iDictate – Digital Voice Blog

A new firmware update is available for the Olympus DM-3 and DM-5 digital voice/meeting/interview recorders, version 1.20

New in this firmware release is:

1. Support the functions of USB microphone or Speaker.
2. Supports the function to register the voice keywords for the schedule.
3. Supports the function to register the voice memos for the schedule.
4. Supports the playback for audio files from the schedule list display.
5. Improve the volume setting when the text file is spoken out.
6. Supports to directly connect the device to CD drive and import DAISY contents from CD (Only for DM-5)

Both the Olympus DM-3 and DM-5 can be updated on either a Windows or a Mac, to find out how please review our earlier blog post by clicking the link below:

How to firmware update your Olympus DM-3 / DM-5 on Windows or Mac

The latest Olympus digital voice recorders come with the ability to update their firmware as and when Olympus release new updates. The firmware is essentially the operating system that runs your digital voice recorder so it is a good idea to always stay up-to-date with any new firmware releases, much as you do with your Mac when new OS X operating system releases are made and on Windows with security patches and fixes. Firmware updates will improve the usability of your recorder, fix any minor bugs and often add more features or improve usability.

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We are now in the day and age of digital dictation and transcription. But, believe it or not, there are people and organisations out there who are still using some form of cassette tape to record dictation. Olympus long ago discontinued their micro and mini cassette transcription kits (remember the old Pearlcorder brand?) and more recently their hand held tape dictaphones and the tapes bit the dust.

So, what if you do transcription work and you only have digital transcription software, how do you get taped audio into a digital format for you to transcribe? Really it is quite simple as long as you have a device that can play the tape usually the device that made the recording if you have a microcassette or mini cassette. Standard tapes can be played back using a standard tape deck although you have to be careful as some standard cassette recordings can be made in double time which you won’t be able to play on a standard tape deck. As long as that tape player has an earphone or headphone jack you are in luck.

As audio is played back through the earphone jack socket, typically to a headset or earpiece, when you play the tape use that output source and run it into the mic socket on your PC or Mac. To do this you will need a cable which on one end has a male jack plug the correct size to fit the earphone/headphone jack socket on the tape player. On the other end of the cable you will need another male jack plug the correct size to fit the mic socket on your PC or Mac. Don’t worry if the sockets on the tape player and your computer are different sizes, you can get adapters to change the male jack plug size. Once you have the cable all you need is some free audio recording software to record whatever your PC/Mac mic socket can hear as the tape is played back. Once recorded you can save the audio in your favourite digital format; mp3, wma, wav etc.

One thing to watch out for is excessive noise output from the tape playing device. In our experience we have had to reduce the output volume on the player to very low. On the computer I recommend you adjust the mic in volume control to the lowest setting also. Keep an eye on the audio meter levels in the software you choose to record digitally, you will be able to see if the audio in is too much for your sound card. Remember this is taped audio, it will not be as crisp or clear as digital.

Suggested software for recording audio on your computer:

Audacity: Open source, free audio recording software. Allows for audio editing and some effects like noise reduction.

Wavepad: From everyones favourite audio software company NCH Swift Sound. Wavepad comes in a free limited functionality version and a paid full featured package.

Download sample .dss and .ds2 audio files at the end of this blog post …

#UPDATE# As of Express Scribe version 5.30+, the Windows version can now 

play .ds2 files from Olympus and Philips - click here for more details

This is a hot topic in the transcription world currently. The new DSS Pro (.ds2) audio format now in use by default on all the Olympus digital dictaphones: DS-2400, DS-3400, DS-5000 and DS-5000iD. It is a hot topic for a couple of reasons, often a transcriber can not play the new .ds2 audio files because:

1. Transcriptionist has an older Olympus transcription kit (AS-2300 or AS-4000)
2. Transcriptionist uses free Express Scribe software

There are a number of ways to get around this glitch and the options depend on what you have already and what operating system you use. I will try to cover all possible solutions, if I miss one please let me know and I will update this post. What I will say right from the outset is that these solutions are work arounds for typists who choose not to stay up-to-date with the latest software. By purchasing an Olympus AS-5000 transcription kit (or just the DSS Player Pro transcription module software AS-5002 if you already own an RS-28 Olympus foot pedal) all these issues will go away. The latest DSS Player Pro transcription module is fully compatible with the DSS Pro (.ds2) audio files.

So let me try and cover all options for those who do not have the latest DSS Player Pro transcription module. More

This week I was lucky enough to attend FlyingSoloLIVE, an expo run by the FlyingSolo team held at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney. The day consisted of a number of keynote speeches by well known successful Australian business people and social media experts all aimed to educate and inspire Australian solo and small business people. The event was held as part of the New South Wales Governments Small Business Month.

For the event I decided to take along three very good but very different digital audio recorders. The Olympus WS-450s digital voice recorder, the LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen and loaded on my iPhone an app called iProRecorder. I wanted to see how each performed, which gave the best audio quality and how they lasted during a full day of recording. All my recordings were made in the Theatre Atrium at the Australian Technology Park. I took sample recordings from the back of the theatre (around 90 feet from the stage), the middle (approx. 40 feet back) and from the front row. The event had professional audio visual and the speakers had microphones.

Olympus WS-450S – This is a very new digital voice recorder launched in Australia just last month.  This is the type of digital voice recorder we sell day in/day out on our online store dictate.com.au and is a fantastic all-round performer in the digital voice world. Both Mac and Windows compatible this recorder I recommend typically for single speaker note taking, interviews and small to medium sized meetings. This is not the kind of recorder I would usually recommend for a conference type situation. For this I would generally advise the next models up (WS-550M, WS-560M or DS-55, DS-65) but I was confident that the results would be good. The device was set to SHQ recording mode and records audio in stereo .WMA audio format. The Olympus WS-450S has an RRP of AU$295 incl. GST.

The Olympus WS-450S performed very well and I was impressed, as I always am by Olympus, by the pickup quality of the audio. Staying power was no issue for the recorder and hardly made a dent in its power source which is one AAA battery. There was also no need to stress about how much audio I could squeeze onto the recorder as it has 1Gb of flash memory, even recording on the highest quality audio setting allows for 17 hours plus of recording so five or six one hour sessions were nothing.

• Ease of use:
• Staying power:
• Audio Quality:
• Value for Money:

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LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen – This is my current favourite gadget. Not only will the LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen record the audio but also allows you to hand write notes in a special note pad as you are recording audio. Your hand written notes can be viewed on your computer (Windows or Mac) and the audio can be played back from any point  just by the click of a mouse or the touch of the pen on any of your hand written words or doodles. These digital hand written notes and audio can be easily shared online. This expo, as well as lectures, conferences, meetings and interviews is exactly what the LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen is designed for so I had high expectations of this gadget. The device was set to High audio quality and the microphone sensitivity set to Automatic -  audio can be exported on a Mac in .aac format. The 2Gb LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen has an RRP of AU$329 incl. GST.

Well well … hands down the best audio recorder of the three the LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen performed brilliantly. Regardless of where I was sat in the conference hall the audio pickup was very very good. Considering that most of the time the pen was laid on the chair next to me or I was writing notes in the LiveScribe Dot Paper pad. Not only do you get amazing audio pickup but the bonus of your handwritten notes as well, so really an amazing package. Like the Olympus, no issues with staying power with hardly a dent in the battery life and with a massive 2Gb of storage I could have recorded all day without a worry. I plan to write a blog post very soon dedicated to the LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen and will include video so you can see the hand written notes in the software on a PC or Mac.

• Ease of use:
• Staying power:
• Audio Quality:
• Value for Money:

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iProRecorder iPhone App – This is the very first digital voice recorder app I loaded onto my iPhone and it has been used many times to record my notes and the occasional interview. Although iProRecorder can be used for conference/lecture recording as mentioned in the notes in the app store I was skeptical to see how the recorder would cope. The app was set to record in HQ recording mode and records in mono .WAV audio format. iProRecorder is currently AU$3.99 available from iTunes.

Although the audio quality was good the volume of the audio was very low. Using some software like Audacity or WavePad you can easily boost the volume but that adds time and complexity. Just listening to the audio through my computer was a struggle with the audio turned up. I could hear better with headphones connected listening to the audio on the iPhone. Staying power was also an issue, after a morning of recording, checking and sending email and tweeting by around 2pm (my phone was on from 6am) the battery was just about gone. I bought with me a Mophie Juice Pack Air rechargeable battery case to boost the iPhone power and that took my through to the end of the day but without my recording would have been cut short. A little disappointing, I think this app is best used in close proximity interviews and meetings and for lectures in your average sized classroom instead of an auditorium. Via its in built web server the audio can be easily accessed across Wi-Fi from any Windows or Mac computer.

• Ease of use:
• Staying power:
• Audio Quality:
• Value for Money:

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“Help” is a comment we have had a few times since the mac daddy of the Olympus digital voice recorder range, the DS-5000 and DS-5000iD was launched late 2008. This new Olympus digital dicataphone, which replaced the sturdy DS-4000, uses the latest DSS (Digital Speech Standard) audio technology known as DSS Pro which produces digital audio files with the extension .ds2

The previous audio format used by its predecessor the Olympus DS-4000 produced audio files with the extension .dss, this audio format was shared between a few of the leading digital voice manufacturers like Olympus and Philips and had been around for a while. Third party voice developers like the Australian NCH company had developed software which could easily play that audio format on a PC and so they and others created software which could use that format. Of note was their highly popular free digital transcription software called Express Scribe.

What we have found lately is the users of the DS-5000 recorders who are utilising the smaller outsource transcription companies are having issues as Express Scribe and other free transcription software is not able to play the DSS Pro .ds2 audio files. Of course for the larger Australian outsource transcription businesses like our sister company The Transcription People this is not an issue.

No need to panic, there is a way around this. Although the DS-5000 by default records in DSS Pro it can be changed to record in the older DSS .dss format, this is called Classic Mode. Setting the DS-5000 to Classic Mode is done via the DSS Pro Dictation Module software and not on the recorder itself. I spent plenty of time trawling through the onboard menus on my DS-5000iD before I did the sensible thing and read the manual!

If you are using a smaller outsource transcription business or your in house typing team uses the older Olympus transcription kits then I would suggest you switch your DS-5000 to classic mode until such time as they have updated their software to the DSS Pro transcription module or purchased a new Olympus AS-5000 digital transcription kit.

One of the best features of the Philips digital voice tracer (DVT) models is the ability for the end user to update the firmware in the recorder. This is an easy way for Philips to pass on bug fixes and product enhancements to the recorders without the need for return to base saving the consumer considerable time.

The firmware update is very simple. Basically you USB connect your DVT to your PC or Mac and download the .bin firmware file to the recorders root directory. Once it is there select the firmware upgrade through the recorders menu system and Bob’s your uncle, DVT updated with the latest firmware.

Full instructions and the latest firmware release notes are on the Software Downloads page for each DVT on the Philips Dictation Australia website.