In the digital dictation and transcription world there is still, in 2013, quite a big divide between the functionality and features of digital voice software for Mac when compared to Windows. Windows users enjoy a raft of features and functions that are yet to appear in the Mac software. Olympus have led the digital dictation world by being Mac compatible for years, others are now starting to follow. Olympus need to be careful, their DSS Player Plus software is starting to look a little jaded and is in desperate need of an update, even if just a modernisation of the user interface. The younger upstarts are coming!

Olympus’ Mac software offering which is called DSS Player Plus v7 does what you need it to do; download audio files from your digital dictaphone, playback dictation on your Mac and plug in a USB foot control for transcription of your digital audio files. Both the dictation and transcription functionality are combined into the one program for Mac users. Whereas on Windows, Olympus have split these into two seperate software packages called the dictation module (which ships with the Pro digital dictaphones DS-3500/DS-7000) and the transcription module (which ships with the AS-7000 transcription kit).

How to obtain Olympus DSS Player Plus software for Mac The software is supplied with all the Olympus digital dictaphones, the current range being the entry level Olympus DS-2500, mid range Olympus DS-3500 and top of the line Olympus DS-7000.

If you are a Mac transcription typist you can choose either the standard Olympus AS-2400 transcription kit or the professional Olympus AS-7000 transcription kit. The difference between the kits for Mac users are;

• Olympus AS-2400 contains a RS-28 three pedal USB foot control. Olympus AS-7000 contains a new four pedal RS-31 USB foot control.
• Olympus AS-2400 contains an E-102 transcription headset. AS-7000 contains an E62 transcription headset.
• Both AS-2400 and AS-7000 contain one single install licence key for Olympus DSS Player Plus version 7 for Mac OS X

If you would like to use DSS Player Plus for Mac on more than one Mac then officially you will have to purchase an additional licence key. With DSS Player Plus for Mac Olympus use a single install licence model, every install requires it’s own unique licence key. Olympus’ Windows software comes as a single user licence by default but you also have the option to convert these to a MUL (multi-user licence), no MUL is available for Mac.

Should you require an additional licence key, because DSS Player Plus for Mac combines both dictation and transcription functions into the one program, you can either buy as AS-7001 (ODMS Dictation Module CD) or an AS-7002 (ODMS Transcription Module CD) both of which come with a single install Windows ODMS licence and a single install Mac DSS Player Plus licence. The AS-7001 Olympus product is significantly cheaper than AS-7002 so Mac users save yourself some money and buy AS-7001 should you need an additional DSS Player Plus for Mac licence key.

Dictation and Transcription – Mac Audio File Compatibility

A common question we are often asked is “Is my digital voice recorder compatible with the Olympus dictation and transcription software for Mac?“. The answer to this if your digital voice recorder is Olympus is obviously yes. But it is not all about the recorder, the key thing to remember is the software is used with audio files so the key question to really ask is “Is the audio format my recorder creates compatible with the Olympus dictation and transcription software for Mac?“.

DSS Player Plus can play the following audio formats:

• .ds2 (DSS Pro or Digital Speech Sound Pro format)
• .dss (DSS or Digital Speech Sound format)
• .mp3
• .aif
• .WMA and .WAV *

* These formats require a plugin to playback Windows based audio file formats which is built into DSS Player Plus. If you have issues with audio playback of .wma and .wav files then Windows Media Components are available from here.

If you are looking for an iPhone app for voice recording make sure it records in one of the above audio formats. .m4a files can be renamed to .mp3 and can then be loaded into the DSS Player Plus for Mac software.

Dictation – Mac

USB connect your digital dictaphone and it appears in the Device Manager tab, its recording folders will be shown and you will have access to play back your dictation on your Mac. DSS Player Plus for Mac can be configured to auto download the audio from the dictaphone to any of the folders in the Download Tray. The Download Tray folders can be configured to be a local folder on your Mac (default) or for streamlined dictation/transcription workflow a shared network or cloud drive for easy access by your typist. A common option is to configure the folders in the Download Tray to link to a Dropbox folder to auto share your dictation with your transcription typist, typing pool or outsourced transcription service. This method automates the send of dictation but audio files can just as easily be dragged and dropped into an email and sent for transcription.

Transcription – Mac

Transcription typists will typically transcribe audio placed in the Download Tray folders. As mentioned above Dropbox is a great way to auto-share recorded audio but conversely if audio is received by email it can be dragged and dropped into the Download Tray folders or saved directly to the corresponding folders in your Mac.

The RS-27 (not available in Australia), RS-28 and RS-31 USB transcription foot pedals can be configured via DSS Player Plus for Mac. Any pedal can be set as PLAY/PAUSE, REWIND and FAST FORWARD to suit your preferred pedal configuration. Additional settings for the pedals include DISABLE, INDEX, COMMENT, EOF/BOF (end-of-file, beginning-of-file), Speed Control and Noise Control. Auto rewind can also be set ranging from 0 seconds (smooth rewind) upto 5 seconds allowing you to better control the rewind of audio when the REWIND pedal is tapped.

All audio can be controlled in the background, meaning that you do not need to switch windows from your typed document to the playback controls. You stay in your word processing document and control audio playback using the USB foot control (or hot keys) while listening to the audio.

Looking for Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server and Citrix compatible transcription software? Click here for details on the licensing models available to Windows small/medium and enterprise Windows ODMS users.

If you have more questions on the Mac software for dictation and transcription from Olympus please leave a comment.

Sometimes the obvious ideas are the best. Here is a perfect example, Hugo-Dictation [ hugo-dictation.com ] out of the UK has done exactly that, make an iPhone voice recording app and make it compatible with the Olympus transcription module software .. brilliant!

Voice recording and dictation apps are two a penny on the app store (which we touched on back in 2011 with this post) ranging from free to extortionate in price. To create an app to record voice isn’t rocket science, the phone has the smarts. But when you add some functionality to it that makes it extremely useful when used with your office transcription software then it is worth a closer look. Hugo-Dictation is compatible with a small yet very popular range of transcription software used world wide like Express Scribe from NCH Software, StartStop, QuikScribe and our favourite Olympus Transcription Module (both R5 DSS Player Pro and R6 ODMS).

Hugo-Dictation solves a long standing bugbear with some digital dictaphone users, recording dictation away from the office that needs to be transcribed urgently. Sure, you can whip out your laptop or MacBook, join a wifi hotspot, USB connect your dictaphone and email the audio back, but most busy legal and medical professionals are not comfortable or have time for this option. We have looked for some time for a way to connect digital dictation on the Olympus digital voice recorders and dictaphones with an iPhone or Android phone. We have tried Eye-Fi and similar cards and also bluetooth connections to try and connect a dictaphone with a smart phone as a way to send recorded dictation and haven’t got very far.

The Hugo-Dictation app takes the pain away, simply dictate to your phone and email in your audio with your Author Id, any Worflow Id you want to use and set a priority. Your typist using the Olympus ODMS Transcription Module will receive the dictation and it will be auto-loaded (when configured) just as if the dictation had come from a standard digital dictaphone.

Configuring Hugo Dictation App To Send Dictation

Using Hugo to send dictation to your typist who uses Olympus ODMS R6 or DSS Player Pro R5 Transcription Module is simple. In the app click the settings icon which is the middle icon at the bottom of the screen on the initial app launch screen.

Here are the steps to follows:

1. From the Settings menu enable dictation for Olympus software, this is done through the Third Party Integration option and is a simple Yes/No toggle, set it to Yes.
2. Next, back in Settings select Author Id and set the same Author Id that you use with your Olympus dictaphone. The Author Id is how your dictations are identified as belonging to you in the Olympus transcription software.
3. Next, back in Settings select Recipients. This is where you configure the email address to send your dictation to, so for example the email address of your typist or typing pool. Your default email configured in your iPhone will be used to send the dictation.
4. {Optional} Back to Settings and select Work Types. You may or may not use Work Types in your business, this is a method of identifying dictations types like Letters (which is the Hugo default), Interviews, Client Notes, Medical Notes or whatever you may have configured. If you do not use Work Types there is no need to configure this selection, just leave the default. The Work Type is seen by your typist in their transcription module software and can indicate to them any templates that need to be used.

That’s it, three (or four) easy configuration steps.

Olympus ODMS or DSS Player Pro Transcription Module – Receive Dictation via Email

The Olympus Transcription Module software can be configured to receive dictation via email, if this is not configure have your typist consult the Olympus manual and configure these settings. In Australia we happy to help advise the configuration settings.

Recording Dictation Using The Hugo Dictation App On Your iPhone

Using Hugo to record dictation is intuitive, tap New Dictation from the start-up splash screen and you are presented with three options before you start talking. The options are:

Name: This is for you to give your dictation a meaningful name, either go with the default which is Dictation-# (where # is an auto incrementing number) or your own free form text.

Work Type: Sets the Work Type for the dictation, if you have configured Work Types they will be shown otherwise the default (Letter) will be used.

Priority: Defaults to Normal but can be set to High.

All three of these settings will be seen by your typist when the dictation is loaded into their Olympus transcription module software. After all three are set tap the Start button and record screen is shown.

Recording using Hugo is also intuitive and straight forward, you can record using the iPhone mic or the microphone on your earbuds. Simply press the big red record button and away you go. You can rewind/review your audio and also insert or override audio recording as you can on a traditional digital dictaphone.

When you are done you can:

Save the audio for later review/send by pressing the blue Save icon. This places your audio in the Dictation List and will be marked with a red X to indicate that it has not yet been sent to anyone.

Email the audio to your typist, the email address to send to is configured in the Recipients setting discussed above. You are given the choice of recipient (upto three can be configured) and you can also add some free form comments (paid version only, not Lite). You default iPhone mail account will be used to send the audio file and accompanying xml file required for the Olympus transcription module.

Info simply shows the initial Name, Work Type and Priority you set before recording and lets you change these should you need to before you send.

Olympus ODMS or DSS Player Pro Transcription Module will auto load transcription when it is received via email from Hugo. The screen shot below shows and example of two Hugo dictations, one High priority (highlighted in orange) and one normal. My Author Id set as DICTATE and the Work Types I selected, NOTES for the high priority dictation and Letter are both clearly shown to the typist as is the email address the dictation was sent from. Click here for detailed instructions on integrating the Olympus transcription module with Microsoft Outlook.

The only difference between the Lite (free) and the paid version of Hugo Dictation as far as we can see if the limitation in recording time, only 30 seconds in the Lite version.

This review of Hugo Dictation iPhone App is based in version 1.1

Watching the video the audio sounds great, reading Brendan’s comments he mentions a couple of times that is was very windy as he took his walk on the beach, none of the wind noise is evident in the video, a testimony to the quality of the Olympus mic.

Olympus ME-33 Mic

The Olympus ME-33 can be used on it’s own or strung together in a chain. When chaining the mics this covers a wide area, ideal when recording a large number of speakers. A maximum of 6 ME-33′s can be linked together either in one long chain or they can be split using the splitter jack plug that is included in the box with the ME33 as shown in the appalling quality image below, taken from the ME-33 instruction book:

For best results Olympus suggest you use the ME-33 with the Olympus DM-3, currently the best digital meeting recorder, but you will also get good results with the recorders we mentioned above. Available from April, 2013 in Australia the ME-33 will retail for AU$159 each incl. GST.

Looking remarkably similar to the Philips LFH9172 which has been around for a few years now looks like Olympus have taken a page out of the Philips book rather than is usual vice-versa. Again smart move on Olympus’ part, this style of boundary mic looks fantastic on any desk and allows you to hide away the recorder making it less noticeable to the meeting attendees. Also the price is right (come on down) when compared to the higher end professional large meeting mics from Olympus the ME-30W costing a whopping AU$649 incl. GST. Yes you do get what you pay for, the ME-30W is an awesome kit but if you are on a budget and need to pickup the best audio you can in a large group setting, a string of ME-33′s is well worth a look.

• Linear PCM recording capturing pure sound upto 130 decibels – scream those electric guitars !
• Built in chromatic tuner
• Built in metronome
• Overdubbing – record over original sound while monitoring the original sound
• Pre-record buffer, no more missed queues as several seconds of audio are recorded prior to hitting the record button
• Quick easy USB transfer to Mac or Windows computers

These two stunners have been on our radar since before Christmas so it has been a long wait for these to get their visa stamped and make their way to Australia. The LS-14 is available now the LS-12 will arrive in a couple of weeks time at the end of April. We were lucky enough to get a up close and personal with the units today.

There are only a couple of key differences between the two recorders:

• Memory: LS-12 has 2Gb and the LS-14 has 4Gb, both expandable by 32Gb using the built in SD/SDHC card slot
• Mics: LS-12 has a stereo mic and the LS-14 a tresmic
• Only the LS-14 can perform trimming (in PCM recording mode only)
• Only the LS-14 has voice guidance
• LS-14 comes with a case, the LS-12 doesn’t

And the best news of all, the price (tell ‘em the price son). Yet again Olympus have up’d the game in terms of quality and at the same time kept the cost low. The RRP in Australia for these units are:

• Olympus LS-12 RRP AU$199 incl. GST
• Olympus LS-14 RRP AU$249 incl. GST

The LS-14 is available now from Dictate Australia, the LS-12 is expected end of April, 2013.

Thank you Julia Brimo, pianist from Sydney for playing the grand piano for our SoundCloud LS-14 sample audio.

The first update to Dragon Dictate 3 from Nuance has been released, the small bug fix update takes the worlds best voice recognition software for the Mac to version 3.0.1 – nothing to see here, just grab the update and move on.

Release Notes For Dragon Dictate 3.0.1

• Addressed issues related to extraneous characters and inverted characters appearing in dictation results in some applications.
• Addressed issues when correcting portions of addresses and times.
• Corrected an issue with inconsistent reporting of missing microphone.
• Added a progress indictor that appears when pasting large amounts of text.
• Corrected issues related to transcription of M4V file formats.
• Corrected inconsistent performance of the “Go back” command in Microsoft Word 2011.
• Addressed issues related to inconsistent behavior in the Express Editor.
• Aligned Voice Training Stories for US and UK English.
• Documentation fixes and updates.

If you are not prompted automatically for this download by your Dragon Dictate 3 install you can force an update check via “Check For Updates…” under Dictate.

Drum roll please …. Olympus have just rolled out the latest update to DSS Player Plus v7 for the Mac going to version 7.3.3. The update includes the fix/change/feature to convert audio recorded on their professional digital dictation machines (DS-7000/DS-5000) in DSS Pro (.ds2) format to high quality .AIF which can be used by Nuance’s Dragon Dictate 3′s new transcription feature. And …. take a breath.

If you have both Sonority and DSS Player Plus installed on your Mac you MUST remove Sonority before applying this update to DSS Player Plus.

Click here to download the update to DSS Player Plus v7.3.3 for Mac from Olympus

The release notes for this release are as follows:

Overview

Update 7.3.3 is the newest update available for DSS Player for Mac v7 software. The primary improvement in this update is the added support for the transcription feature in Nuance’s Dragon Dictate for Mac 3.

Issues in Earlier Versions of DSS Player v7 for MAC

When Nuance released Dragon Dictate for Mac 3, one of the new features was the ability to transcribe from a recorded audio file. However, Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 does not support DSS/DS2 file formats and only supports popular formats such as AIFF. Additionally, Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 only supports AIFF files with a minimum sampling frequency of 22.050 kHz.

Previous versions of DSS Player for Mac v7 were only able to convert to AIFF at a maximum sampling frequency of 16 kHz. Therefore, AIFF files which were converted in DSS Player for Mac v7 could not be loaded into the transcription feature in Dragon Dictate for Mac 3.

Solution

With DSS Player for Mac V7.3.3, we have added support for conversion of DSS/DS2 files to an AIFF file that meets the minimum requirements of Dragon Dictate for Mac 3.

The format conversion setting can be found within the [DSS Player] menu, within [Preferences]. This particular setting is valid for conversion of DSS/DS2 files only.

The following options are available:

• [Default]: The same as previous versions. The sampling frequency is at the lowest rate, thus the resulting file size is smaller. 
• [PCM 22.050kHz 16bit Mono]: The minimum sampling frequency required for use with Dragon Dictate for Mac 3. 
• [PCM 44.1kHz 16bit Mono]: The sampling frequency recommended by Nuance for speech recognition with Dragon Dictate for Mac 3. The accuracy of the speech recognition is the highest amongst the available options, however the converted file size is largest. 

When converting from other file formats: 

• [MP3]: Will be converted to PCM 44.1kHz 16bit Mono regardless of which option is selected in the [Preferences] dialog. This format is compatible with Dragon Dictate for Mac 3. 
• [WAV]: Cannot be converted to AIFF. This is the same as previous versions. Users will need to record voice files in DSS/DS2/MP3 file formats if they wish to use the 
  transcription feature in Dragon Dictate for Mac 3. 

Restrictions

Nuance’s Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 will only accept files that are under 2 hours in duration. AIFF files which are longer than 2 hours will be rejected. We have been informed that this is the only restriction in Dragon Dictate for Mac 3, however we do not anticipate this should be a problem for professional dictation users.

• Sydney Morning Herald: The great vanishing act: Macklin’s dole comment disappears
• The Age: Macklin won’t release ‘inaudible’ audio
• ABC News: Macklin challenged to live on dole for a week

For those of you who missed it or who are outside of Australia Jenny Macklin is our current member of parliament responsible for the Families Ministry and who was recently questioned about some wide ranging welfare payment cuts which kicked in on 1st January, 2013 – when pushed by an eager journalist if Miss Macklin could herself live on the allowance she apparently said “I could“. As you can imagine the Australian social media circus went into a character frenzy calling for the Families Minister to try and live on the welfare, as she claimed she could for anything from a week to a three month period.

Now what makes this story interesting from a digital voice perspective is that the recording used for transcription was made on an iPhone using a voice recording app. Quality was not that good, lots of background noise and so crucial recorded confirmation from the Minister could not be clearly heard and as such appeared as INAUDIBLE in the governments own transcript of the inpromptu doorstop press conference. A lucky break for Miss Macklin. But for any journalist or government staffer using an iPhone as a voice recorder a lesson has to be learnt. Invest in a good quality, dedicated voice recording unit, you never know when your journalistic claim to fame will hit you in the face.

Sure the iPhone can record pretty good audio, especially when there is no background noise, people are talking close to the mic and not over talking each other … rare for a journalist. In the real world iPhone recording apps struggle with hubbub so if you are someone who relies on clearly recorded voice you should look at a dedicate digital voice recorder. They are not pricey, even a struggling journo could afford one and range from AU$159 for an Olympus WS-812 which would cover you for just about every scenario to a high quality Olympus DM-3 for about AU$329 for those times when you are stuck at the back of the press pack and need to turn on the zoom mic to really narrow in on what the person at the front of the throng is saying.

Nuance recently (14th November, 2012) pushed out the first update to the new version 3 of Dragon Dictate taking it now to minor release version 3.0.1

You should be auto prompted to update to this release on Dragon Dictate start up. If not and you do not have auto check for updates on (turn it on by .. Dictate > Preferences > General (tab), then place a tick in the box next to “Check for updates”).

Nothing particularly revolutionary or world changing in this release, just a wedge of bug fixes eloquently described by Nuance as:

• Addressed issues related to extraneous characters and inverted characters appearing in dictation results in some applications.
• Addressed issues when correcting portions of addresses and times.
• Corrected an issue with inconsistent reporting of a missing microphone.
• Added a progress indictor that appears when pasting large amounts of text.
• Corrected issues related to transcription of M4V file formats.
• Corrected inconsistent performance of the “Go back” command in Microsoft Word 2011.
• Addressed issues related to inconsistent behavior in the Express Editor.
• Aligned Voice Training Stories for US and UK English.
• Documentation fixes and updates.

Nuance official Dragon Dictate 3.0.1 Information – click here

Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac is available for purchase online in Australia from Dictate Australia, Nuance Gold Certified Reseller

The firmware upgrade can only be performed on a Windows PC so Mac users either use your Parallels/VMWare Fusion Windows image (at your own peril) or find a friend who has a Widows PC.

How To Update The Firmware – Olympus DS-7000 & DS-3500

1. Turn on the digital recorder and USB connect it to a Windows PC
2. Run the update program relevant to your recorder (DS-7000 or DS-3500)
3. Update will start and finish automatically

How To Confirm The Firmware Version – Olympus DS-7000 & DS-3500

1. Turn on the recorder and press STOP
2. Press the “MENU” key, the File Menu will be displayed
3. Press the Right  ”>>” key, the Device Menu will be displayed
4. Press the “.” key, the next page of Device Menu will be displayed and System Information selected
5. Press “OK” to select System Information
6. The model, firmware version and serial number of your recorder will be shown

Step-By-Step Model, Firmware Version & Serial Number for Olympus DS-7000

Step-By-Step Model, Firmware Version & Serial Number for Olympus DS-3500

##UPDATE January 2013##

## DSS Player Plus v7.3.3 Released – click here

I received a heart warming email from the Olympus Australia Dictation Product Manager yesterday. The email contained the release notes for the next version of Olympus’ Mac digital dictation software called DSS Player Plus v7 expected to be released in early 2013. DSS Player Plus is packaged with all the Olympus dictaphones (DS-7000/DS-3500 current range and DS-5000/DS-3400 previous range).

We had written in a earlier blog post ( Olympus Pro Dictaphones Not Quite Compatible With Dragon Dictate 3 Transcription ) how DSS Player Plus was deficient in converting recorded audio to a high enough .AIF sampling rate for use with Nuance’s new transcription feature in Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac. This feature for the first time on a Mac allowed conversion of both recorded audio or directly spoken audio from voice to text using the highly accurate Dragon speech recognition engine. Converting .ds2 audio recorded on an Olympus DS-7000 or DS-3500 to .aif for load into Dragon Dictate 3 for transcription would give the error:

Dictate cannot use files with sampling rates below 22.050 kilohertz.

When the sampling rate issue was discovered I immediately alerted Olympus to the potential impact this would cause for the many Mac users who had been holding out for the transcription feature, a feature enjoyed by Windows users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking for quite some time. Fortunately we found a work around in the Olympus Sonority audio software which has helped a few people around the world out of trouble in recent weeks and who have reported some great results using Dragon Dictate 3 and their Olympus Pro dictaphones.

The update to DSS PLayer Plus v7 is expected to take the software to version v7.3.3 and is planned to include the following features:

—Release note start——————————————————————————————-

Users will be able to select the converted file format in the application’s Option Settings dialogue. This option will allow conversion of  DSS/DS2 files only.

The selectable items will be (DS-7000 & DS-3500):

• Default  : The current behavior. Frequency is the lowest, and the smallest file will be created. 
• PCM 22.050kHz 16bit Mono  :  The minimum supported frequency for Dragon Dictate 3. 
• PCM 44.1kHz 16bit Mono  :  The frequency recommended by Nuance for speech recognition with Dragon Dictate 3.  This file size is the largest of the available selections, but the accuracy of speech recognition will also be the highest.

Easily one of my favourite recorders in the current range has to be the Olympus LS-3. It is a bit of an all-rounder, perfect for recording crystal clear audio in any situation, it was just as happy sat on a boardroom table, in the middle of a load and vocal focus group or smuggled into the recent Coldplay concert held at Allianze Stadium in Sydney (17th & 18th November, 2012). Not only does it record superb audio it is also very well placed pricing wise, sitting just under the AU$300 mark making it a not so hard leap for the professional looking for a quality recorder.

So, it was with a tear in my eye when I heard this week that we would be getting no more LS-3′s in Australia in fact when the last LS-3 in our own stock left with the courier today for its new home all the staff stood and paid their respects, that is how much this little recorder was admired.

I can feel your angst as you read this but wait there is hope. Olympus may be cruel by taking the LS-3 away from us but they could be forgiven. The rumour has it that the superb Olympus LS-12 and LS-14 will make an appearance in early 2013, not yet confirmed but this is the thinking in the circles we digital voice people move and shake in. As is the trend in music recorders the LS-12 and LS-14 are quite ugly but superbly good, ugly it seems is the new black.

Olympus have only recently launched the LS-12 and LS-14 in the US, last month in fact, and judging by the US pricing we could be seeing the lower end of AU$200 for at least the LS-12 which will put immense pressure on the WS-813.

Here is what Olympus American wrote about the two new kids on the block when they were announced on their blog ( link ):

What can you expect from the new LS-12 and LS-14 linear PCM recorders?

• For starters, both recorders feature a max SPL of 130 dB. Unless you plan on recording jet engines you should have a hard time clipping these mics.

• Low noise – like in the LS-100, we’ve separated the audio and system circuitry for minimal sound degradation. And like our previous LS recorders, a switchable low-cut filter (100Hz/300Hz) helps to reduce unwanted background noise in any environment.

• Tools for musicians – built for the writing musician, the LS-12 and LS-14 feature a chromatic tuner, metronome, playback speed control and overdubbing capabilities for creating rough demos.

• Mode Select Dial – this new feature allows you to quickly access the onboard tuner as well as the Manual, Smart and Quick recording modes. Manual is for the seasoned recorder who knows exactly how to dial in settings for the perfect recording. For the novice, Smart mode automatically adjusts levels and records with one touch of a button. Quick mode is for those time sensitive moments when you need to capture an idea or a quote. No level adjustment takes place in this mode.

So what’s the difference between the two?

• While both recorders feature 90-degree stereo mics, the LS-14 incorporates our “Tresmic” system. Engaging the third, center omnidirectional mic opens up the frequency response to 20Hz – 20kHz (60Hz – 20kHz for the LS-12).

• Memory – the LS-14 features 4GB of internal memory while the LS-12 holds 2GB of internal memory. Both are expandable to 32GB with SD/SDHC card.

• Price – the LS-12 will retail for $149.99. The LS-14 will retail for $199.00 <– US Pricing

So why should you buy from a specialist rather than one of these giant chains?

Knowledge

We are specialists meaning we know the products we sell intimately. We don’t sell hard disks, TVs, fridges we just sell digital voice related products. We run businesses solely around recording and transcribing digital voice, whether that be using a transcription typist or voice recognition software. You can ask us any question and we will have an answer for you. If on the rare occassion we do not we can call Olympus or Nuance direct and get the info you need. Next time you are in a high street store find an Olympus WS series voice recorder and ask the sales assistant these questions and see what answers you get?

• Is it Mac compatible? (yes, all Olympus recorder are)
• What audio format does it record in? (Olympus WS series will record in .mp3, .wma and .wav (PCM))
• Ask them what PCM format is? (very high quality uncompressed audio, creates .wav files)
• Can it be voice activated? (yes)
• Is it compatible with Dragon NaturallySpeaking? (yes, but only the Premium and Professional version, not Home edition)
• Is it compatible with Dragon for Mac? (yes, but only version 3)

Friendly, Impartial Advice

Ask before you buy. That is what we are here for, ask for our advice. We will always discuss your needs with you and what you require. We will always try to match you with the best product for your needs. Should you require a $150 recorder when you are looking at a $700 recorder, we will sell you the $150 recorder. Conversely, if you are looking at the cheap recorders and we know it won’t suit your needs, we will tell you. No point selling you something you will not be happy with.

Support Australian Business

I hate to harp on this one but to small Australian business owners it is a big deal. We work hard to maintain and build our businesses, we don’t have unlimited advertising dollars to grab your attention so we need to find other innovative ways to do so. In my case I write this blog, which provides  information about all aspects of digital voice. We should all do our part to support Australian business, especially small business.

Price

With Olympus there is only one place to buy stock in Australia, Olympus Imaging in Sydney. This is the same for everyone, resellers like me and the big high street stores. Therefore we all buy stock at the same price. You will find most Olympus resellers are usually priced the same or below the price of the high streets. Case in point, one of our most popular digital voice recorders, great for small meetings and interviews, the Olympus WS-812:

• Officeworks Olympus WS-812 – $169
• Dictate Australia – Olympus WS-812 – $159 delivered.

So not only are we cheaper, we have them in stock and we know everything there is to know about the recorder and every voice recorder in the Olympus range. We use both Mac and Windows and we use voice recognition software. So, please ask, advice is always free.

This has been a digital voice public service announcement !

Olympus have just rolled out a free update to their Sonority audio software taking it now to version 1.4.1. The update is available for both the Mac and Windows platform and applies to Sonority (free), Sonority Plus and Sonority Plus for Editors : Music editions.

The changes included in this update are:

For Mac

• Now Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 Compatible
• The response speed for the voice detection function was increased
• Support for importing PowerPoint files (new feature)

For Windows

• Now Windows 8 Compatible
• Fixed an issue playing .wav files in version 1.4.0 on Windows 8 (bug fix)
• Support for importing .PDF files (new feature)

PDF import is now support using the PDFNET library. The ability to import PowerPoint files was included in the previous release, version 1.4.0

This free update to Olympus Sonority can be access by simply selecting Check For Updates from the toolbar.

Olympus Sonority is not available as a free download. Sonority is supplied with certain digital voice recorders as standard. In Australia Olympus Sonority is packaged with the Olympus DM-3, Olympus DM-5, Olympus LS-3, Olympus LS-100 and Olympus LS-20M.

Olympus have just (2nd November 2012) released the first update to their new ODMS (Olympus Dictation Management System) taking it up to release R6.1.0 – anyone with ODMS R6 dictation or transcription module installed on their Windows PC is eligible for this free upgrade. ODMS R6 comes with the Olympus DS-7000 and DS-3500 professional digital dictaphones and with the AS-7000 professional digital transcription kit.

Windows 8 is now supported for all you early adopters with this update but the biggest feature to be added I think is the notification back to the dictator via the dictation module that transcription is complete, many will find this useful especially for those waiting on urgent transcripts.

Also fixed is an issue for which we had received quite a number of calls from transcription typists using the ODMS R6 transcription module software who were unable to hear any dictation through their headphones being played back in the ODMS software. Audio from other sources like YouTube could be heard fine, although Olympus Imaging Australia had a patch to resolve this issue that patch has now been rolled into this update. If you are having audio issues with your transcription kit please make sure you have this update installed.

The complete list of features and fixes in ODMS R6.1.0 is:

R6.1.0 

1. Windows 8 is supported. The following editions are supported. – Windows 8
   – Windows 8 Pro
   – Windows 8 Enterprise Note:
   – Windows 8 Modern UI is not supported.
   – Windows 8 RT is not supported.
2. Office 2010 64Bit Edition is supported.
3. Citrix XenApp Web interface function is supported.
4. The following virtual environments are supported. – VMware View 4.6/5.0
   – Citrix Receiver 3.x (with Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop)
5. Added function to notify that transcription is finished to Dictation Module.
6. Added file search function to the Dictation Module/Transcription Module. 6.1 Pressing the following keys opens a file search dialog if the focus is on the file list in the main screen.
   – Dictation Module: [Ctrl]+[F]
   – Transcription Module: [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[F] 6.2 Incremental search is supported if text is entered using the keyboard when the focus is on the file list in the main screen.
7. Added option to delete all internal data when uninstalling Dictation Module/Transcription Module. Once it is deleted, application settings before the uninstallation are not inherited even if you install the uninstalled application again.
8. Specifying both Author ID and Worktype ID for conditions in Auto Collection function is supported.
9. Enabling and disabling sub-folders in the Download Folder and Custom Folder are supported.
10. Changed the behavior of [INSERT] LED when recording directly with Dictation Module using the Olympus Directrec (DR-1200/2100/2200/2300). The [INSERT] LED blinks while recording is stopped if the recording mode is in the insert mode.
    The [INSERT] LED does not blink while recording is stopped if the recording mode is in the overwrite mode.
11. Enhanced the voice recognition function. 11.1 Selecting files for the background voice recognition is supported.
    11.2 Specifying the target Author ID for the background voice recognition and adaptation in the Dictation Module is supported. Now it is not required to match the profile name of Dragon NaturallySpeaking with the Author ID of the dictation file.
    11.3 Several ODMS R6.0 issues were resolved.

Those of you still running DSS Player Pro v5 dictation and transcription module software there is an upgrade available to take you from R5 to ODMS R6. This is a relatively cheap upgrade and will give you access to a number or new features. These features include much better integration with Dragon, support for the RS-31 USB foot pedal and 256-bit encryption/decryption of audio files. ODMS R6 is fully compatible with Olympus’ older digital dictaphones like the DS-5000 and DS-3400. If you want to upgrade from R5 then look for these part numbers:

• Olympus AS-7003 Dictation Module Upgrade from DSS Player Pro R5 to ODMS R6
• Olympus AS-7004 Transcription Module Upgrade from DSS Player Pro R5 to ODMS R6

Most of us are familiar with digital voice recorders and dictaphones and are generally aware of their day-to-day use. Doctors and lawyers use them to dictate letters and notes for their transcription typists on a digital dictaphone. Journalists thrust digital voice recorders in the face of people making press statements. Market researchers record focus groups to discover what people really think about their products or brands. But there are also some more obscure uses for digital voice recorders that you may not be so familiar with. Just a word of warning, some of these may not be ethical in your view and also the legalities of a couple may need to be checked in your part of the world. So what are they?

1 – Podcasting – Yes You Can Create Your Own Podcast

Podcasting is extremely popular, anyone can do it. In fact I do, well I don’t actually speak I just do the post production and editing, on a podcast called The Social Business. This podcast is solely recorded on an Olympus DM-5 digital voice recorder using an Olympus ME-31 compact zoom microphone. Podcasting is now for the masses and not just for specialists. It is not only easy to create but is a lot of fun. You can create a podcast on any subject. You can record just yourself speaking or get some friends together and analyse any subject matter. A digital voice recorder will capture every word and then can be downloaded by anyone worldwide to have a listen. Apple have a “How To” guide for podcasting which is worth a read. If you have more specific questions about the process please leave a comment and I will attempt to answer.

2 – Add Streaming Audio To Your Website

We all spend hours every day trawling through various websites. We are all familiar with the mountains of text that we sift through as we read various blogs, news, general interest and business websites. Gradually we are starting to see more advanced media being embedded into websites with video and audio. In fact on my blog you may have noticed that I tend to create an audio recording of most of my blog posts. I do this for two reasons. Firstly for the vision impaired who find it difficult to read text and secondly for the lazy who would just prefer to have somebody read to them. I use a service called SoundCloud, but there are hundreds of different ways to embed audio into your website. One of those is to record yourself on a digital voice recorder and use the mp3 file created and stream that from your website. Audio and video adds a whole new dimension to websites and blogs.

3 – Tick Off Something On Your Bucket List: Write a Book or Novel

Most of us have writing a book or novel on our bucket lists. Few of us fulfil this list item. Mainly, I would guess, as either we don’t have the time or cannot make the effort to physically write down our masterpieces. This is where a digital voice recorder can definitely help. Rather than writing your novel, either by typing or using a pen, speak it instead. Digital voice recorders are very small, they can fit in a bag or pocket very easily and you wouldn’t even notice they were there so are easy to carry with you everywhere you go. When you have a spare moment or a flash of inspiration pull out your voice recorder and speak your prose. By doing this your thoughts are not blocked by your physical typing or writing speed and you can just let your imagination flow. When your recordings are finished you can either use voice recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Windows or Dragon Dictate on Mac) to transcribe them for you or you could hire a transcription service to do the work for you. All you will need to do is edit the completed transcript before sending to your publisher or converting to an eBook for self publication on the Apple iBook store or Amazon Kindle.

4 – Create An Audiobook

Most of you would have heard of Audible, a fantastic service created by the people at Amazon. Audible is audiobooks, books and novels read aloud usually by an actor, celebrity or by the authors themselves. As we all lead busy lives and don’t always have the time to read, audiobooks fill an important listening and learning gap. Audiobooks can also be created by you and me, yes even average people like us can create them. In an earlier blog post I highlighted the great work that is being done by Librivox in building an online library of free audiobooks, in fact they describe their service as the acoustical liberation of books in the public domain. You too can get involved if you love reading grab yourself a digital voice recorder and help out this amazing project.

5 – Record the Sounds of Nature

With even the most basic of digital voice recorders now recording in very high quality PCM or pulse code modulation uncompressed wav files, they have become an essential tool to nature lovers. In particular twitchers (bird) and frog watchers. In fact a couple of years ago we sold 20 high-quality digital voice recorders to the Australian government who planned to leave them in boxes in fields in various parts of the country to record the frogs and birds around them. The species that inhabited the area could then be identified by experts just by their bird call or croak.

6 – Catch Your Partner Cheating On You

This one is a very touchy subject. The ethics and the legality of this one need to be checked but nonetheless is still an obscure use for a digital voice recorder. I was prompted to add this to the list after a recent phone call from a customer. I did as I usually do and tried and identify the key used for their digital voice recorder in order to steer them towards the correct voice recorder for their needs. When asked what was the primary use for the recorder I was told “I’m going to leave it under the car seat to catch out my partner who I think is cheating on me“. Of course a digital voice recorder would work perfectly in this scenario. Its huge amount of memory can record for hours on end, or using the voice activation feature will only record when it hears sound. And with the excellent audio pickup it would record every, maybe not so pleasant, sound. Please be warned this may not be legal where you live and you may regret hearing what you hear for the rest of your days.

7 – What They Say About You – Whoever They May Be

This also has an ethical and legal question hanging over it. Perhaps you are interested to hear what your co-workers say about you when you leave the room. Maybe you live in a shared house or apartment and want to know what your flatmates really think. Again a discreetly placed digital voice recorder continuously recording or using the voice activation feature will tell you all you need to know, good or bad, you have been warned !

8 – As An Aid To Your Poor Memory

It happens to us all, the older we get the worse our memory. A small digital voice recorder can be the perfect memory jogger. Simply pull one out when you think of something important and speak it as a voice note. It will then be stored on the digital voice recorder for you to access any time. So when you get that feeling of “why did I come here” or “what was I about to do” just pull out your voice recorder and listen to your last recorded voice note. All recorders have a small speaker built into them so that you can hear your recordings, this is mainly for you to confirm that you have recorded something. All recorders also have a headset jack socket, some recorders come with earphones that you can plug in and listen. Even iPhone ear buds and the new ear pods also work for audio playback on all Olympus digital voice recorders.

9 – Prove That He or She Snores or Talks In Their Sleep

Very popular in my household! Does your partner snore? Do they chat away in a language all their own? Do they deny it? Now you can get the proof, simply leave a digital voice recorder by the side of the bed in voice activation mode and there you have it, instant morning proof. Not only does the voice recorder capture your snores or sleep chatter in all their glory but also their volume level, how load it is !!

10 – Students – Fall Asleep/Tweet/Facebook Status Update/Txt in a Lecture and Still Capture Every Word

Are you a student who struggles to stay awake/interested in lectures? Then a digital voice recorder will forever be your friend. This is really an essential for every student attending university or college. If you are a parent thinking about what you should give your child as they go off to college then a digital voice recorder should be top or at least high on your list. In every lecture simply hit the record button. Even if you do manage to stay awake and focused, the recording of the lecture is yours to keep and to reference at any time. An essential learning tool.

11 – Record Your Family Oral History

I love this one. I wish I had thought of it when my grandparents were still alive. As we all grow older and mature we tend to become more interested in our family history. Most of us who are parents will go through our genealogy phase with our children at some point.. What it was like to live before we were born? What were some of the milestones in family history? What really happened in the war? A digital voice recorder can be priceless when it comes to recording your loved ones stories and collecting their recollections of life in general. Recorded digitally the audio can be kept for ever and shared with your family in years to come. What better than hearing the voice of a loved one after they have departed. This is a regret that I have with some of my family members.

12 – Capture Their First Words

We all claim that our children first said “Dad” if you are a father or “Mum” if you are a mother, well now you can capture your child’s actual first word in all its digital glory. As your baby comes close to to being able to formulate their first word simply leave a digital voice recorder in their room with voice activation feature turned on. This will give you a complete record of all their babble and perhaps you will get lucky with their very first word. Imagine that as a keepsake, imagine that at the 21st birthday party!

13 – Capture Their Last Words

This one is a tricky one, nobody likes to think about it. But it is reality that at some point we are all going to pass away and move on to wherever we believe we go to next. I have written a blog post previously about a group in Melbourne, Victoria here in Australia, a voluntary group, called Eastern Palliative Care. Their volunteers meet with people who are in palliative care and interview them about their life and their family. They do this with no family members around allowing the patient to talk freely about their joys or regrets in life. Once complete and when the patient has passed away the complete transcripts are handed to the family. I think this is an amazing service, I have had some very close relatives pass away from cancer in recent years and I would love to have had the option of this service or to have been able to record my loved ones last conversations before they passed away.

14 – Hear Just How Good (or Bad) You Are at Playing Music

Are you learning to play an instrument? Are you fantastic or just average?. Well the digital voice recorder will be totally honest and when you play it back you can hear exactly how you sound. Although digital voice recorders are generally designed to record spoken voice they can cope with recording music as long as the music is not screamingly loud. Recording something like acoustic guitar, piano, saxophone, singing would all be picked up perfectly well with a standard digital voice recorder. If you play electric rock guitar and have an amplifier bigger than your bed then you may want to look at one of the specialised high quality PCM digital music recorders from Olympus which can record extremely loud music.

15 – Ghost Hunting

If you are a ghost hunter you will want to get yourself an EVP. Not a ghost hunter? Then you will need to know that an EVP is an Electronic Voice Phenomenon (wikipedia). This one was only recently bought to my attention as I flicked through some of the numerous blogs that I read. Apparently a digital voice recorder is an essential part of many a Ghost Hunters kitbag and you thought a proton gun was the most essential ! Obvious when you think about it, simply leave the digital voice recorder recording all night (as it seems most ghosts only appear at night) and pick up every single thing that goes bump, screams or calls your name. As digital voice recorders record such high-quality audio they can and do record everything. If you listen to the SoundCloud stream of this post above at 12mins 0secs in the audio you may be treated to hearing an actual ghost !!

Seek Ghosts Blog – Digital Voice Recorders And Ghost Hunting

Ghost Huntings 101 – The Basic – What To Bring

16 – Record Your Favourite Radio Show

In this modern era it seems anything we watch on TV can be streamed via the Internet on-demand. Miss your favourite sitcom, movie, quiz show whatever it may be you can useually stream it if you miss it. Not so easy with radio shows. Some digital voice recorders have the ability to record at set times. Simply leave your radio on and leave the digital voice recording perched in front of it set to record at the time of your favourite show. It is then stored and safe on your recorder ready for you to listen to at a time convenient for you. You can listen back on the voice recorder itself via the built in speaker, using headphones or drag and drop the audio to your Mac or PC and playback through your computer speakers.

17 – Great Sound Effect RingTones For Your iPhone or Smartphone

Yes I know sound effects for mobile phones are everywhere, you can buy them or make them easily. Usually though they are made up of your favourite song, a famous quote or perhaps more commonly a cow mooing or dog barking. Well with a digital voice recorder you can record absolutely anything and turn that into your ringtone. Maybe you are a human beatboxer and want to record yourself, maybe you can make funny voices or impersonations, maybe your singing voice is something special or perhaps you would just like your own dog barking on your phone. Use a digital voice recorder to record anything and convert that to your ring tone.

18 – Catch Out Noisy Neighbours

I have actually used one of my digital voice recorders for exactly this purpose. We suffered with some neighbours who have two large dogs. The dogs would bark 24-hour is a day seven days a week non-stop and would drive us and our fellow neighbours wild. So we set up a digital voice recorder and recorded the dogs in action. A polite letter signed by all the neighbours affected and accompanied by a USB stick storing an MP3 recording of their dogs barking was delivered and miraculously the next day the dogs stopped barking. Now you may suffer from barking dogs or with loud music or neighbours that shout – capturing this on a digital voice recorder often shows them what they don’t hear. It is recommended that you always go to the authorities first, like your local council to address the issue. But if you need a proof a digital voice recorder can help.

So there you have it. Eighteen digital voice recorder use alternatives. Do you know of more? If so leave a comment below.

New in Dragon Dictate 3 for the Mac is the Transcription feature. This allows you to record your voice when you are away from your Mac in digital format. That recording can later be loaded into Dragon Dictate 3 and a transcript of your words will be produced. This is uber new on the Mac platform, Windows users roll your eyes now, as they have had this functionality for some years.

What are the best digital voice recorders to use with Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac?

Nuance have not officially “certified” digital voice recorders for use with Dragon Dictate 3. This is a break from tradition as Nuance do have a full list of certified digital voice recorders, digital dictaphones and microphones for its Windows equivalent (NaturallySpeaking) and for the its older discontinued MacSpeech Scribe product. Instead with Dragon Dictate 3 the focus is more on the audio file formats that are produced by the voice recorders,  this is key. In fact if you look at the Dragon Dictate 3 Voice Recorder Edition they actually bundle a very low range Philips Voice Tracer which can record in .wav format with the software. The best voice recorder depends on your dictation style. Supported audio formats for transcription in Dragon Dictate 3 are:

• .aif
• .wav
• .m4a
• .m4v
• .mp4

Digital Voice Recorder/Note Taker or Digital Dictaphone?

Voice recorders come in two distinct categories, digital note takers and digital dictaphones. Note takers are really designed for recording interviews, meetings and maybe personal voice notes. You press record, chat away for a while and when you press stop a distinct audio file is created. Digital dictaphones on the other hand emulate the older style analog tape dictaphones. They are typically designed for one person speaking, usually those that dictate letters or notes which is common in the legal and medical profession. With a digital dictaphone you are able to stop recording regularly (perhaps to take a phone call, grab a coffee or gather some notes or thoughts) then rewind, hear what you just said and continue recording (as if you just rewound a tape). People looking at voice recognition technology are more akin to the dictaphone style of dictation. Click here for an earlier blog post – What Is The Difference Between A Dictaphone and a Digital Note Take?

Digital voice recorders and note takers are fairly inexpensive compared to digital dictaphones … but what price functionality. If you are used to a dictaphone or that style of dictation buying a cheap note taker that can’t rewind/review your audio will cause stress, trust me.

What Digital Notetaker/Voice Recorder Do You Recommend For Use With Dragon Dictate 3?

Key is the audio recording format. Just about all digital voice recorders can record in .wma (Windows Media Audio) and .mp3, audio formats we are all used to . Also becoming popular in many voice recorders is .wav format which tends to be an uncompressed audio format sometimes referred to as PCM (Pulse Code Modulation). Uncompressed .wav files produce very high quality recordings and as they are uncompressed these audio files are large in size when compared to the compressed .mp3/.wma formats. If you are looking for a digital voice recorder/note taker we suggest looking at either:

• Olympus WS-812 (approx. AU$159, US$150, £100)
• Olympus LS-3 (approx. AU$279, US$269, £180)

Both excellent recorders with fantastic microphones which can record in PCM .wav format compatible with Dragon Dictate 3′s transcription feature.

I Need A Digital Dictaphone For My Style Of Dictation, What Do You Recommend For Use With Dragon Dictate 3?

Any of the Olympus Pro digital dictaphone range will suit. There are currently three in the range, DS-2500, DS-3400 and DS-7000. All record exactly the same audio quality, as you go up the chain you get more features. For example:

• DS-2500 (approx. AU$349. US$329, £220) requires you to look after the battery and you manually connect to your Mac via USB. Control of dictation via push buttons.
• DS-3500 (approx. AU$499, US$479, £320) requires you to look after the battery and you manually connect to your Mac via USB. Optional dock if you want one. Can also record meetings and interviews as well as one person dictation. Control of dictation via toggle buttons.
• DS-7000 (approx. AU$649, US$629, £420) has rechargeable batteries and comes with a recharging dock which doubles as a USB connector, no need to fiddle with cables or batteries. Control of dictation via a slider switch.

All three recorders will record by default in a format called .ds2 which is the second eveolution of the Digital Speech Standard or DSS audio file format. Although not compatible with Dragon Dictate 3′s required audio formats the Mac software supplied by Olympus, called DSS PLayer Plus v7, can convert .ds2 to .aif format. Please note there is a minor issue with this currently which we have a workaround for while Olympus update their software – click here for more info.

I Live On The Cutting Edge, There Must Be A Voice Recorder App Right?

Yes there is, Nuance themselves have written it and it is called Dragon Recorder . It emulates a digital voice recorder/note taker and not a dictaphone so again think about your style of dictation. But for FREE it is an excellent addition to everyones iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch for recording pretty much anything or your voice if you plan to use it with Dragon Dictate 3. Audio recorded on an iPhone is ok quality wise, not as good as the audio you would pick up with a recorder such as the WS-812 or LS-3 but hey it’s in your pocket and ready to use. Just remember, no background noise, only dictate in very quiet places and speak clearly and concisely. This is true of all recording devices, not just the app, when you plan to use your recorded voice with speech recognition software.

Anything I haven’t covered or if you have more questions please leave a comment.

Dragon Dicate 3 for Mac was recently launched in Australia (this month, October 2012) and with it has come the usual flurry of phone calls and emails with plenty of questions .. What’s new?  How is it better that the previous version?  Does it work?  I used Dragon years ago and it was rubbish, has it got any better?  Can I post to Facebook?  .. the list goes on. Of course I am always happy to answer all these questions but often I refer customers to the fantastic short demo videos that Nuance have compiled.

I have decided to post all the videos here in one post so that if you are interested in voice recognition on the Mac you can find pretty much all you need in this one post.

See Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac in Action – Overview

Firstly, What Is New In Dragon Dictate version 3 for the Mac

Smart Format Rules:

These rules are designed to ensure that your particular spelling quirks are adhered to inside Dragon. The video shows an American dictating the word “favourite” and “colour” which are spelled in the American style “favorite” and “color”. Australians, don’t be put off by this, when you create your profile in Dragon you will tell it that you are Aussie and it will spell these words the English way that we are used to and not the American way. So you will not always be correcting words from American to English. The point of the video is to show that if you are writing for an American audience then you can easily change the spelling for that audience.

Transcription – Voice Recognition From Recorded Audio:

Definitely my favourite new feature in Dragon Dictate 3 – the ability to transcribe your recorded voice. This is perfect for people who are working away from their Mac, perhaps travelling, and a moment of inspiration arrives where you just need to get your thoughts out. Simply record them on a digital voice recorder or in the Dragon Recorder app for iOS (iPhone,iPad,iPod Touch). When you get back to your Mac load the audio into Dragon Dictate 3 and it will transcribe your audio for you. Just a tip: When recording on a digital voice recorder or in the Dragon Recorder app please make sure you do so in a quiet location, background noise is not the friend of voice recognition software. Dragon needs clear audio in order to process your voice accurately, so a train station, airport or driving in the car are not ideal locations. Your quiet hotel room or office board room is.

##UPDATE## The paragraph below no longer applies. Olympus have released an update to DSS Player Plus v7 for Mac, you need at least version 7.3.3, to be able to convert .ds2 audio to a format compatible with Dragon Dictate 3 Transcription. Click here for more information on how to the latest update for Mac and how to convert audio from DS-7000 and DS-3500 for use with Dragon Dictate 3 transcription.

People using the professional range of Olympus digital dictaphones, there is currently and issue with the .ds2 audio files converted to .aif using DSS Player Plus v7 for Mac, supplied with the recorders. To keep up-to-date with this issue please follow this blog post – Olympus Pro Dictaphone Audio Not Quite Compatible With Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac Transcription Module from Nuance

The Express Editor:

The Express Editor is a throw back to the cut price Dragon Express  which was introduced by Nuance as a low cost entry into using or trying voice recognition software on the Mac. Dragon Express uses the Express Editor as the window in which to dictate. The text can then be copy/pasted or transferred to a window on your Mac. Please do not be put off by the many negative reviews of Dragon Express in the Mac app store. These are mainly caused by people using the in-built mic on their Mac for input to Dragon Express. The in-built mics, especially on older iMacs and MacBooks are not noise cancelling so poor audio in means poor transcription out. Which is why Dragon Dictate 3 comes with a USB noise cancelling mic, to ensure great quality audio is fed to Dragon Dictate. Personally I don’t see the need for the Express Editor. In the example show the user could have dictated directly to the web form field.

Interactive Tutorial:

If you only watch one video, watch this one. The interactive tutorial gives an excellent overview of the basics that you will need to create highly accurate transcripts from your spoken voice. The Dragon interactive tutorial kicks in after you create a voice profile (and can be run at any time by finding the interactive tutorial in the menu bar under Help). The tutorial covers things like turning your mic on/off by voice and by keyboard/mouse. Best practice when dictating, microphone location and smart format rules. If you haven’t used Dragon for a while this short tutorial is the perfect refresher.

Working With New Apps Built Into Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8):

Dragon Dictate 3 is ready to go with some of the many new features built into Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Create Notes, add Reminders and chat with Messages all using your voice. “How cool is that exclamation mark smiley face” … you can also say “winky face” for a winking smiley, British readers of this blog post please stop tittering !

Look At Dictation And Editing In Dragon Dictate 3

The Command Editor:

The Command Editor in Dragon Dictate 3 is an extremely powerful tool. It can be used to create advanced spoken commands to interact with web pages, files and applications. However its most common use is for create text commands. A text command takes a short spoken command and converts that to a blob of text. For example, if you write a emails alot during the day with virtually the same content each time you could create a voice command where you speak “common email text” and Dragon will write out:

“Thank you for your email. Details on my products can be found on our web page, www.dictate.com.au – I am here to advise on all the products we supply from digital voice recorder from Olympus Australia to voice recognition software from Nuance for the Mac with Dragon Dictate 3 and Windows with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12.”

Text commands are commonly used by users of Dragon for repetitive outputs of text.

Spell That Voice Command:

The “spell that” voice command in Dragon Dictate 3 does exactly what it says, lets you spell a word that has been incorrectly identified by Dragon from its built-in vocabulary. By spelling an unusual or word not in Dragon vocabulary you need only tell Dragon this spelling once. After that it will always spell correctly and appear in the “Choose” list of alternate words and spellings. In this video example the spelling of the surname Popovich is identified by Dragon but is changed using the “spell that” command to Popovitch. Dragon will then always remember this spelling.

The Vocabulary Editor:

By using the voice command “show vocabulary editor” or selecting Tools -> Vocabulary Editor from the toolbar you can teach Dragon the way that you say words, acronyms and proper names. You need only enter these once and speak them three times to train Dragon how you pronounce these words and acronyms. This is useful for adding words to the Dragon vocabulary that are not already there (maybe specific medical or legal terms pertinent to you) that you use regularly. Train once, recognised forever.

General Dictation:

This is the most common way to use Dragon, simply dump your voice to text. This video really just shows how Dragon looks as you speak to it and transcription appears. You will need to tell Dragon about punctuation and when to start a new line or new paragraph. For English/Australian readers of this blog we don’t need to say “period” we can say “full stop” which we tend to be more comfy with.

Editing Documents:

In this short video we see the commonly used editing voice commands like “insert before” and “insert after” as well as the “delete” voice command for removing words. “Goto end” is also commonly used to move the cursor to the end of our dictation after we have finished editing with our voice. Of course you can also edit the old fashioned way using your keyboard and mouse.

Simple Correction:

Simple correction of text in Dragon Dictate is easy using the “correct” followed by the “choose” commands. There are some good examples in this video as Dragon spells common names which have more than one spelling incorrectly. The examples shown are dictated as “Ann” and voice corrected to “Anne“. Also dictated as “Sarah” and voice corrected to “Sara“. When you “choose” a word for correction Dragon will always present a list of possible alternatives and will number each one. This makes it simple and fast to choose the correct spelling.

Dragon Dictate Commands And Other Useful Features

Adding a New Audio Source (Mic, App, Voice Recorder) to Your Dragon Dictate Profile:

You will add new audio sources to your trained profile if and when you upgrade your microphone, use recorded audio from a digital voice recorder or decide to use the Dragon Microphone iOS app. Please do not use the internal mic on your MacBook Pro or iMac, it is not good enough for voice recognition.

How To Post To Twitter Using Your Voice:

Yes you can sit back with your feet on your desk and tweet a full 140 characters of spoken tweet. Below is the official Nuance video on how to do it but if you would prefer to see me do it click here (my video is using Dragon Dictate 2.5 but the commands are the same).

How To Post To Facebook Using Your Voice:

Just like with twitter, while your feet are up and hands firmly behind your head (picture totally relaxed at your desk) you can update your Facebook status too. Essential Dragon if you ask me …

Read That:

One extremely useful features of Mac OS X is the Speech -> Start Reading function which will read aloud in a wannabe human computerised voice highlighted text. I use this quite a bit if I am multi-tasking and want a blog post read to me while I continue my other task. But for the life of me I can’t see a use for this in text you have just dictated. You are better off reading it back yourself, maybe it’s just me – if you think this is useful or would use it please let me know by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post.

Say That:

Now this one is handy, especially if you have been dictating a large amount of text and you are in the process of reading through what Dragon has transcribed, the proof reading phase if you like. Dragon may not have heard you properly and has inserted incorrect text, text which you do not recall what it was that you actually said. By using the “say that” command Dragon will replay your actual words so that you can hear and therefore remind yourself of what was spoken for you to correct accordingly.

Play That Back:

The “Play that back”  Dragon command will play back your actual dictation so you can hear what you dictated and compare it to what Dragon transcribed.

Searching The Internet Using Your Voice:

Again one of those features in Dragon I personally don’t use and can’t picture many others using either. Using your voice you can open and navigate web pages, including scrolling up and down the page and book marking the page.

Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac is available from Dictate Australia and comes in three flavours. All three use exactly the same software the differences are around the devices in the box:

• Dragon Dictate 3 – Standard Boxed Edition – comes with standard USB headset and mic
• Dragon Dictate 3 – Voice Recorder Edition – comes with standard USB headset and mic and also a basic digital voice recorder
• Dragon Dictate 3 – Wireless Bluetooth – comes with wide band bluetooth headset and mic

All three are available in Australia from our online store. Outside of Australia please contact your local certified Nuance reseller for more information and pricing.

Just recently I have started to add a recording of yours truely reading aloud my blog posts. I wanted to do this for a couple of key reasons. Firstly for people who are vision impaired and find it difficult to read. Secondly for the lazy or time poor who would prefer to have a blog post they might be vaguely interested in read to them.

I don’t know anybody who is vision impaired but my attention has been drawn to this section of society thanks to the great work that Olympus have done with their digital voice recorders. For quite some time Olympus have been making tactile buttons on what are generally very small devices with very small display screens. More recent innovation has also been the voice guidance feature which allows the digital voice recorder to speak aloud functions and confirming settings as the menus are traversed, an essential feature for people with reading difficulties. The Olympus DM-5 digital voice recorder in particular has been specifically designed for vision impaired users with a larger than normal screen, voice guidance, DAISY consortium book support and the ability to read back text files.

On the flip side, I do know plenty of time poor people, i’m one of them. I spend alot of time flicking through blog posts sucking up information but quite often I just end up skimming the post. This is where I thought the recording of the blog read aloud might be a good idea, should you be interested in anything I write and you are time poor well now you can just sit back and listen.

I did spend a while looking for a good streaming audio solution. Initially I recorded .mp3 files, stored them on my webserver and used a WordPress plugin to stream the audio. This worked well reading my blog on a desktop or laptop but not so well reading my posts on an iPad or iPhone. The streaming mp3 plugins I used were flash dependant. Then I across SoundCloud, at first I thought it was a service mainly for musicians but quickly found they made allowances for digital voice also. The audio is stored with SoundCloud rather than my own server, bonus and audio can be quickly recorded via the iPhone/iPad app, Mac app or using one of my many digital voice recorders. But the thing I loved the most was the HTML5 widget than can be created and embedded into posts which plays nicely with the iPad/iPhone when viewing my blog on a mobile device.

There is also a SoundCloud WordPress plugin. Once your audio has been uploaded to SoundCloud the widget can be copied as a link or using the supplied SoundCloud short code.

Seems only fitting that a blog dedicated to digital voice actually has some digital voice in its blog posts don’t you think?

What do you think of my recorded blog posts? Are they of use? Should I hire a professional voice over artist or should I give up the idea?