iDictate – Digital Voice Blog

With the release of the new Olympus DS-7000 and DS-3500 digital dictaphones in Australia and around the world recently one of the most common questions we get from people and businesses upgrading is “will the new digital voice recorders work with older transcription kits”? mainly the Olympus AS-5000 kit but also the older AS-4000 digital transcription kit.

As always the answer is yes and no. There are some minor points to consider depending on which transcription kits you plan to use with your Olympus DS-7000 if you don’t have the latest Olympus transcription kit the AS-7000.

Using the Olympus DS-7000 with Olympus AS-5000 DSS Player Pro R5 Transcription Module

The AS-5000 transcription kit running DSS Player Pro R5 is fully compatible with all the audio files that the DS-7000 and DS-3500 produce, which are .ds2 (DSS Pro) by default, .dss (DSS) and .wma except if you encrypt your .ds2 audio files with 256bit encryption. The AS-5000 kit is unable to decrypt 256bit and can only decrypt 128bit encrypted .ds2 audio files.

If you currently do not encrypt your audio files then the DS-7000 will be fully compatible with the AS-5000 transcription kit. If you do encrypt, your options are to simply encrypt in 128bit mode or purchase the upgrade to the AS-5000 DSS Player Pro R5 software using the AS-7004 which will convert your DSS Player Pro R5 transcription module to ODMS (Olympus Dictation Management System) R6 Transcription module. The AS-7004 upgrade is AU$59 incl. GST in Australia, you will require one per install.

Using the Olympus DS-7000 with Olympus AS-4000 DSS Player Pro R4 Transcription Module

Using the Olympus DS-7000 or DS-3500 with the much older AS-4000 digital transcription kit running DSS Player Pro R4 software you will have very similar issues to those who purchased the Olympus DS-5000 digital dictaphones over the last couple of years. The AS-4000 kit is unable to play back .ds2 (DSS Pro) audio files so with the DS-7000/DS-3500 like the DS-5000/DS-3400 you will need to set your digital dictaphone to either run in classic mode (which sets the dictaphone to record by default in .dss instead of .ds2) or convert your audio from .ds2 to .dss prior to sending to your typist using your ODMS R6 dictation module software supplied with the DS-7000 and DS-3500.

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.

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. More

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: More

Olympus voice are an innovative bunch, they don’t tend to sit on their hands doing not a lot, they keep refining and evolving their range of digital voice recorders. It is not uncommon to see digital voice recorder models come and go in the space of a single year. As such we often find customers coming back after years of use to replace their digital note taker or dictaphone only to find that their old model voice recorder has been replaced by a newer model.

In an attempt to make finding the current equivalent voice recorder to replace your old trusty Olympus digital voice recorder a little easier I have compiled a list of old models and their latest equivalents. This list covers PCM music recorders, interview/meeting/focus group recorders, budget recorders, the Pro range of digital dictaphones and finally Olympus digital transcription kits. More

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

##UPDATE## As of June 2011 this offer has now ended in Australia

I know fancy title for what is essentially a giveaway if you buy a bundle of the best digital dictaphone and transcription kit on the market the Olympus DS-5000 digital dictaphone (or DS-5000iD) and AS-5000 digital transcrpition kit. And why not, its alot of money to buy this gear so you should be rewarded and thats exactly what Olympus are prepared to do by giving away … drum roll please … a 14 mega pixel Olympus FE4030 digital camera.

In yet another move to send the competition scrambling for ideas the partnership between Olympus Voice and Olympus Imaging is cemented with this deal. To qualify all you need do is buy one DS-5000 and one AS-5000 in one transaction, that’s it. Oh and of course make sure you are buying from an Olympus Pro dealer in Australia who is participating in this promo, please check first though to make sure they have the camera stock so as not to be disappointed. At the time of writing, we Dictate Australia, have quite a few cameras to give away with 5000 bundles. No need to buy online we can invoice you.

The Olympus FE4030 is a stunning little point and shoot from Olympus, with a 14 megapixel sensor and powerful 4x optical zoom lens with 26mm wide angle, you’ll get your great shot every time. Get creative with the FE 4030′s selection of Magic Filters.  With Pop, Pinhole, Sketch and Fisheye effects, transform your photos into works of art, all at the touch of a button.  And when its time to upload your shots to your computer, you’ll be charging the battery at the same time, with USB and In-camera charging! I love the filters they can transform ordinary photos into works of art.

Lets face it, it happens – you lose a thingy or misplace a what-do-ya-ma-call-it and suddenly you can’t do what you always do with your Olympus DS-5000 digital dictaphone. After all the box does come jam packed with cables, a CD, licence keys, docking station, batteries the list goes on. So what happens when you can’t find the thing you need?

Well, all official Olympus resellers will also sell spare parts, the trick is knowing what that spare part is called. In this post I will go through everything that is in the box and show you the part numbers and their RRP (in Australia) to give you an idea if you really should have looked after that part a bit more carefully. When you open the Olympus branded shoe box that contains your new DS-5000 or DS-5000iD everything inside can be replaced except for the recorder itself. So apart from the recorder what you will find inside are: More