How To: Olympus DM-3 / DM-5 Firmware Upgrade On Mac or Windows

Olympus DM-3 DM-5 Firmware Upgrade

The latest Olympus digital voice recorders come with the ability to update their firmware as and when Olympus release new updates. The firmware is essentially the operating system that runs your digital voice recorder so it is a good idea to always stay up-to-date with any new firmware releases, much as you do with your Mac when new OS X operating system releases are made and on Windows with security patches and fixes. Firmware updates will improve the usability of your recorder, fix any minor bugs and often add more features or improve usability.

read moreHow To: Olympus DM-3 / DM-5 Firmware Upgrade On Mac or Windows

How To Convert Audio Cassette, Microcassette or Mini Cassette Tape To Digital Audio Format

We are now in the day and age of digital dictation and transcription. But, believe it or not, there are people andĀ organisationsĀ out there who are still using some form of cassette tape to record dictation. Olympus long ago discontinued their micro and mini cassette transcription kits (remember the old Pearlcorder brand?) and more recently their … read more

Options For Playing Olympus .ds2 (DSS Pro) Audio Files If You Use Express Scribe Or Older Olympus Transcription Kits

How to play or convert Olympus .ds2 audio files to .dss


Download sample .dss and .ds2 audio files at the end of this blog post …

This is a hot topic in the transcription world. The DSS Pro (.ds2) audio format now in use by default on all the Olympus, Philips and Grundig digital dictaphones. It is a hot topic for a couple of reasons, often a transcriber can not play the new .ds2 audio files because:

  1. Transcriptionist has an older Olympus transcription kit (AS-2300 or AS-4000) with a RS-26 pedal
  2. Transcriptionist uses Express Scribe software free or paid version

There are a couple of ways to get around this (unless you just buy the right and latest software for transcription) 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.

read moreOptions For Playing Olympus .ds2 (DSS Pro) Audio Files If You Use Express Scribe Or Older Olympus Transcription Kits

Listening to Keynotes, What Digital Recorder? – LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen or Olympus WS-450S or iProRecorder

This week I was lucky enough to attend FlyingSoloLIVE, an expo run by the FlyingSolo team held at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney. The day consisted of a number of keynote speeches by well known successful Australian business people and social media experts all aimed to educate and inspire Australian solo and small business … read more

Help! My Transcriptionist Can’t Play The Audio From My Olympus DS-5000

The Olympus DS-5000 records by default in DSS Pro .ds2 format, this can be changed to standard DSS .dss format by switch to Classic Mode, heres how.