iDictate – Digital Voice Blog

Well they have done it again, Olympus Australia announced on Friday (10th July 2009) that the Olympus WS-311M (512Mb) and WS-321M (1Gb) digital notetakers were now discontinued in Australia. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, not so much the WS-321M as being a middle model (sandwiched beween the WS-311M and WS-331M) they very rarely get sold, but the WS-311M was a very popular choice at Dictate Australia.

When you compare them, there were only a few minor differences between the Olympus WS-311M and the Olympus WS-210S. Apart from being different colours, the WS-311M had it’s record button on the side, mimicking the digital dictaphones, as well as an additional stop and play button on the side, the WS-210S only has buttons on the front panel.

The WS-331M and WS-321M also had noise cancellation which was available via the DSS Player software, the WS-210S does not.

There was also a very slight difference in max. record times, this was due to a slightly higher frequency response used by the WS-311M/WS-321M recorders, not enough to be noticeable.

The WS-311M/WS-321M could also direct record to a Windows PC hard drive instead of the onboard memory using the supplied software.

The WS-311M was one of my personal favourite recorders and will be sadly missed, if you can sadly miss a digital voice recorder!

Usually we have an inkling that something is likely to change. We keep a very close eye on the Olympus America and Olympus Europe websites and quite often we can see up-and-coming new models. There appears to be no replacement coming for the WS-311M and the WS-321M so I think it is safe to say we are just going to be left with the WS 210S and a very classy looking piano black Olympus WS-331M in the small digital notetaker class.

This blog post was written using MacSpeech Dictate – Voice Recognition of Intel Mac

Olympus Voice Australia have completed their revamp of the digital dictaphone voice recorder range by today announcing the launch of the new Windows and Mac compatible Olympus DS-2400. This sees the demise of the last hanger on in their digital dictaphone line, the DS-2300 which is now now longer available in Australia.

Unusually the DS-2400 is not black, like the other two digital dictaphones released earlier this year (the DS-5000 and DS-3400) but is does support the new DSS Pro digital audio format (which creates .ds2 audio files) which Olympus are going for in a big way.

The Olympus DS-2400 is the cheapest in the digital dictaphone range so you lose the snazzy cradle and the battery life needs to be monitored and maintained by the user. But the for people converting from analogue tape dictaphones or replacing an ageing DS-2300 you will be very happy with the DS-2400.

Rewind and review of your notes is simple using the metal rocker switch on the side. Audio can also be inserted and edited on the recorder itself. Please note though that the DS-2400 only records in .ds2 audio format. This is fine if your in house typist has an AS-2400 (not yet available in Australia) or AS-5000 transcription kit or if you outsource your transcription to one of Australia’s larger transcription businesses like our sister company The Transcription People. However smaller transcription services may have issues with the .ds2 audio format so check with them first. It is NOT possible to convert the DSS Pro (.ds2) audio to DSS Classic (.dss) files using the included DSS Player Standard (Windows) and DSS Player (Mac) for the DS-2400. The convert .ds2 to .dss and/or .wma feature is only available with the dictation module that comes with the DS-3300 and DS-5000 models.  To be honest the last thing you should be doing is converting your audio files before your send them away for transcription.

For people who are looking to replace an older DS-2300 digital voice recorder with a DS-2400 and who already have an AS-2300 transcription kit in the office all is not lost. The software with the DS-2400 will allow you to upgrade one AS-2300 kit to an AS-2400 kit for free, keeping your transcription kit compatible with older recorders and the new DS-2400. There are a couple of very important steps while doing this, please email us for advice if you plan to do this: sales@dictate.com.au

Click here for the Olympus FAQ page for the DS-2400

As we discussed in our last post the Olympus DS-40 is on its way to being discontinued in Australia, to help things along Olympus Voice Australia have announced an immediate price cut for the DS-40 from RRP $695 incl. GST to RRP $595 incl. GST, in effect cutting its price to the same as the recently discontinued Olympus DS-30 model.

If you are looking for a bargain digital voice recorder which is ideal for large boardroom meetings, focus group, interviews, team meetings or even just your own notes then now would be a good time to jump in and grab one at this new low price. This model will be discontinued shortly but will still be covered by the Australia Australia 1 year warranty (just make sure you buy one from an authorised Olympus Voice Australia reseller).

It is with deep sadness that I bring to you the news of the demise of the Olympus DS-30 digital voice recorder. Here we go again, yet another recorder dumped by Olympus Australia this year. This model discontinued will very soon also be followed by the DS-40, Olympus are running out their remaining stock, so two excellent and very popular large meeting/focus group recorders bow out in favour of a new, sleeker, younger, fitter, better looking model, the Olympus DS-55 (release date yet to be announced in Australia).

New Olympus DS-55 Stereo Mic

Only two weeks ago we reported on the end of life for the DS-50 which has been superseded by the new Olympus DS-65. The DS-30 and DS-40 are going the same way with a new Olympus DS-55 model due to arrive in Australia we hope in the next few weeks. We hope because the DS-30 is a very popular recorder and to be left hanging with just a pricey DS-65 could cause some consumer pain. In usual Olympus style, they are starting to become the Apple of the voice recorder world with no leaks and just suprise announcements, we found out when we tried to restock some DS-30s and found out they were no more. No news yet either on the DS-55, we have no idea of its RRP or release date we just assume that it is coming soon. More on the Olympus DS-55 when we have more news on, as a teaser check out the beatiful image to the left of the sleek silver stereo mic topping off the soon to arrive DS-55.

News filtered through this week that on a flight from Japan a load of new Olympus digital voice recorders has arrived at the Melbourne headquarters for Olympus Voice, the Olympus DS-3400. This makes the past few weeks busy ones for the Olympus folks as they also took delivery of the DS-50 replacement the DS-65 (see this post).

New Olympus DS-3400 Digital Dictaphone

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Some surprising news out of Olympus Australia yesterday, the Olympus DS-50 digital voice recorder which was perfect for large meetings and focus groups has been discontinued in Australia and replaced with a new model the Olympus DS-65.

With the demise of the DS-50 I would assume that the days are numbered also for the popular DS-30 and DS-40 recorders, likely they will both be replaced when the DS-55 comes down under in the near future.

From the outside the blue DS-65 looks the same as the DS-50, same size, same fantastic stereo mic tagged on the top. The difference between the models lies in the internals. Some of the key differences with the Olympus DS-65 are:

• 2Gb of internal memory (double that of the DS-50 which had 1Gb)
• Max. recording time of 33hours 50mins on the highest quality recording mode STXQ
• Support for Audible .aa audio format for audio books

The Olympus DS-65 comes in at the same RRP as the DS-50 which is currently $795 incl. GST and is available now from Dictate Australia and other official Olympus Australia distributors.

Here are the full specifications for the Olympus DS-65…

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On a quiet Tuesday evening, nothing much to do, thought I would do some surfing on the web. Called into one of the most static sites you will find, the Olympus Voice Australia website. Clicked on the what’s new link and boom – DS-3400 Coming Soon !

Why was I surprised by this? Well, apart from the fact that the site rarely changes, with Dictate Australia being one of Olympus’ top online resellers we thought we might have, you know, been told!

Here is some information I have gleaned so far. Nobody seems to know when this is coming to Australia, I would estimate towards the end of Q3 2009, but this is just a guess, nothing official from Olympus Voice as yet.

Pricing is also a guessing game, I have the recorder on my site at an estimated RRP of $540 incl. GST, this is going from the RRP on the Olympus America website. My thoughts are that it will be around the same price as the DS-2300 model which is due to be replaced shortly by the DS-2400. Time will tell and there will be updates here as soon as I know.

A quick skim through the specs the things that jump out at me are: there is no cradle as there is no power option, this one runs on batteries only. As is the trend at Olympus this will record in the DS2 (DSS Pro) format although the recorder comes with DSS Pro software so “classic mode” may be available. There is no slider on the side like the DS-5000, instead there are push buttons, similar to the old DS-3300.

More news as and when it comes from Olympus on the new digital dictaphone …

Have you ever finished a phone call and thought gee I wish I could have recorded that conversation? Maybe you are a journalist and regularly interview people by phone or you have regular business meetings by phone?

The TP-7 telephone pickup mic from Olympus is a microphone that can be used with any Olympus digital voice recorder to easily record phone conversations. It can be used with any phone – mobile, office phone even a pay phone.

Olympus TP-7 Telephone Pickup Mic

The TP-7 connects via the jack plug to any Olympus digital voice recorder, the other end fits in your ear like a iPod earbud. It then sits neatly between the phone and your ear while you hold the conversation. It can directly pickup the audio from the phone speaker usually held to your ear and also from your spoken words all recorded easily to the voice recorder.

Quite a neat gadget from Olympus and a popular product with journalists. Officially this works only with Olympus voice recorders but I have heard of people with Sony’s using it also.

Philips 9162 Telephone Pickup Mic

Philips has something similar and is called the 9162 telephone pickup mic. Slightly cheaper than the Olympus it comes in a nifty pouch with spare ear bud cushions and a retractable cord. It follows the same principal by fitting in your ear making it compatible with any phone you use.

The Philips 9162 can be used with the Philips Digital Pocket Memo (DPM) series, Philips Digital Voice Tracer (DVT) series, analog pocket memos and the Philips 955 conference recording system.