Sunday, February 14th, 2010
At the recent MacWorld 2010 Expo in San Francisco, the place for companies developing technologies for the Apple Mac and iPhone to show off their ideas, MacSpeech announced the launch of their new software product MacSpeech Scribe.
MacSpeech Scribe will do what alot of existing MacSpeech Dictate customers have been asking for, transcribe from a digital recording of their voice. Now you no longer have to be in front of your MacBook or iMac to dictate audio to be transcribed. Using one of the certified MacSpeech Scribe digital voice recorders you can record your thoughts anywhere. Then at a time convenient to you have MacSpeech Scribe transcribe the audio for you.
This is similar concept to the Philips LFH0667 (formerly LFH0660/10) which was a cut down version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 for Windows which would only take audio from a digital recording.
MacSpeech Scribe is a stand alone product and is not an add-on to MacSpeech Dictate. If you already own MacSpeech Dictate and have created and trained a profile for your voice that profile can not be imported into MacSpeech Scribe, you will have to start from scratch with a new MacSpeech Scribe profile.
Only a small number of digital voice recorders have been certified by MacSpeech to work with MacSpeech Scribe. These are the iPhone, iPod Touch (2nd Gen up with a mic) and a few Olympus digital voice recorders. Of the Olympus recorders on the certified list only the DS-3400 and DS-5000 are currently available in Australia. MacSpeech Scribe can take audio in .aif, .aiff, .mp4, .m4a, .m4v and .wav format so in theory a huge number of other voice recorders will be compatible (although not certified). Remember, its all about the audio quality, so just because the $20 USB recorder you bought off eBay records in one of the supported audio formats the quality of that recording may leave you disappointed – stick with Olympus and you won’t go wrong.
MacSpeech Scribe is available now for download from the MacSpeech Australia store for $199. We hope to have a copy in the next few days and will blog a review of the setup, training and performance.
Posted in Digital Dictation & Transcription, MacSpeech Scribe, Software, Voice Recognition Software | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
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.
Posted in Digital Dictation & Transcription, Digital Voice Recorders, Olympus | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
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:
- Transcriptionist has an older Olympus transcription kit (AS-2300 or AS-4000)
- 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…)
Posted in AS-2400, AS-5000, DS-2400, DS-3400, DS-5000 & DS-5000iD, Digital Dictation & Transcription, Digital Voice Recorders, How To's, Olympus, Software | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
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.
Posted in Digital Dictation & Transcription, Digital Voice Recorders, Digital Voice Tracer, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Philips, Voice Recognition Software | No Comments »
