Review of the Philips 880 Digital Voice Tracer

Philips Australia have recently re-vamped their Digital Voice Tracer range of cheap digital note takers. The top of the line DVT is the 880 which boasts PCM recording to .wav files and high quality recording to MP3. With a wealth of goodies in the box and a lean Australian price tag we take a look as this new recorder from Philips in our review.

MacSpeech Dictate Announce Upgrade To Version 1.3

In a press release from MacSpeech in the US they today announced that MacSpeech Dictate is now on version 1.3, an upgrade freely available to registered uses of Dictate via the Check For Updates feature.

So whats new in 1.3?

New "Cache Document" command which instructs Dictate to read any document, even those now created by Dictate. This allows easier/better/smarter navigation within a document. Sounds good, will give that a try very soon.

Also added is the "Cache Selection" command, again another way to get around the old problem of cursor positioning within a document.

And two more commands to add to your headspace, "Press The Key" and "Press The Key Combo" allowing keyboard entries and key combinations to be input by voice.

Aswell as this new command is the usual bug fixes, a new Help Book system and some additional indicators to show the Mic status.

This is just a quick post as the release has just come out. In the next few days I will give them a try and as usual post to my YouTube channel.

Excellent work from the guys at MacSpeech. The frequency of the updates is increasing and we are starting to see more and more functionality coming through and small niggly bugs being hit on the head. Early adopters have a large smile on their face now and new users will be impressed with the power of this software.

To read the press release click here.

Olympus Voice Australia Increase Digital Voice Recorder Costs Today

Today we see some changes in the pricing and product line across the board from Olympus Voice Australia. Nearly all recorders get an increase in RRP (recommended retail price) with the exception of the VN-3100PC (which has gone down in price) and the DS-3300 which remains the same, we expect the DS-3300 to be dropped off the product line in the near future.

Two new digital notetakers have been added, the VN-3500PC and VN-5500PC which should be available in Australia towards the end of February. We anticipate that when these two arrive we can say goodbye to the VN-3100PC.

We also say goodbye to the VN-2100PC, not my favourite recorder so not too upset by that departure. The AS-4000 transcription kit has also now been discontinued after a long and distinguished career, this follows on from the Olympus DS-4000 discontinued late last year.

Other minor changes to the product lists include a replacement cable (KP21), power supply (A513) and carry case (CS119) for the Olympus DS-5000 and DS-5000iD.

The Olympus A513 power adapter can also be used with the Olympus LS-10 so good to see an alternative power option for this specialised digital PCM recorder.

Philips Introduce LFH9162 In Ear Telephone Pickup Mic

Philips Dictation Australia today announced the launch of a new telephone pickup microphone called the LFH9162. Similar to the Olympus TP-7 this clever mic fits in your ear and is held in place by the telephone you are talking on, recording to your digital voice recorder your phone conversation.

I have long been a fan of this style of telephone recording mic as it can be used with either the office phone or your mobile if you are out of the office.

The LFH9162 simply plugs into the mic socket of any compatible Philips digital voice recorder. Available in Australia any day now the expected price of the LFH9162 will be around $66 incl. GST.

In the box along with your pickup mic you will get a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter plug, spare ear cushion and a carrying pouch.

For the techs out there here are the tech specs:

• Type: Electret condenser microphone
• Directionality: non-directional
• Frequency response: 50-20,000 Hz
• Sensitivity: -34 dB at 1 kHz
• Output impedance: 2.2KΩ
• Power supply: Plug-in-power system (1.5V – 10V)
• Cord length: 1.0 m
• Output plug type: 3.5 mm monaural mini plug
• Weight: 16 g
• Color: Black / Silver

Olympus Australia Price Rise For The LS-10 PCM Recorder

Olympus Voice Australia have announced that there will be some price rises effective February 1st, 2009 across most of their digital voice recorder range.

One recorder, the LS-10 was slipped a price increase ahead of this deadline. Effective immediately in Australia the LS-10's RRP (recommended retail price) has shot up from $695 to $895. This is likely to its stunning perfromance and the fact that it has quickly become a leading contender in the digital PCM (pulse-code modulation) market.

For full specs on the LS-10 click here.

Olympus LS-10 PCM Recorder Back In Stock In Australia

Good news for all you Aussies who were keen to grab an LS-10 over the Christmas period and were dissapointed that Olympus Australia had none available, they now have a small number back in stock so grab one while you can.

We saw huge interest in this recorder over Christmas from people keen to get one to record their musical talents but also interestingly enough quite a few people keen to record bird and frog sounds. I think I have mentioned before that we have sold quite a few LS-10's to the Australian Goverment to record frogs so this PCM recorder is popular with a diverse range of people.

Grab one soon before the 2009 Olympus price rises kick in.

New Office Productivity Software Coming To Dictate In 2009

Early in 2009 we will be expanding our portfolio of software that we offer on through our website, we will be adding three new office productivity titles:

OmniPage 16 - The Worlds #1 OCR (Optical Character Recognition) Software

OmniPage Professional 16 allows business professionals to achieve new levels of productivity by eliminating the manual reproduction of documents. Precision OCR analysis, layout detection, Logical Form Recognition™ (LFR) technology, and advanced security features quickly turn office documents and forms into over 30 different PC applications for editing, searching and sharing.
Custom workflows handle large volumes of documents with a click of the mouse or the push of a button on your scanner or All-in-One device. Robust tools enable you to print to PDF, turn text documents into audio books and add digital signatures to your electronic documents.

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PaperPort 11 - The Professional Choice to Scan, Organise & Share All Your Documents

Millions of people –including officeworkers, lawyers,doctors, insurance and real estate agents – rely on ScanSoft®PaperPort® Professional to save time and money by transforming paper documents into searchable digital documents. It’s the one program that enhances Microsoft® Windows® with powerful scanning capabilities and enables you to visually manage paper and PDF, plus over 150 document and photoformats. The unique document desktop allows you to view, browse and assemble documents with drag-and-drop ease. PaperPort Professional combines the efficiency of document management, the convenience of superbly-scanned documents and the power of creating PDF files, to bring a new level of operational proficiency to your organisation. It’s the most productive way for everyone in your office to scan, organise, find, merge, repurpose, print, share and email anything!

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PDF Converter 5 - The only complete PDF solution designed specifically for business users, delivers everything you need to create, convert, and edit PDF files

PDF Converter Professional delivers on the promise of "Better PDF for Business" by combining the power of PDF creation, the flexibility of PDF editing, and the versatility of PDF conversion into one easy-to-use, affordable application. It provides all the critical business features you need without the cumbersome and costly print and pre-press functionality found in more expensive solutions.

More information on all the above software as well as some demo and tutorial videos coming soon.

As with all voice recorders, voice recognition software and office productivity software we sell here at Dictate Australia we use them all daily so have in depth knowledge to advise you on the right product or software for your needs.

We are Windows and Mac friendly :-)