Review: Express Scribe Compatible Philips USB Foot Control - 2310 - 2320

For years now transcriptionists around the world have been using Express Scribe, the free software from NCH Swift Sound. Able to take just about any audio format you throw at it (on Windows) Scribe is the software of choice for many transcription typists.

For those who come from an analogue transcription typing background or those who spend hours transcription typing they will prefer to use Scribe with a transcription foot control. Connected via USB the foot pedal allows the typist to control the audio playback via pedals on the foot control.

Some of the best USB foot controls which are Express Scribe compatible are the 2310 and 2320 from Philips Dictation. With no software required, these plug and play foot controls can be connected and working with Express Scribe in under a minute.

With a great ergonomic look and feel the Philips pedals do come in a little higher in price than the cheaper two pedal USB foot controls like the VEC. But you get what you pay for and with a big name in the digital dictation and transcription world like Philips Dictation you know that it will be a pedal you can use day in and day out for years to come.

Using Free Software To Help When Typing Up Notes From Digitally Recorded Interviews, Meetings or Focus Groups

You have just spent an hour or so digitally recording an interview, team meeting or focus group now you have to head back to your desk and type up notes from that meeting. How do you do it?

Most people would play back the audio in Windows Media Player of QuickTime and flick from their audio player back and forth to their word processor typing the small snippets of information they hear before they have to head back to stop and rewind the audio for a couple of sentences. Anyone who has done this will know it is very painful and takes forever.

There is a solution and it's free. It is Express Scribe from Australian company NCH Swift Sound. Using Express Scribe the audio playback is totally controlled from within your word processing application like Word. Simply by using any pre-configured keys on the keyboard (or by using a USB foot control) you can easily stop/rewind/play the audio without leaving the document you are writing, saving alot of time.

Just because of free does not mean it is feature poor. Far from it, Express Scribe has an impressive array of features like:

• Auto file loading from email or network drives
  
• Audio file noise suppressing/noice boost for poorly recorded audio
  
• Variable audio playback speed
  

Express Scribe is available for both the Windows and Intel Mac platforms. Give it a try and save yourself a few painful hours at the keyboard.

My Transcriptionist Can't Play Audio From My New Olympus DS-5000 - Help !

Don't Panic ! The new Olympus DS-5000 and Olympus DS-5000iD digital dictaphone by default records in the new .ds2 or DSS Pro audio format designed to work beautifully with the Olympus AS-5000 transcription kit. But what happens if you send your audio to your outsourced typist and they are unable to play the audio?


The chances are your typist either has an Olympus AS-4000 digital transcription kit, now discontinued, or they are using other transcription software like Express Scribe from NCH Swift Sound. Both of these are not able to play the .ds2 audio format. There are however a couple of options:

1. If your typist has an AS-4000 kit they can upgrade their software to DSS Player Pro as used by the AS-5000 kit. They can do this for free if you hand over your software install disk that came with your DS-5000 as that allows a free upgrade for one licenced copy of DSS Player software. Alternatively they can purchase a software upgrade, look for Olympus product code AS5002.
2. If your typist does not transcribe using the Olympus software then you are able to configure the DS-5000 to record in "classic mode" which will save audio in the older .dss file format used previously by the DS-4000 recorders. Click here to see our YouTube video on how to change your DS-5000 or DS-5000iD recorder to "classic mode".

If you use one of the larger transcription services in Australia like our sister company The Transcription People they will have no problems using the DSS Pro .ds2 file format.

If you have any questions on "classic mode" or the Olympus DS-5000 please contact us, we are always happy to help: mailto://sales@dictate.com.au or click the Live Chat button on our website http://www.dictate.com.au/

New Olympus DS-5000 DS2 Audio Format Not Express Scribe Compatible

The Olympus DS-4000 replacement, the DS-5000 and DS-5000iD record in a newer format of the DSS (Digital Speech Standard) audio format known as .DS2 or DSS Pro. Initial testing with the popular Express Scribe transcription software used by many transcription businesses including our own, The Transcription People shows that the new .DS2 format is not compatible with Scribe, this we believe is due to tighter licencing controls of the DSS audio standard.

There is the option on the DS-5000 and DS-5000iD to record in "Classic DSS" however selecting this reduces not only the audio quality of the recording, QP record mode can not be selected only SP, but also limits some of the additional functionality of the unit. Verbal comments can not be recorded and index marks are limited to 16 for each file.

As soon as we receive our test unit we will test if "Classic DSS" will produce the older style .DSS files which can be loaded into Express Scribe.

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.