Look How Easy It Is To Get Audio Off The Olympus WS-110

I just wanted to show you how easy it is to transfer audio from the Olympus WS-110 digital voice recorder to your PC or Mac for playback or transcription. This short video shows you the first time the WS-110 is plugged into your PC and the device is automatically recognised, no software to install. Audio plays effortlessly in Windows Media Player without the need to download codecs and can also be loaded straight into your favourite transcription software like Express Scribe.

Want to know more about the Olympus WS-110? Head to Dictate Australia and click on the Live Help button to have a chat, give us a call or send us an email :-)

Customers Love The New Olympus WS-110

The Olympus WS-110 has been out around three weeks now (Nov 2007) and I have to say the response we are getting from our customers is that this is a fantastic little digital voice recorder.



Already this model is very very popular and they are flying out of the door. Being such a new model this has to be down to its great low price, it's good looks and the fact that it is very simple to use.

We have spoken to a couple of customers who have mainly commented on the great audio quality and above all how easy it is to get the audio from the digital voice recorder onto the PC/Mac ready to listen to or to transcribe.

This little unit is fantastic for single speaker notes and dictation and can also pickup audio from one-on-one meetings.

Click here to grab a copy of the instruction manual for the Olympus WS-110 to get an overview of its functions and just how easy it is to use.

The New Philips 9370 Digital Pocket Memo

Philips Dictation Australia recently announced the end of life of the Digital Pocket Memo 9360 replaced by the new and very smart 9370 model.



At Dictate Australia the 9360 was a very popular model as it was the cheapest way to get your hands on a digital voice recorder which has an audio review function, the ability to rewind a little bit to hear what you have just dictated. We have alot of people call us who are moving from analogue tape dictaphones to digital and who must have the ability to rewind the audio. Unfortuantly this very useful function only starts to appear in the higher end models of both Philips and Olympus.

On the 9370 the slider switch on the side has been replaced by push buttons, also on the side making audio rewind and review a breeze.

Product Highlights

SpeechExec Dictate
SpeechExec Dictate is the perfect download software to manage voice files. The intuitive user interface makes job retrieval simple and fast, and the job status information allows the tracking of all the work in progress.

Smart Buttons
Two smart buttons let you scroll through menu options and quickly make selections.

Large Display
A large graphical display lets you view all file information, such as keywords (author name), length of dictation, position within the file, and other vital information at a glance. A backlit display shows all information, even in poor lighting conditions.

Intuitive design
The Digital Pocket Memo’s asymmetrical and ergonomic design delivers unparalleled user-friendly operation. The push button switch allows quick control and single handed operation.

Designed around standards
The Digital Pocket Memo is designed around standardized technologies. From SD (or MMC) cards, mini-USB cables, batteries and sockets to the industrystandard .dss file format for speech processing, Philips employs non-proprietary accessories and technologies for the ultimate compatibility.

Digital Speech Standard (.dss)
The .dss file format is the international standard for professional speech processing. Offering excellent audio quality for recorded voice, .dss files allow a high compression rate, reduced file sizes, network traffic and required storage capacity. The format also allows additional information, such as the author name, to be stored in the file header, further facilitating file organization.

For those of you who love product specifications (and who doesn't) here are the in's and out's of the 9370:

Connectivity
Docking connector: 8-pin female
USB: Mini USB 2.0 female (full speed, 12 Mbit/s)
DC in: 6 V
Microphone: 3.5 mm, impedance 2 kΩ
Headphone: 3.5 mm, impedance 8 Ω or more
Memory card: Secure Digital (SD) and Multimedia card (MMC) / expansion slot for barcode module

Display
Type: TFT-Transreflective
Diagonal screen size: 1.71 in. / 44 mm
Resolution: 128 × 128 pixels
Backlight color: white

Recording specifications
Recording format: .dss (Digital Speech Standard)
Memory type: Secure Digital (SD)/Multimedia Card (MMC) up to 2 GB
Recording modes:
Standard Play (SP)
Long Play mobile (LPm)
Recording time (SP/LP):•
44 / 65 hours with 256 MB card
349 / 523 hours with 2 GB card
Sampling frequency:
Standard Play mode: 12 kHz
Long Play mode: 8 kHz
Compression rate:
Standard Play mode: 13.5 kbit/s
Long Play mode: 9 kbit/s
Frequency response:
Standard Play mode: 200 to 5 500 Hz
Long Play mode: 200 to 3 500 Hz

Speaker
Built-in: 30 mm round dynamic speaker
Output power: 200 mW

Green specifications
Compliant to 2002/95/EC (RoHS)
Lead-free soldered product
Operation conditions
Temperature: 5° - 45° C / 41° - 113° F
Humidity: 10 % - 90 %

Power
Battery type: two AAA batteries (LR03 or R03)or two Philips AAA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries (LFH 9154)
Battery life (Standard Play mode):
17 hours with Philips Ni-MH rechargeable battery
15 hours with Philips alkaline battery
Charging time (full charge): 2.5 hours with optional rechargeable batteries and power supply

Specifications
Product dimensions (W x D x H): 50 x 116 x 17 mm / 2.0 x 4.6 x 0.7 in.
Weight: 106 g / 3.7 oz, including two Philips AAA batteries

PC requirements (SpeechExec)
Recommended: Pentium III, 500MHz, 512 MB RAM (1 GB RAM for Vista)
Hard disk space: 60 MB for SpeechExec, 100 MB for Microsoft .NET 1.1 Framework
1 free USB port
Recommended minimum transfer rate for LAN: 100 Mbit/s
Operating system: Windows Vista, Windows XP (with SP 2), Windows 2000 (with SP 4)

Package contents
Digital Pocket Memo 9370
Speech Exec Dictate software
Philips Secure Digital (SD) memory card
2 Philips AAA batteries
USB cable
Pouch
User manual
Quick start guide

Accessories
USB Docking Station 9120
Philips rechargeable AAA Batteries 9154
Philips Power Supply
Philips Secure Digital (SD) Memory Card

Finally - Olympus WS-110 Hits Australia

Since the end of life of the great WS-100 in October we have been desperate to get our hands on the WS-100 replacement, the Olympus WS-110.



Imagine the excitement at our office today when our first box full arrived (how sad are we !). The first thing that hit us was the new image for the boxes. Gone are the nice blue boxes that the other voice recorders came in the WS-110 looks like it means business in a sleek black box.



We will be testing our office unit over the next couple of days and will release a video shortly showing how it looks and interacts with your PC.

How To: Install Olympus Digital Wave Player With A VN-2100PC Voice Recorder

Here at Dictate Australia we are in the process of creating some tutorial videos on the products we sell. This is a taster of things to come and shows how to install the Olympus Digital Wave Player software, which comes with the Olympus VN-2100PC Digital Voice Recorder onto a Windows PC.

This voice recorder is a breeze to use and for anyone on a budget planning to use a recorder for single speaker note taking the VN-2100PC is and obvious choice.

The VN-2100PC records in .WAV format and using the Olympus Digital Wave Player software you can easily and quickly transfer the audio from the dictaphone to your PC. One of the great features of the Olympus Digital Wave Player software is the ability to record via the VN-2100PC direct to your PC's hards drive, I love that feature.

So here is the How To: video.

Another One Bites The Dust - Adios WS-100

Yep another change in the Olympus digital voice recorder ranks filtered through to us this month, again from one of our customers and not Olympus themselves :-)

The faithful friend of the student the WS-100 has been discontinued in Australia and replaced by the very nice WS-110.



As of 11th October 2007 we are still waiting for confirmation of the price for the new model but looking at the overseas Olympus sites it looks like it will come in at around the same price as the WS-100 was.

So whats new with this model. Well apart from double the memory of the WS-100, the WS-110 has 256Mb, it also sports some of the features we have seen in other new Olympus models, namely the WS-331M and the DS30/40/50 and that is the low cut background noise filtering, very handy if you are out and about recording.

This model is expected in Australia towards the end of October 2007 and I am sure it will fit in very nicely where the WS-100 left off. So far I have found only one review of the WS-110 on amazon.com - a great source for honest reviews - and this is what it said:

"This little device is spectacular. Small and light, can fit in a pocket. Has enough memory for a lot of recording. Easy to use. Downloading is quick and fun. Good quality audio. Great idea to go with WMA instead of proprietary audio software that complicates things.I am glad I have this gadget."

Express Scribe Compatible Foot Control Now Available

Here at Dictate Australia we have been looking for a while now for a good quality USB transcription foot control for use with Express Scribe available here in Australia. Finally we have found one, the Philips USB Foot Control 6212.



We have only recently joined forces with Philips Australia to supply their range of digital and analogue voice recorders and transcription systems. The USB Foot Pedal is available as a stand alone unit and can be used with Express Scribe running on Windows systems.

We have one in our office, setup could not be easier. We simply installed the provided driver then plugged in the foot control to a spare USB port and the unit was instantly recognised. Configuring Express Scribe to recognise the foot pedal was just as easy. In the Express Scribe settings simply tick the "Use Foot Pedal Playback Control" in the Control tab of the Express Scribe settings, set the port to USB and click the "Foot Pedal Control Setup Wizard" and that it.



The Philips foot pedals are sourced direct from Philips in Australia which means fast delivery, usually next day or soon after depending on your location.

Click here to view the USB foot control on our online store, Dictate Australia.

Introducing the Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9600

Well what a nice recorder this is. Described as "Pure Perfection" on the Philips Australia website the Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9600 certainly comes close to that claim.



Here are some of its good points
- File encryption
- It looks good - that is probably why it has won a design award
- Uses rechargeable batteries
- Comes with USB Docking station and battery charger
- Features removable SD memory card expandable upto 2Gb
- Records upto 21 hours with the supplied 128Mb SD card on SP mode
- Records upto 349 hours with an optional 2Gb SD card on SP mode
- Large display
- Audio stored in DSS (Digital Speech Standard)

This is a great quality recorder and compares well with the top of the range DS-4000 from Olympus. Now available at our online store Dictate Australia with free courier delivery Australia wide.

Reviews:
"Great sound recording, Host of features, Voice activation quite cool"
GoodGearGuide.com.au

Dictate Australia - Philips Digital Voice Recorders Now In Stock

We are pleased to announce that this week we have joined with Philips Australia to bring you more choice of digital voice recorders on our online store - www.dictate.com.au

We can now boast products from two of the best digital voice recorder manufacturers, well known and trusted household names, Olympus and Philips.

Philips have a great range of voice recorders, dictation systems and transcription kits all of which can be viewed online. Their Digital Voice Tracer range is a great addition to the budget range and the pro range of recorders is now complimented by the stunning 9600 model.

Over the coming weeks we will be adding the full range of Philips dictation and transcription equipment aswell as their accessories.

Now You Can Dictate To Your iPod - XtremeMac MicroMemo

Yes its true, if you have a 2nd generation iPod Nano or a 5th generation Video iPod then there is a fantastic and low cost option which allows you to turn your iPod into a digital voice recorder and record your dictation or meeting direct to your iPod.



The XtremeMac MicroMemo slots neatly into the bottom of your iPod and comes with a flexible detachable microphone. In fact you can use any microphone that comes with a 3.5mm jack plug.

Recording time is displayed on your iPod screen in real-time, and the built-in speaker allows you to listen to your recordings instantly. It really is a very neat little gadget.

We are now stocking the XtremeMac MicroMemo at our online store - www.dictate.com.au

Of course when you have finished your dictation or meeting you can always send the audio over to The Transcription People to have it quickly and accurately transcribed ;-)

Goodbye WS-320M - G'day WS-331M

News of another sudden demise of an old favourite Olympus digital voice recorder, the WS-320M has suddenly been dropped from the Olympus stable here in Australia and New Zealand. The WS-320M was a very popular model with our clients at www.dictate.com.au - I think because of the stunning piano black look it made for a very cool voice recorder and MP3 player.

However, as usual with Olympus they have gone one better. Meet the new WS-331M and is is the trend it has gone big on the the memory. This beauty has a huge 2Gb of internal memory which holds alot of MP3's or WMA's to play on the go. As well as being able to store up to a staggering 555 hours of recording (in LP mode). This really is an awesome little recorder. Powered by a single AAA battery which can power the unit for up to 21 hours.

Here is a summary of the features of the new WS-331M - available in Australia and New Zealand from late June 2007. Get yours from Dictate Australia - www.dictate.com.au Free advice, fast delivery.

- Built-in stereo microphone.
- The unique "USB Direct" design means you can connect it right to the USB port on your computer and download or transfer audio, music, photos and more.
555 hours of recording time in LP mode or 500 songs (4 minutes with 128kbps per song).
- Records in popular Windows Media Audio (WMA) format.
- Backlight Full-Dot LCD.
- 2GB of internal flash memory.
- USB mass storage class means the WS-331M can store documents, images, audio and more.
- Play recordings in Fast and Slow Playback mode - 50 percent faster or 50 percent slower than real time.
- Choose between six recording modes. Three Stereo modes including STXQ, STHQ and STSP, or three monaural modes including HQ, LP and SP for extended recording times.
- Organize up to 200 files in each of five available folders for quick retrieval and storage convenience.
- The Low Cut Filter minimizes air conditioner noise and other similar noises while recording.
- Noise Cancel function and a Voice Filter function cut noise and enable clear audio playback.
- This recorder is compatible with USB 2.0, enabling fast data transfer.
- Use the Voice Activation mode and record sound, via the built-in microphone, without ever lifting a finger.
- Set a portion of an audio file to play on a repeat basis with the Repeat Playback option.
- Lock files to remove any chance of files being accidentally erased.
- Index mark and temp mark features allow you to quickly find desired locations.
- Erase single or multiple files at once.
- Adjust the microphone sensitivity to meet your specific needs.
- Up to 21 hours of continuous operation is achieved with only one AAA battery.
- Supports music files in MP3 and WMA.
- WOW XT (tm) audio technology provides rich bass and 3-dimensional stereo sound during music playback.
- Use the Equalizer Setting to enjoy your favorite types of music with the best possible sound.
- Choose between Random and Repeat playback modes.

Thought About Outsourcing Your Transcription ?

Now that you have a shiny new digital voice recorder what are you going to do with the audio? Will you pass it on to your overworked secretary to type up when she has time or even try and type it yourself?

Why not outsource your transcription work to the experts, The Transcription People.

Located in Australia they have a large team of transcriptionists experienced in all aspects of transcription: legal, medical and general.

The Transcription People service clients from all over the world and provide a fast, accurate and secure transcription service.

Is your audio confidential? Not a problem, their online secure file server encrypts the audio as it is transferred via your web browser to their secure server. All the team have signed and adhere to a strict confidentiality agreement. The Transcription People will even sign an agreement with you to ensure your audio is kept secure.

Having a large team of typists the audio can be turned around very quickly. All transcription is proof read by a second set of eyes which ensures consistency with formatting and accuracy. All transcription is performed onshore within Australia.

So why not give your secretary a break and speak to the The Transcription People for all your outsourced transcription needs.

Conference Kit Launched By Olympus

Excellent audio coverage, clarity and portability. Olympus have engineered and designed their very own 2-channel Professional Microphone Kit the ME-30W. The kit is designed to work with the newly released digital conference recorders – the DS-50, DS-40, and DS-30 digital voice recorders.

The conference kit consists of:

• 2x Omnidirectional microphones (two right and left channel Omnidirectional microphones.)
• 2x Tripods
• Adapter (PA8)
• Cables for each microphone (total length, 16 feet)
• Carrying case

The compatible digital recorders are sold separately. The DS-50, DS-40, and DS-30 are the same stereo conference recorder with different levels of storage capacity.

Now you can relax in the knowledge that your boardroom meeting or town hall meeting audio can be fully recorder using this long awaited kit.

Available in Australia and New Zealand from Dictate Australia - www.dictate.com.au

You Little Beauty - Olympus WS-100

I have just got back to my office after a client visit. My client who is a prominent Sydney surgeon regularly uses his DS-4000 in his rooms for client note taking. He wanted a small digital voice recorder to take with him while on hospital visits and when out and about, for this I recommended the WS-100. To say he is thrilled with it is an understatement, he loves it. The size is perfect, its small. Plugs into any PC thanks to the USB connector and the audio can be played back on most PC's without even installing any additional software as the WS-100 records in Windows Media format (.WMA). For single speaker dictation this is a very handy little unit. Check out the specifications at our online store Dictate Australia.

Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder : The DS-2 Replacement

The classic DS-2 digital voice recorder from Olympus, which was our top selling model has been replaced by the sleek new Olympus DS-30. The DS-30 has four times more memory capacity than the old DS-2 with 256Mb onboard giving a huge 67 hours of recording time, that's alot of transcription !

Also improved is the look and feel of this new model. A detachable stereo microphone has been added, as well a voice guidance which ensures seamless operation of various complex functions. Available now at www.dictate.com.au


Here are some of the features of the new Olympus DS-30 Digital Voice Recorder

• Stores highly compressed WMA (Windows Media Audio) format voice messages in integrated flash memory.
• Playback and store WMA and MP3 music files.
• High-sensitivity detachable stereo microphone included, offering excellent portability.
• Built-in monaural microphone for monaural recording.
• Three modes of microphone sensitivity to meet recording needs.
• Several recording modes can be selected including stereo recording modes ST XQ or ST HQ, and three types of monaural recording modes including HQ, SP, and LP.
• Five voice folders can save up to 200 messages per folder. Music, Podcast, and Audible folder are also available.
• New, brighter high-contrast monochrome LCD panel with backlight.
• The voice guidance feature gives audio notification of operating conditions. It ensures seamless operation of various complex functions.
• Built-in Variable Control Voice Actuator (VCVA) function.
• Timer Recording and Alarm features enable automatic recording and playing at a set time.
• The Low Cut Filter minimizes air conditioner noise and other similar noises while recording.
• Index mark and temp mark features allow you to quickly find desired locations.
• Variable playback speeds can be controlled as preferred.
• Choose from four playback functions: Repeat, Skip, Fast, and Slow.
• Noise Cancel Function and Voice Filter Function cut noise and enable clear audio playback.
• Can be used as a USB microphone or USB speaker.
• Can be utilized as external memory to store pictures, text data, etc.
• An optional remote control (RS29) can be attached to the recorder to control recording and stop functions.
• DSS Player Software (included) enables easy archiving, editing and further processing of recordings.
• By registering favorite Podcast programs in DSS Player, you can download the latest broadcasting content automatically. New content can be transferred to the recorder simply by connecting it to a computer.
• Compatible with Audible.com files. Store and listen to audible contents purchased from Audible.com in the recorder.
• The optional AC adapter is available for longer recording.
• Up to 32 hours of continuous operation with two AAA batteries.

Newsflash: Olympus DS-2 Discontinued !

We had a bit of a shock this week when we received a customer order for the very popular Olympus DS2 digital voice recorder to be told by Olympus that it had been discontinued.

The DS-2 has been retired in favour of a new DS range comprising of the DS-30, DS-40 and DS-50. Some very very nice looking and performing digital voice recorders.

The new range is now available on our website www.dictate.com.au

Welcome To The Dictate Australia Blog

About Us:

We run a busy transcription business - The Transcription People and also an online store for digital voice recorders called Dictate Australia. We have been in business since 1997 and are physically located in Sydney, NSW however we have clients all over Australia and New Zealand as well as overseas.

Why This Blog:

We would like to post articles, information and advice on the many digital voice recorders that we sell on our online store, Dictate Australia. Not just tech specs but useful information and advice on how best to use the recorders. We will also review some of the many accessories to go with your digital voice recorder and also explore some of the alternatives to digital voice recorders.

Currently we only sell Olympus digital voice recorders as we belive these to be some of the best available. Keep an eye on our store though for more brands to come onboard soon.