Re: Digital Voice recorder
As I said in my last reply post, these items come from the
technolawyer.com mailing list. They are reviews of hardware used for
digital dictation that may be helpful in determining what there is out
that could be looked at as possible linux hardware.
It would be most useful to develope pacakages to provide this service.
Bear in mind that the reviewers quoted below are using a non-linux
operating system:
1.=================
*2. FRANK LANIGAN, REVIEW: OLYMPUS DS330 & DICTANET COMBO*
TechnoLawyer member Ted Boxer asks: "Quite timely as my Norelco (now
Phillips) tape unit just bit the dust and I am starting the search, just
for digital dictation without voice recognition. The only user I know
has an Olympus DS 330 system. He likes it but noted that the volume
seems low (but not to his secretary) and his secretary said that the
foot pedal on the AS300Pro is tinny compared to their prior Sony tape
unit. He also said that it took his office (two lawyers and one
secretary) about a month to get the kinks of the system. I would be
interested in hearing from others who have made the switch."
Dan Scott responded:
"I have been using the Olympus DS-3000 for over a year. It has really
made my life and the life of my staff much smoother."
We also use the Olympus DS330 with a digital dictation system from
DictaNet <http://www.dictanet.com>, a German company very popular with
European lawyers. We installed the system earlier this year in our two
offices in Ireland and it has been a success from day 1. DictaNet is
compatible with most industry standard hand-held digital recorders
including Olympus and Philips. Files are standard .wav with reasonable
compression. We purchased for it's capacity to pool typing requirements
and in terms of performance, "it does exactly what it says on the can."
The Olympus DS330 can be used independently of the system and downloaded
by using a cradle which loads directly to DictaNet, (cleaning out the
dictation once it is loaded on the system) and is so simple to operate
that "even a lawyer can use it"! It can also be directly connected to
the PC and acts as a direct recording microphone to the DictaNet
dictation system. We have found the Olympus recording quality to be so
good that it can be used also with the speech recognition engine
(Dragon) attached to DictaNet.
Regards,
Frank Lanigan
Malcomson Law, Solicitors, Court Place, Carlow, Ireland
Tel +353 (0)59 9131745
Fax 9143695
Email franklanigan@mlaw.ie <mailto:franklanigan@mlaw.ie>
and
Malcomson Law, Iceland House, Arran Court, Smithfield, Dublin 7,
Ireland.
Tel +353 (0)1 8744422 Fax 8744055
Website www.mlaw.ie <http://www.mlaw.ie>
2.==========================*
\
DAN SCOTT, REVIEW: OLYMPUS DS-330 DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER*
TechnoLawyer member Ted Boxer asks: "Quite timely as my Norelco (now
Phillips) tape unit just bit the dust and I am starting the search, just
for digital dictation without voice recognition. The only user I know
has an Olympus DS 330 system. He likes it but noted that the volume
seems low (but not to his secretary) and his secretary said that the
foot pedal on the AS300Pro is tinny compared to their prior Sony tape
unit. He also said that it took his office (two lawyers and one
secretary) about a month to get the kinks of the system. I would be
interested in hearing from others who have made the switch."
I have been using the Olympus DS-3000 for over a year. It has really
made my life and the life of my staff much smoother. We had essentially
not significant difficulty getting it up and running. I can now travel,
receive my scanned mail by e-mail, dictate and e-mail the voice files
back for preparation. I've never had any complaints from staff about
volume. I love the opportunity put dication in separate folders. If you
have "emergency" dication, just put it another folder on the DS-3000
then you know what to quickly download. I love it!
Dan Scott
cdscott1@bellsouth.net <mailto:cdscott1@bellsouth.net>
[CM's Note: Learn more about the Olympus DS-330 Digital Voice Recorder
<http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_product_lobbypage.asp?l=1&bc=11&product=859>.
-- Neil J. Squillante, njs@peerviews.com <mailto:njs@peerviews.com>]
3.===============================
*1. IRV LAMEL, REVIEW: OLYMPUS DS 330 DIGITAL DICTATION SYSTEM*
TechnoLawyer member Ted Boxer asks: "Quite timely as my Norelco (now
Phillips) tape unit just bit the dust and I am starting the search, just
for digital dictation without voice recognition. The only user I know
has an Olympus DS 330 system. He likes it but noted that the volume
seems low (but not to his secretary) and his secretary said that the
foot pedal on the AS300Pro is tinny compared to their prior Sony tape
unit. He also said that it took his office (two lawyers and one
secretary) about a month to get the kinks of the system. I would be
interested in hearing from others who have made the switch."
In response to Ted Baxter's question regarding digital dictation and,
specifically, the Olympus DS 330 system, I started using it in my office
about 6 months ago. We run a server with three stations, my laptop, my
paralegal's desktop and a secretary's desktop. The program is loaded on
each station with the cradle at my desk. I dictate into the handheld,
place it on the cradle and load the dictation into the program on my
laptop. There are subdirectories for each staff member in a directory
titled "Dictation" on the server. I export the dictation to the
subdirectory of the staff I want to type the dictation or perform the
task discussed in the dictation. When the staff completes the dictation,
she puts it in my Review folder on the server. She also moves the
digital dictation file to a folder titled "Completed Dictation" which is
preserved until the document is finalized and sent out.
The system is fast and efficient. No more lost or misplaced tapes. No
more tapes sitting on my desk because I was distracted by a phone call
after completing the dictation. No more running the tape to one of their
desks. I stay at my desk and transfer the file electronically and
instantly. In addition, when I installed the system I had not yet
purchased the footpedals. Both my secretary and paralegal declined the
offer of footpedals within a few days. They find it easier to use the
system with the keyboard controls. It is a great system and I would
never go back to tapes.
Irv J. Lamel, Esquire
95 Merrick Way
Suite 100
Coral Gables, Florida 33134
Tel. 305 443-5212
Fax 305 443-2075
Email IJLamel@aol.com <mailto:IJLamel@aol.com>
4.============================*
NATURALLYSPEAKING & WORDPERFECT; QUIKSCRIBE*
TechnoLawyer asked: "Did you begin using a new dictation and/or speech
recognition solution in the past 6 months? If so, please post a review
and your thoughts on this technology in general?"
Susan W. Cox wrote:
"Our office has converted to a digital dictation/speech recognition
dictation system. We are using the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional
and the latest Sony digital dictation with a WavPedal for our
assistants.... For me, it has been time-consuming and I can probably
type faster than using the system. For those non-typists in my firm, it
has really helped them use the computer. Part of my problem is that
there is a glitch between the Dragon and my WordPerfect 10; other
members are using Word and don't have the problem...."
I'm curious as to what version and edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Version you are running with the problems you are reporting. Dragon 7,
and particularly 7.3, is a wonderful product, with or without the
integration of a digital dictation system. You are mistaken about not
being able to save/transfer your training files when the program is
reloaded. You can do that by going to the NaturallySpeaking menu, Manage
Users, highlighting the User you wish to save, then clicking Advanced
and Export. After you reload the software, simply do an import of that file.
Regarding your problems with WordPerfect, there are a few intermittent
problem with WP 10 & 11 and DNS when various commands are executed. In
particular, the "Select Word or Phrase" command does not always
highlight the object intended. Similarly, the post-dictation formatting
commands "Bold That", "Cap That" etc., do not always work reliably. I'm
told that it is due to the way WP "hides" their formatting instructions.
These issues are often related to specific codes, as tech support says,
and fixes are often possible. Dictate into the template, test
Select-and-Say in various locations in the document to see where it
breaks down, turn on Reveal Codes and look at that area of the document,
and delete any unusual codes or codes that don't seem to do anything
useful. Usually the same visual result can be achieved by using
different codes.
Regarding digital dictation, I think that many folks are missing the
boat on the best product on the market, because it is Australian and not
as widely known. The product is Quikscribe and is not only beautifully
simple to use with both PC-based recorders and mobile Olympus recorders,
but it is rich in features for those users who desire a more
sophisticated product. The price is extremely reasonable and the support
out of Australia is outstanding. I encourage anyone evaluating digital
transcription systems to include this product in their comparison.
Britt L. Knuttgen
britt@automatedhorizons.net <mailto:britt@automatedhorizons.net>
Telephone: 540-767-7600
Direct Dial: 540-767-7624
www.automatedhorizons.net <http://www.automatedhorizons.net>
[CM's Note: To learn more about Quikscribe, visit
http://www.quikscribe.com. -- Neil J. Squillante, njs@peerviews.com
<mailto:njs@peerviews.com>]
--
Ken Walker, Qualicum Beach, BC
http://lunar.ca
My OpenPGP Key: https://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x561ADA409E791EEE
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