iDictate – Digital Voice Blog

Today, 15th December 2009, is day one for Olympus Imaging as they become the new distributor for Olympus voice products within Australia and New Zealand. Olympus Imaging has taken over from Nationwide Dictating who, after fifteen years of voice distribution, have called it a day. The Olympus website for information on Olympus voice products in Australia and New Zealand is now www.olympus.com.au along with Dictate Australia.

So what does this mean for the resellers and more importantly the consumers of Olympus Voice products? For the resellers we now deal with one national office instead of being split across the country, the Nationwide Dictating head office in Melbourne has been closed along with the Brisbane and Sydney offices. Olympus Imaging will operate from one location in North Ryde in Sydney. Some key staff from Nationwide Dictating have been retained by Olympus Imaging which is great news as their valuable experience and knowledge of the Olympus Voice products will be retained and will allow the resellers to continue to have excellent second line support for questions and solutions.

For the consumer we already see some good news. The latest reseller price lists have just been released today and the pricing of most top of the line professional recorders has dropped making the best digital voice recorders in Australia even more affordable, there are some huge reductions. Some examples:

• Olympus DS-5000 old RRP $995 incl. GST, new RRP $845 incl. GST
• Olympus LS-10 old RRP $895 incl. GST new RRP $595 incl. GST
• Olympus WS-550M old RRP $395 incl. GST new RRP $199 incl. GST

Along with the new price lists we are also seeing yet another change in the voice recorder product range. Gone are the excellent meeting recorders the DS-40, DS-50 and DS-65 replaced by the newer DM-450 and DM-550 models.  Also added are some of the latest voice recorders available in the UK and US that we in Australia usually have to wait for, like the LS-11 PCM music and nature sound recorder. Also new to Australia will be the VN-6800PC note taker.

Like us here at Dictate Australia, most Olympus Voice resellers will be re-jigging their pricing over the next few days and adding in the new Olympus products. As soon as we can we will get new models in for review.

Welcome Olympus Imaging to the world of digital voice and good luck.

Tweet This Post Delicious

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

Tweet This Post Delicious

So, this year has been a big one for Olympus voice with a revamp of all their digital recorder range. Not content with being left behind Philips had a go back in April when they rolled out, finally, Mac compatible note takers with the DVT (Digital Voice Tracer) range comprising of the 660/860/880 models. This week Philips have done a rejig in this range and discontinued the young 660/860/880 recorders and replaced them with new model numbers although essentially they are the previous recorders upgraded. Philips have also added some innovative voice recorder packages, like a set aimed at reporters and a set aimed at writers who might want to attempt their own transcription.

So what has been discontinued and what are their replacement models:

• Philips DVT LFH0660 discontinued, replaced by DVT LFH0662 (2GB – RRP AU$189)
• Philips DVT LFH0860 discontinued, replaced by DVT LFH0862 (4GB – RRP AU$249)
• Philips DVT LFH0880 discontinued, replaced by DVT LFH0882 (4GB – RRP AU$279)
• Philips DVR DragonNaturallySpeaking Voice Recorder Edition LFH-660/10 discontinued, replaced by LFH0667 (RRP AU$259)

A common change across the range is an increase in memory, that makes sense with solid state memory continuing to grow in size and drop in price. Also added to all recorders are a visual record level indicator and the USB connection, as well as powering the unit, will now also charge a rechargeable battery.

Other notable changes include uncompressed PCM recording now available on the LFH0662. High Sensitivity mic added to the LFH0862 and LFH0882 with the new “Zoom” function.

As mentioned another innovative thing Philips have done is create some Digital Voice Tracer combination packs, new packs are:

• LFH0868 (RRP AU$279) – 862 Digital Voice Tracer with docking station.
• LFH0888 (RRP AU$339) – 882 Digital Voice Tracer with docking station.
• LFH0867 (RRP AU$369) – Writers Set. 862 Digital Voice Tracer with the media player USB hand control (LFH2370/00)  which allows audio control with yours thumbs.
• LFH0885 (RRP AU$369) – Reporters Set. 882 Digital Voice Tracer with stereo lapel mic.
• LFH0895 (RRP AU$749) – Compact Meeting Recorder. I like this one, 882 Digital Voice Tracer with two of the best looking and good quality boundary mics available.

Expect to see these new models appearing around Australia from October.

Tweet This Post Delicious

At Dictate Australia we often get calls from people who have been using their trusy Pearlcorder micro or mini cassette dictaphone for years who are in a slight panic. Either their analogue tape dictaphone has given up the ghost or they can’t find replacement cassettes or their tape based transcription kit has retired after years of service. My advice to all these people is go digital. Why? Here are four good reasons:

1. Audio Quality

Digital voice recorders utilise the latest digital technology. That means they have amazing audio pickup and can record for hours on end. The audio quality from a digital voice recorder is far superior to that of analogue tapes. Whether you are recording single speaker notes, an interview or large meetings the audio quality on good digital voice recorders is crisp and clear.

2. Happy Typist

Because the audio quality is so good from a digital voice recorder you will have a happy typist. No more will she have to strain to hear every word. If you go digital your typists can transcribe the audio on their PC or Mac, if the audio is quiet it can be boosted, if you are too loud they can turn the audio down, if you speak slowly they can speed you up to match their typing speed all using transcription software. With digital audio the clarity is better meaning your transcribed documents will have fewer timestamps or inaudible words and will likely be transcribed faster.

3. Easily Store Your Dictations

So you record to a tape, when the tape is finished then what? You write neatly on the cassette insert and file the cassette case in a drawer or in a cabinet. If you need to quickly access your audio you have to hunt through tens or hundreds of tapes to find the right one. When you do find the right tape you then have to spend time fast-forwarding through the tape trying to find the audio you need. With digital the audio is stored as a computer file. You can keep your audio on your PC or Mac, on your server, on your website even. Your audio can be easily accessed from anywhere in the world, quickly and easily if you store digital audio. You could even burn your audio to a CD or DVD for safe keeping.

4. Free Yourself from an On Site Typist

Yes we all love our on-site typist but in this day and age an on-site typist can be an expensive commodity for any business. Requiring a desk, a computer, insurance and taxes your typists can be a costly necessity just to be there to physically pass a micro cassette to. With digital audio your dictation can be sent anywhere in the world in seconds. This opens you up to either letting your trusty typist work from home or allows you to outsource your dictation to a professional outsource transcription service like our partner company The Transcription People – Australia.

I know what you are thinking, “my dictation is confidential can I trust sending it over the Internet?“. Well yes is the answer to that one. But with some provisos. If you use a professional transcription service they should have a secure file transfer mechanism in place which will encrypt your audio as it travels from your digital voice recorder to their dedicated secure server. Avoid sending confidential audio by email unless both the sender and receiver use a secure certificate. Avoid sending your audio across a secure connection to a third party, such as a service like SendThisFile, although the file transfer may be secure your audio is housed on a server out of the control of your transcription service.

The Transcription People own and administer their own servers so you can be sure that your audio is going securely and directly to them.

What To Look For?

Digital voice recorders come in two types, digital dictaphones and digital note takers. Digital dictaphones are generally aimed at people who dictate letters and notes, usually but not restricted to people in the legal and medical fields. Digital note takers are typically used for recording interviews, meetings, focus groups and lecture or conference audio. Click here for our previous blog post on the difference between a digital dictaphone and a digital note taker.

Tweet This Post Delicious