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 »
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 »
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Today I finally heard what is being planned for the WS series digital voice recorders in Australia. If you have been reading my posts over the last few months you would have seen many changes in the Olympus Australia recorder line up. We have seen the DS range or digital dictaphones fully replaced and just recently the same was on the cards for the WS series.
Already the WS-311M and WS-321M recorders are discontinued and I hear that the WS-210S and WS-331 are close to being retired also in the coming week or so. These massively popular recorders are going to need something pretty special to take their place and here they are:
A complete new range of WS series recorders soon to hit Australia, the WS-450S, the WS-550M and the WS-560M. Yep they look similar, they are a similar size and carry the same features as the old recorders like multiple folders, multiple recording modes and amazing audio pickup. The main differences I can see from my first look are:
- More available memory.
- Retractable or slide out USB connector.
- Battery recharged while USB connected (WS-550M & WS-560M only).
More available memory
Only to be expected as the price of solid state memory falls and becomes more affordable that Olympus cram more into their WS series recorders. By having more memory available the recorders can start to again compete to be multi function devices, not content with being some of the best digital note takers around they can also act as your memory stick for storing your digital media and also, in the case of the WS-550M and WS-560M, will function as your music player.
Maximum recording times for the new WS series recorders:
Olympus WS-450S – 1Gb of built in flash memory
- [ST XQ] mode: 17 h. 20 min – stereo
- [ST HQ] mode: 34 h. 45 min – stereo
- [ST SP] mode: 69 h. 35 min – stereo
- [HQ] mode: 69 h. 35 min – mono
- [SP] mode: 137 h. 00 min – mono
- [LP] mode: 272 h. 25 min – mono
Olympus WS-550M – 2Gb of built in flash memory
- [ST XQ] mode: 34 h. 30 min – stereo
- [ST HQ] mode: 69 h. 40 min – stereo
- [ST SP] mode: 139 h. 25 min – stereo
- [HQ] mode: 139 h. 25 min – mono
- [SP] mode: 247 h. 10 min – mono
- [LP] mode: 544 h. 55 min – mono
Olympus WS-560M – 4Gb of built in flash memory
- [ST XQ] mode: 69 h. 30 min – stereo
- [ST HQ] mode: 139 h. 35 min – stereo
- [ST SP] mode: 278 h. 10 min – stereo
- [HQ] mode: 278 h. 10 min – mono
- [SP] mode: 547 h. 25 min – mono
- [LP] mode: 1,088 h. 05 min – mono
Retractable or slide out USB connector
This is something new and from me something very welcome. The old WS series design, although ingenious, did not lend itself to blokes like me. The units themselves used to pull apart seperating into two pieces, one held the battery the other the USB connector and display unit. The release button which had to be held down while pulling the unit apart was small and for large handed people like me a bit tricky. This new design looks fantastic, its simple and doesn’t require you to have small fingers to operate it successfully. A slide switch on the side of the new WS series models extends out a high speed USB 2.0 connector from the bottom of the unit.
Battery recharge while USB connected
Oh Olympus you were so close to perfection with this one. The WS-550M and WS-560M recorders come with a single rechargeable AAA battery (BR401 is the code if you ever need to order one) which can be recharged by the unit itself when USB plugged to a computer, very handy. What I would have loved to have seen would be the units actually powered by USB, never mind, USB recharge of batteries is a step in the right direction. From a single battery you still get an impressive 15 to 20 hours of recording time (depending on the recording mode selected).
No news as yet on the price of these new Olympus models or their release date. I would expect them to all be available in Australia before the end of August and I would estimate that they will come in at similar pricing to the outgoing WS-210S, WS-311M and WS-321M models.
Olympus Europe press release announcing the new WS series digital voice recorders.
For more information on these and other Olympus voice recorders in Australia contact us via: twitter.com/dictates – sales@dictate.com.au or on the phone at 1300 787 092
Posted in Digital Voice Recorders, Olympus, WS Series | 5 Comments »
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
The little Olympus WS-210S digital voice recorder has been around in Australia now since October 2007 and is easily our most popular digital voice recorder at Dictate Australia. So why is this little recorder so popular?
- Small and lightweight
- Very easy to use
- Excellent audio pickup and quality
- Great price point for a quality voice recorder
- Compatible with Dragon NaturallySpeaking v10 Preferred
- Both Windows and Intel Mac compatible
- Fully featured with variable voice activation (VCVA) and low cut noise filtering
These are just a few of its qualities. So lets look a little closer at this recorder and what it can do.
Click image for larger view
(more…)
Posted in Digital Dictation & Transcription, Digital Voice Recorders, Olympus, Reviews, WS Series | No Comments »
