iDictate – Digital Voice Blog

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With all the hoo-haa surrounding the Julia Gillard vs Kevin Rudd showdown in Parliament recently I have found myself glued to the TV and twitterstream (in particular the fantastic work by @latikambourke) for news and updates on the goings on in Canberra. One thing I find myself doing when a press conference is on or a politician is hijacked as they leave Canberra Airport is watching the press pack thrust various microphones and digital voice recorders in the face of said pollies.

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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years of use to replace their digital note taker or dictaphone only to find that their old model voice recorder has been replaced by a newer model.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

Olympus Imaging yesterday revised the price on a number of their hugely popular digital notetakers (used mainly for voice notes, interviews, meetings, conferences, lectures etc.) in a downward direction. Last year we had a flood of downward price movements after the middle man, Nationwide Dictating, was removed and Olympus Imaging took over Australian distribution of the voice products. More

Another month, another round of new digital voice recorders coming from Olympus Imaging Australia. This month we sadly see the end of life for the WS-450S, WS-550M and WS-560M digital voice recorders, although stock of these will last for a month or two yet. Sad because these little recorders certainly keep the benchmark very high when it comes to digital note taking and for interview and meeting recording. The good news is they are being replaced by even more stunning recorders in the form of the WS-650S, WS-750M, WS-760M and a new addition to the DM series the new DM-5, where to begin !

Lets start with the new range of WS series recorders; perfect for interviews, meetings, focus groups, lectures and conferences.

Here are their features at a glance …

Olympus WS-650S (RRP $169 incl. GST)

• 2Gb In built memory
• .mp3 or .wma recording
• Mac & Windows compatible

Olympus WS-750M (RRP $229 incl. GST)

• 4Gb In built memory
• Linear PCM recording (.wav)
• .mp3 or .wma recording
• Micro SD slot for expanded memory
• USB chargeable battery
• Mac & Windows compatible

Olympus WS-760M (RRP $269 incl. GST)

• Massive 8Gb in built memory
• Linear PCM recording (.wav)
• .mp3 or .wma recording
• Micro SD slot for expanded memory
• USB chargeable battery
• FM Radio Receiver
• FM Radio Recording
• Virtual Zoom Mic – Focus precisely on a single, distant audio source
• Auto Recording – Essential for long recording sessions, save battery power and cuts down superfluous recording.
• Mac & Windows compatible

As you can see a very slight design change from the last set of WS series recorders, the mics have been placed on the top of the unit now. One of the reasons for this is to allow the recorder to sit in a shirt or jacket top pocket and record. Also, there is a choice of colours for the units, well overseas anyway, we are yet to see if colour options come to Australia. What continues to amaze me is the amount and the cheapness of the storage, 8Gb is a huge amount of storage for a voice recorder which obviously now transforms it from just an excellent digital voice recorder into being also a music/podcast player and media mass storage device.

Details on the new Olympus DM-5 to follow …. the DM-5 will have an RRP in Australia of $599 incl. GST

Of course all these recorders will be available to buy from Dictate Australia – Olympus Gold Partner – with super fast delivery Australia wide.

Any questions or for further information grab us in one of many ways. Not sure of anything please ask, we are quite friendly you know:

• Phone: 1300 787 092 (option 2)
• Email: sales@dictate.com.au
• Twitter: @dictates
• Facebook: facebook.com/dictate.australia

Click here to read the Olympus Europe press release for the new WS series recorder.