon called LibriVox.org – I was on the hunt for audio books for my children when Google pointed me to this resource. Simple concept, they tend to be the best ones, which is take public domain books and have volunteers from around the world record themselves reading them. In turn producing a huge catalog of free audiobooks for the world to enjoy. This is a fantastic initiative, not just because my children get to listen to some classics but for the great many people who for some reason or another can’t or don’t want to read.

LibriVox was started back in 2005 by a man called Hugh McGuire and since then has amassed a few select sidekicks to help with web design, audio book cataloging and the day to day running of LibriVox. Add to that the legion of  volunteers worldwide the LibriVox catalog has grown and grown very fast.

Obviously being digitally recorded readings of books this caught my eye. Most volunteers it seems use Audacity, the very popular open source and free digital audio editing and recording software which runs on all common platforms (Mac, Windows and Linux). Some are also using digital voice recorders for their recordings so I thought I would weigh in with my comments on the best recorders to use should you want to make a contribution and volunteer as a reader for LibriVox. All the details on becoming a volunteer for LibriVox can be found on their extensive FAQ page. You don’t have to read a whole book either, LibriVox have a torrent style approach to recordings asking people to record chapters rather then whole books. Although if you are keen you can record a whole book if you wish.

So you want to record for LibriVox and you quite like the idea of using a digital voice recorder to do it. Benefits are that you can dictate from anywhere so you do not have to sit in front of your computer (visualises a reader in a hammock) so you can be more relaxed and in your favourite reading position.

You do not need a super expensive recorder either, one of the low end digital notetakers would be ideal and I would also recommend grabbing a noise cancelling microphone to concentrate the audio on your voice and not any background noise. The VN series recorders from Olympus are ideal (VN-8600PC or the new VN-711PC for example) as these are very cheap but produce excellent audio quality especially for one person speaking. Make sure you grab a VN series recorder whose model number ends in PC which means they can be connected to a computer (Mac or Windows) to transfer across your recorded audio files, early models without the PC in the model number can not and are useless for this kind of exercise.

Add to these cheap high quality voice recorders a noise cancelling microphone like the Olympus ME-15 or Olympus ME-52W microphones and you are good to go. Both microphones come with an extension cable and tie-pin clip so they can be clipped to your shirt, ideal for when you sit back and just speak your book aloud, all up quite a cheap bundle.

Just a tip. With the note taker style recorders like the VN series mentioned while you are talking if you need to take a break, sneeze or have a coughing fit then you can simply pause the recording. With this style of voice recorder you can not stop/start recording then rewind hear what you last said and then continue recording. These types of voice recorders are called digital dictaphones and they emulate old style tape recorders and they are very expensive. If you find that you are unable to read without making mistakes then you can also use Audacity after you have recorded to edit out the mistakes.

Has that inspired you to give back and become a volunteer for LibriVox?

VN Series recorders are available in Australia from us, Dictate Australia and can also be found at Officeworks. For readers outside of Australia check your local large electrical retailer or Amazon.com

You can follow LibriVox.org on Twitter @librivox

Slowly but surely the Mac version of DSS Player is coming up to speed against its more mature Windows counterpart – called DSS Player v7 Plus on Mac and DSS Player Pro v5 Dictation Module on Windows. However the Mac DSS software is still lacking a couple of keys features that Windows users enjoy, one key feature is auto email of dictation audio files. Most Mac users will simply puff out their chests as they huff that they are quite capable of sending an email without software doing it for them, still it is a handy feature, especially if you have multiple audio files, and a feature that people often ask about and look for.

I was prompted to write this blog post as a couple of hits recently had people looking at how you actually send an audio file from DSS Player v7 Plus, this is when I noticed that it is not entirely obvious in the software – there is no email button or file option. In true Mac fashion emailing a file or files is intuitive – you simply drag and drop from DSS Player Pro into your mail client or into your browser if you use Gmail via the web interface, that’s it. If you are one of those people who like to select the file from disk the quickest way to locate your dictation file and folder is to double tap (or right click if you have set this) on the audio file name in the right window pain in DSS Player Plus, select Property then expand out the File Path to open a Finder window showing your file location. All of these are covered below in detail:

Email Your Olympus Dictation Using Mac Mail

Start by composing your new email in Mac Mail then simply select one or more files from the DSS Player dictation window and drag the file(s) to the content area of your new mail message. The audio files will be copied straight in ready for your to send. Selecting multiple files can be done by holding down the Apple key ⌘ key as you click.

Email Olympus Dictation Using Gmail

If you use Gmail or Google Mail for Business then audio can be dragged into the message composition area of a new email. Again just like above single or multiple files can be selected.

Locating Your Olympus Dictation On Your Mac Hard Disk

If you prefer to find the location of your audio files on your Mac hard disk then this can be done by selecting an individual audio file (highlight it) then right-click or two finger tap to bring up the file properties. The full path of the audio file will be shown in the properties windows. To open a Finder window just click on the box with three dots, see below:

There are a couple of things to consider when you email your digital dictation files. First security, not all email clients encrypt attachments which means your audio could travel across the internet from server to server until it reaches its destination, the recipient(s). This means your audio could be sniffed meaning it could be access as it travels the web, unencrypted could then be listened to. This is unlikely but possible however if you audio is highly confidential consider encrypting the audio and/or your complete email message. Second, attachment file sizes. The maximum file size allowed per an email is usually defined by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and for bigger companies with their own mail servers by internal policy. On average the maximum email attachment file size is anything between 5Mb to 10Mb. As .dss and .ds2 audio files are designed to be highly compressed it is unlikely that you will hit any restrictions however if your typist has not kept up with technology and is unable to play .ds2 audio files then files converted to .AIFF tend to be a lot larger in file size.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to a little soirée this week at an intimate bar at Sydney’s trendy, soon to be engulfed by Barangaroo, King Street Wharf. The event was hosted by the happening team from BigHand Australia who are doing things in the legal and dictation world, not just here in Australia but around the world from their UK, US, Canada and Australia offices.

BigHand have developed a system to revolutionise dictation and transcription. With roots firmly planted in the medical and legal niche there really is no stopping BigHand from growing into other sectors. Essentially any business of any size which relies on dictation and transcription can utilise the BigHand software. Viewing some of the testimonials on their Australia website it is clear many are taking the leap as they transition from the technology of 20th century, analogue tapes, to the digital era of the 21st century. But the BigHand system is equally at home with those who have already embraced digital dictation as the dictation and transcription workflow system is just as comfy working with your firms existing fleet of Olympus or Philips pro dictation recorders and transcription kits.

Not content with revolutionising firms with tapes or empowering firms already digital the BigHand solution also encompasses the smart phone brigade with a dictation app for iPhone { }, Blackberry, Android and even Windows mobile. Leaving no excuse for anyone who dictates and is not in the office, just grab your phone launch the BigHand app and dictate until you can dictate no more. What raises BigHand’s head above the rest the ease of use and simplicity of their solution. I am still in the early stages of discovering just what it can do but from my trial in the Dictate Australia offices it has already sparked my interest. You now have simple options for your dictation, you can send it to your preferred typist, to your firms typing pool and the best bit, to Dragon for voice recognition; perfect for out of hours transcription of urgent notes or as a way to free up some WP resources. With Dragon you have the option to transcribe only or you can have Dragon transcribe and pass the completed document to your Word Processing team to simply proofread Dragon’s work, already a big time saver over tradition transcription. Your WP team can further improve the accuracy of your voice profile by applying selected proofed text back to your voice profile which increases the accuracy and essentially trains your profile for you. The more you train your profile the more accurate your documents the less proofing needs to be done the faster you get your transcript, magical.

From the testimonials I have read most firms are seeing a good to significant return on investment by switching to BigHand simply by smarter use of their WP resources, be they in one office, located around the country or across the globe. I plan to write more about BigHand, it’s movements in the Australian marketplace and the interesting stuff; the evolution, use and examples of the software and how it meshes with digital voice technology over the coming months. But for now, if you are in a law firm or involved with medical dictation you should be having a look at what BigHand have to offer. In Australian legal circles they already have an impressive stable of law partners boasting that 4 out of 5 of the top Australian law firms are using the BigHand system. Some of the law firms already in are:

• Arnold Bloch Leibler
• Blake Dawson
• Clayton Utz
• Crown Law QLD
• Deacons Hong Kong
• Dibbs Barker
• Duncan Basheer Hannon
• Finlaysons
• Freehills
• Gilbert + Tobin
• Hall & Wilcox
• HWL Ebsworth
• Mallesons Stephen Jaques
• MacDonnells Law
• Maurice Blackburn Cashman
• McCullough Robertson
• Meredith Connell
• Mills Oakley
• Minter Ellison
• Norman Waterhouse
• Russell Kennedy
• Simpson Grierson
• Sparke Helmore
• Swaab Legal
• WHK Western Victoria

You can follow BigHand on Twitter @TheBighandTweet

One of the most common searches that end up with visitors landing on my blog is people looking for a trial version of Dragon Dictate for the Mac. Good idea, it is quite a hefty purchase price (AU$180+) for some software that most know little about and therefore the cost vs risk factor is high. A trial version would be a good lead into the software and would allow people to have a play, see how accurate it is and become more comfortable before committing to a purchase. Great idea but alas a free trial version is not available.

As a compromise Nuance have just released to the Mac App Store Dragon Express for a cut down, yet still significant price of $US49.99 (AU$51.99). This app is an excellent introduction into voice recognition on the Mac and is essentially a cut down version of Dragon Dictate 2.5 – Nuance’s flagship speech recognition product for the Mac.

So how does it work?

Similar to Dragon Dictate you will need to train your voice in Dragon Express, this creates your personal profile and allows the Dragon speech recognition engine to understand the way you speak. This task takes only two minutes and involves reading some pre-defined text so the app can listen to how you speak. (Note: if you decide to upgrade to Dragon Dictate your trained Dragon Express voice profile will not be compatible with Dragon Dictate, you will have to train a new voice profile, but hey only takes 5 minutes in Dragon Dictate). Nuance claim that the in-built mic in your Mac can be used but from years of experience a good quality noise cancelling USB headset and mic will give you better results, no support for the Dragon Microphone iPhone app . Already reading some of the App Store reviews there are alot of negative comments, most based around accuracy, I would be willing to bet a couple of dollars that is because of using the in built mic. Good quality speech recognition relies on good quality audio input with minimal or no background noise.

Dragon Express also differs from the fully fledged Dragon Dictate version in that you can only dictate into the Dragon Express window, here you will see your words transcribed into text. From the Dragon Express window you can then post or route the transcribed text to any active app – so for example into TextEdit, twitter, Facebook, Google+, email or a Word or Pages document.

If you are interested in giving speech recognition a try then this is an excellent and cost effective way to see what it is all about. Not quite a free trial but a good general overview of the Dragon speech recognition technology and the great work Nuance are doing in the Apple space. I would like to see a discount off Dragon Dictate 2.5 if you have Dragon Express installed but until Dragon Dictate appears in the Mac App Store this is a tricky one to manage and therefore isn’t yet available. If you have more questions on Dragon Express which I have not covered head over to the Nuance – Dragon Express FAQ.

Be warned, it’s a hefty download at 1.21Gb (Lion only – OS X 10.7) – virtually all of that download will be the dictionary that Dragon uses that holds words and context.

Have you tried Dragon Express? Let me know what you thought by leaving a comment.

Below is a video demo of Dragon Express for Mac in action from the “Ask The Dictator” series of YouTube video from Nuance. This gives you a good basic overview of Dragon Express in action, interesting on the post to twitter that the you can not dictate to click the OK button but still need to mouse click, which clearly shows the cut down nature of this software. I still think it is an excellent buy if you want to see how voice recognition works. At the time of posting this blog post there were only five comments on the YouTube video, most of them highly critical – I state again, using the in-built MacBook or iMac mic will not give highly accurate results, do yourself a favour and buy yourself a USB noise cancelling headset and mic before you try this software.

This makes me smile. I’m a Mac person so anyone who supports this platform automatically gets a big tick from me. This is one of the key reasons I am an Olympus reseller, Olympus have been Mac compatible for years and any company that has the foresight to be Mac compatible should give themselves a pat on the back. Just have a look around next time you are at the airport, at a conference or in a university lecture hall, all you see is a mass of glowing Apple logo. Step up NCH Software (I still go to call them NCH Swift Sound from the old days) who have featured regularly in my blog of late. Following on from their recent release of Express Scribe Pro for Windows comes Express Scribe Pro for Mac.

Following the same format as its Windows brother there will be both a free version (with limited audio formats supported) and a Pro version supporting just about every popular audio and video formats.

Express Scribe FREE for Mac supports:

• .AIFF
• .DCT
• .MP3
• .WAV
• .WMA

Express Scribe PRO for Mac supports audio formats:

• .AAC
• .AIFC (Compressed .AIFF)
• .AU
• .CAF
• .DS2
• .FLAC
• .OGG
• .M4A
• .MPC
• .QPC
• + all the audio formats supported in the FREE version

Express Scribe PRO for Mac also supports the following video formats:

• .3G2
• .3GP
• .ASV
• .AVI
• .DivX
• .DV
• .FLV
• .M4V
• .MKV
• .MOV
• .MP4
• .MPEG
• .VOB
• .WMV

Yes the Mac version does support .ds2 audio files from Olympus, Grundig and Philips BUT unlike the Windows version does not support the older .dss format and Sony’s .dvf audio files. Express Scribe for Mac works on OS X 10.3 all the way up to OS X 10.7 (Lion).

Click Here to go to the NCH Express Scribe for Mac website to download the free or buy the Pro version. Looking for NCH Software on twitter? @NCHSoftware

A couple of customers recently have had some minor issues using their Olympus DS-5000/DS-5000iD/DS-3400 digital dictaphone on their Mac running Lion (OS X 10.7). The problem experienced was that the device was not automatically recognised by the software when the digital voice recorder was docked or the USB cable attached.

The problem seemed to stem from release 7.2.6 of the Olympus DSS Player Plus software which was built and shipped pre the Lion release. Olympus have now released a patch to version 7.2.8 which makes DSS Player Pro for Mac now fully Lion compatible.

The patch can be downloaded from Olympus directly – click here to download the latest Olympus Voice software updates and patches

Express Scribe from NCH has undergone some major changes over the last few weeks. Not cosmetic changes but under the hood changes which will likely affect you if you have been a long time Express Scribe user, especially if you have gone from an older version to version 5.40.

Gone now in the free version of Express Scribe is support for the following very common file formats:

• .dss from Olympus, Grundig & Philips
• .dvf from Sony
• All video file formats

A large number of other less common audio file formats have been removed from the free version leaving only playback of .MP3, .WAV, .WMA .AIF/.AIFF & .DCT on both Windows and Mac in the free version of Scribe. A full list of audio and video files that will play in the Express Scribe Free & Express Scribe Pro can be found here: NCH Express Scribe Free & Pro File Format Compatibility Chart

I close look at the Express Scribe version history also shows that in version 5.40 free edition “Non-AltoEdge foot pedals should not be available in free version” meaning if you are one of the many people who have purchased a Philips 2310 or 2320 USB foot control  it will no longer work with the free edition at this release level. We actually dropped selling the Philips USB foot pedals for use with Express Scribe a long time ago and have been directing all customers to buy their pedals from the online shop linked to the Express Scribe web site.

There are quite a few changes that I can see will affect a very large number of transcription typists around the world with the update to version 5.40 so my advice would be, buy the software. Express Scribe is an essential tool for any transcription typist, the cost of the software is small (around AU$36, US$35, GBP23) and hey we have all been using it for free for years so it’s the least we can do right.

Click here to buy Express Scribe Plus or click the add to in the right column.

No, is the short answer. Voice or speech recognition software will only successfully work with one spoken voice and that spoken voice, for best results, needs to have trained the software to understand their voice and style of speaking known as creating a voice profile. Most people who use voice recognition software typically pop on a headset and mic and chat away to their Windows PC or Mac and watch as their voice is magically (or using the Dragon voice recognition engine if you don’t believe in magic) converted to text.

Voice recognition is currently going through a spike in popularity, especially since the release of the iPhone 4S running iOS5 with Siri, which has raised awareness of just how good voice recognition technology has evolved over the last couple of years, Nuance being the company leading the way in this technology on Mac, Windows and now inside iOS5 working closely with Apple.

Because of this everyone now has an iPhone which is capable of recording audio and most who need to capture important meetings or interviews also have a high quality digital voice recorder. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium and Professional edition on Windows and MacSpeech Scribe on the Mac can take recorded audio and transcribe it, that is only for that single trained person who is speaking. So it is understandable that the leap is often made that if it can transcribe one voice it can transcribe many, not so. The technology is not there yet and in my opinion won’t be for quite some time.

Nuance on their website cleverly have a couple of pages dedicated to Transcribing Interviews or Transcribing Lectures using a technique called voice writing or parroting. The idea is simple, you record your interview, meeting, lecture or whatever it is that has multiple voices or a single voice that you can not get trained in Dragon (possibly the voice of someone making a speech or presenting at a conference). Then when you are sitting in front of your Windows PC or Mac (in this case running Dragon Dictate, not MacSpeech Scribe) you listen to your recorded audio and you speak what you hear. Therefore it is your trained voice that Dragon hears as you are repeatings other peoples words from your recording. Sounds simple doesn’t it – it isn’t, I have tried it a few times and have become extremely frustrated. You may find that the voice you are listening to is too fast for you to remember and repeat back which means you are constantly stopping and rewinding the audio, which on an iPhone app or basic digital voice recorder is not always that easy. You will likely often have to stop the audio to correct mistakes made by Dragon, maybe when unfamiliar names or terms are used which have not been trained into your user profile. It will work but it does take a lot of concentration and a large amount of practice, you can give it a try just search YouTube for a boardroom meeting and see if you can repeat what you hear while wearing a headset and mic.

So what are your practical options for transcribing audio or video of meetings and interviews or in fact any audio that you need turned from voice to text?

Option 1 – Type The Audio Yourself

You could transcribe the audio yourself using some specialised transcription software to help you, transcription is the process of typing what you hear. When I say help it won’t actually do the work of typing it for you but it will assist greatly with the audio playback. For example if you are a slow typist you could slow the speed of audio playback down to match your typing speed or conversly also speed up the audio if your fingers are a blur when you type. Using transcription software you can also easily rewind the audio, again set up to match your typing ability so you could either rewind back half a second or if you are a poor typist like me rewind the audio back up to 5 seconds. The biggest benefit of using transcription software is that audio can be controlled from inside the word processor that you are typing in. By that I mean using a USB connected foot pedal or pre-defined keys on your keyboard you can stop/play/rewind the audio without leaving the document that you are typing. This is a huge time saver, often people try to transcribe using Windows Media Player or Quicktime for their audio playback and they have to constantly switch between they document to the audio player to stop/rewind/play and then back to the document which adds a considerable amount of time to the whole transcribing process.

Pros Of Doing It Yourself

• Cost, from the point of view that you are not paying someone else to do the work.
• Cost, from the point of view that transcription software is free or relatively cheap depending on what you buy.

Cons Of Doing It Yourself

• It is hard work and not as easy as it sounds.
• Transcription typing does take a long time even if you are experienced.

Just as an indication of how long transcription takes, a good quality one hour audio file of an interview between two people would take an experienced transcription typist around 2-3 hours to transcribe. If you are not experienced expect that to rise to 4-5 hours and without the help of transcription software even longer.

Transcription Software

• Express Scribe from NCH Software – $FREE
• Express Scribe Pro from NCH Software – approx. AU$40 – Click Here To Buy Express Scribe PRO – Plays .dss .ds2 .dct .dvf .avi .mov .wmv audio and video files.
• Olympus AS-2400 Digital Transcription Kit – Includes software, headset and USB foot pedal – RRP AU$425 but usually it sells online for less. Windows & Mac compatible.

Option 2 – Outsource To A Professional Transcription Service

If you need your audio transcribed quickly and accurately then this option is for you. Just Google transcription service and see how many businesses are listed both organically and in the paid Google ads. Transcription has become a boom business over the last few years and that makes total sense. With the availability and high quality of digital voice recorders and iPhone apps just about everyone is recording their meetings, interviews, podcasts, vodcasts, focus groups, lectures, letters, assessments the list goes on. It is great to have a record of your meeting and the like stored digitally which can be easily shared within your business on your intranet or with the world on the internet but more often than not a written transcript is also required for offline reading, compliance or for public record. There are all kinds of reasons audio and video is transcribed into text these days.

This is where a professional transcription service can come in to help you. Simply send them your digital audio or video via the internet and they can set to work using their team of experienced transcription typists to convert your voice to text. Here is a security tip, always make sure that the transcription service you use has their own secure file server and that the data you send them is encrypted either using FTPS (not FTP) or HTTPS (not HTTP) – this is important for two reasons. 1. your audio/video is encrypted as it travels across the internet from you to their servers. 2. by ensuring they run their own secure server they will have full control and access over what happens on that server. Many transcription services use third party providers like SendThisFile.com and they nor you have any control over your data on that third parties servers. Ask any transcription service that you approach about their security and file transfer mechanisms. Many still use FTP and not FTPS, transferring files across FTP alone does not encrypt the file contents, be it audio, video or worse still your transcribed documents.

Any good professional transcription service will turn your audio around quickly and the final transcript will very accurate. Typically there are two phases to the transcription process; phase 1 is the transcription typist who listens and types your audio/video to text. Phase 2 is a quality assurance phase, a proofreader will listen to your audio and proof against what has been transcribed. This double verifies the typists work and the document can be formatted to your specific requirements. Obviously we recommend The Transcription People, not just because this is our sister company but because they are leaders in the transcription industry in Australia who service clients not only from Australia but also the US and Europe

As audio and video for transcription is mainly digital you can utilise the services of a transcription company anywhere in the world, you may want to do this for cost benefit reasons but more often than not to take advantage of time zones. Many UK and US businesses will use the services of Australian based transcription companies for just this reason as Australia tends to work their business day as Europe and the US sleep.

Pros

• Speed, this is a transcription services core business. Reputable companies will turn around audio and video very quickly.
• Accuracy, again as a core business this is how transcription services are rated from a customers point of view. A good transcription firm will always produce high quality accurate transcriptions because of the two phase approach.
• Ability to adapt, regardless of how much audio or video you send you should always expect the same fast, accurate turn around of transcripts.
• You don’t have to do it so you can focus your time on more productive work.

Cons

• Cost is the only con, you are paying for a service so compared to you doing it yourself there will be a cost involved. Obviously the larger more reputable transcription companies will have different rates from the work from home type of micro transcription service.

So there you have it ! Reasons why Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Windows or MacSpeech Scribe for Apple Mac are not good for transcribing meetings or interviews and the options you have open to you to convert recorded audio or video into text.

Annalisa Holmes from The Transcription People, one of Australia’s dynamic leading outsource transcription service providers, recently wrote a guest post on the NCH blog detailing how her transcription business has grown over the years and how Express Scribe has been a constant throughout that growth. Now with a plethora of big name Australian blue chips using their services, The Transcription People’s large team of transcription typists and proof readers all use Express Scribe in their daily work.

With the release of Express Scribe 5.40 NCH have introduced a paid option, don’t worry a free version is still available, aimed at the Pro transcription provider and adds compatability with the DSS Pro (.ds2) audio format from Olympus, Philips and Grundig digital dictation recorders as well as video.

Click here to read Annalisa’s guest blog post on the NCH blog.

The Transcription People Pty Ltd is the sister company of Dictate Australia Pty Ltd.

NCH Software recently outed a new release of the worlds most popular free transcription software for Windows, Express Scribe, which is finally compatible with DSS Pro audio file formats, better known as .ds2 files. Not only that but NCH claims that Express Scribe is compatible with both Phillips DSS Pro and Olympus DSS Pro audio files (yes there is a difference even though DSS Pro is supposed to be a standard).

From Olympus the DSS Pro (.ds2) audio files are created on their Pro range of digital dictaphones (DS-5000, DS-3400 and DS-2400) and has caused some issues for many small outsource transcription businesses who were aggrieved to actually spend money and buy the appropriate software to either play or convert these audio files to load into pre version 5.30 Express Scribe. How to convert .ds2 audio files to play in Express Scribe has been covered in an earlier blog post of ours (one of our most popular posts) – click here

Great move by NCH although it did take some time to get there, the rejoicing from the transcription world will be huge. Easily one of the best if not the best transcription software out there, Express Scribe continues to dominate the transcription world and rightly so. Come on NCH, let us pay for this software

As yet .ds2 can only be played by Express Scribe on Windows. The Mac version (as of version 5.32) remains without .ds2 support.

Click here to keep an eye on Express Scribe versions – both Mac and Windows

Click here to download a sample Olympus .ds2 audio file to test your Express Scribe

If you check in on our blog often you would have noticed us drooling of the amazing Olympus LS-20M a few months back, in case you missed it here is the link – please note the massive close up picture of the LS-20M just to ram home how cool this little device is.

Well in the latest pricing released to all Olympus Australia resellers today you could almost hear the shouts of “yippee” across the country as we rubbed our eyes in disbelief, the LS-20M is now available in Australia (or will be in the next week or two).

Sure, we all have HD video recorders nowadays, on our iPhone, our Flip camera and even on our point-and-shoot or DSLR cameras. So what makes this recorder anydifferent? Well, if you have used some or all of the above devices then one thing you would have noticed, great video quality, shocking audio quality. This is where the LS-20M stands out; using the experience of Olympus imaging for the video and the market leading audio capabilities of the Voice arm Olympus have come up with this powerful little package.

Keeping in vogue with recent trends of filtering your shots, seen in the massively popular Instagr.am app on the iPhone (follow me on Instagr.am @australia) and in the ever so popular PEN range of Olympus Imaging cameras, filters are a part of the LS-20M bundle of fun.

Unusually with the LS-20M Olympus have stepped away from the on-board flash memory + SD/SDHC card combo, the LS-20M has no on-board flash memory at all and relies solely on the SD/SDHC card slot. Click here for the US specs for the LS-20M.

What I can tell you is that the RRP for the LS-20M is $449 incl. GST.

This is where Dropbox comes in. Dropbox is a service which has both free and paid options which not only allows you to share files of any kind, of any size with others it also stores them in the cloud aswell as on your PC or Mac in effect creating a backup of what is already on your computer. The concept is simple, you install the small Dropbox client on your computer and point that client to a single folder, that folder on your computer, just like My Documents on Windows. That folder and all its contents (including sub-directories) will be automatically synced with your account in the cloud. You don’t need to worry about the transfer completing, Dropbox handles that for you, you just drop the file and forget.

You can install the Dropbox agent on any of your computers, Mac or Windows, if you have more than one to keep files in sync from one machine to another. But in the digital voice world it makes a perfect solution for sharing audio files with colleagues and even your typist, regardless of whether they are in the same office, same state or even the same country.

Dropbox allows you to share certain folders (and even files) with people, so if you store all your important documents in Dropbox on the folders (or files) you choose will be shared with others. For example, lets say you use an outsource transcription service who transcribes your audio files. You can simply setup a “Transcription” folder in Dropbox, share that with your typists and then drop any audio files you need into that directory. You typist will automatically receive the file on their computer and will be alerted via a popup that the file has arrived. Not only that, when the transcription is complete they can just drop the transcript in the same directory and vice versa you receive the actual document into your Dropbox ready for you to read.

Most good transcription businesses will utilise their own secure servers for file transfer, however some of the smaller ones still tend to use thrid party sites like sendthisfile.com to move large audio files around. That’s great but you have to wait for the transfer to complete, which if you are working off a mobile 3G connection can be slow and painful. Dropbox takes that pain away and just works, not only that all file transfers are secure and the files are encrypted as they pass from your computer to Dropbox both ways.

The uses of Dropbox are limitless. Me personally, I use Dropbox to store all the voice recorder manuals I sell, along with many documents that I refer to often. Aswell as being available for Mac and Windows there is also an Apple iPhone app and Android app so you can access your files while on the go from your smartphone.

Dropbox has been around for a while and has really set the standard for file sharing and backup. I wrote this blog because I love the way it works and I use it daily. For file sharing, especially for large audio files, Dropbox is an easy way to move you files around.

Dropbox has both free and paid options. The free option gives you 2Gb of cloud storage, if you need more then there are a couple of paid options offering either monthly or yearly payments. This gives you 50Gb of space called Pro 50 (US$99/year or US$9.99/month), 100Gb of space called Pro 100 (US$199/year or US$19.99/month) and there is also a 350+Gb option called Teams, Dropbox will tailor a plan to your needs. For the average person the free option is the way to go, that’s what I use. So give it a try and let me know what you think. Click here to get Dropbox for free !

Yes, 11.5 is now ready for download and upgrade in Australia for all registered Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 users. The upgrade will open up the use of your iPhone as a remote wireless mic into Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Windows (unless you are a Home user) aswell as some new social tools like tweeting and Facebook updates using Dragon. I am willing to bet 20c that we will see another upgrade soon to include posts to Google+, here’s hoping.

Want to know how to use your iPhone with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5? First you will need to grab the free Dragon Remote Mic app from iTunes here Then watch this official Nuance video … [click here for the video]