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

Olympus Australia August Update – More Discontinued Recorders & Price Drops

Olympus Voice Australia have just issued another new wholesale price list to its Australian resellers confirming three more discontinued voice recorders, a huge price cut for one popular recorder and the official launch of the new WS series recorders earlier than expected. Discontinued: In the digital note taker range the very pricey but sheek WS-331M … read more

Olympus Australia Revamp Entire WS Series Range Of Digital Voice Recorders

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 … read more

Review: Olympus WS-210S Digital Voice Recorder

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

read moreReview: Olympus WS-210S Digital Voice Recorder

Olympus Australia Kill Off WS-311M & WS-321M Digital Notetakers

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) … read more

New Olympus DS-2400 Digital Dictaphone Launched Today In Australia

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 … read more

Rejig In The Olympus Voice Range & Pricing

Traditionally June has been the month for Olympus (and others) to launch their price list ready for the start of the next financial year. As we had already seen some price changes from Olympus Voice in February nothing much was expected in the annual June pricing updates and sure enough thats what has happened, not alot. Of note though are the following changes/additions annouced:

  • Olympus DS-40 price reduced to RRP $595 incl. GST
  • New model Olympus DS-55 priced at RRP $695 incl. GST
  • Olympus DS-2300 price reduced to RRP $695 incl. GST
  • New model Olympus DS-3400 priced at $795 incl. GST
  • New accessory, RS30W remote for LS-10 recorders at RRP $195 incl. GST

So we see price cuts on the DS-40 (down to the old Olympus DS-30 price) and also a cut for the DS-2300. These models are facing their last few weeks/months of life before being discontinued in favour of the new models already here.

read moreRejig In The Olympus Voice Range & Pricing