Olympus Unveils DS-7000 Voice Recorder

I just returned from traveling earlier this week to the cold and snowy hills of northeast Pennsylvania, where I was greeted Monday morning with a wind chill of below zero. While the temperature left something to be desired, the trip did not.

The reason was the official unveiling of the new Olympus DS-7000 Digital Voice Recorder. I joined top dealers from across the country at the Olympus America headquarters near Allentown to spend the day oohing and aahing over the latest professional-grade dictation recorder from Olympus.

I have to be honest here: after admiring the sophistication, ergonomics and advanced security features of the Philips 8000 for the past year, I was a bit afraid that Olympus might not overwhelm me.

I was mistaken. The DS-7000 shows that Olympus engineers - both in Japan and in the US - listened to our input and suggestions, and delivered on a product that makes all the improvements we've hoped for... and then some.We have more information about the specifications of the DS-7000 on a special page on our Web site.

The Olympus DS-7000 is for those who do have very demanding dictation needs, and particularly those whose dictation is sensitive.

Using the "Pending Dictations" Feature on the Olympus DS-5000

The majority of professionals who use the Olympus DS-5000 to dictate notes, letters or any other type of report, send those dictations elsewhere to be transcribed. This transfer is usually done automatically by the Olympus DSS Player Pro software installed on the user's PC. Say you are dictating several different notes and you would like to send one immediately, but keep the others on your recorder to finish later. You would need to enable the "Pending" feature on your device (via the DSS Player Pro software) so you are able to mark voice files as such before you download them off of your recorder.

This is how you turn on that feature:

• Open Olympus DSS Player Pro software and put the DS-5000 into the cradle. Make sure the device is turned on and the slide-switch is in the STOP position.
• Go to TOOLS at the top of the main window and scroll down to OPTIONS. Click the DEVICE tab on the top left of that window.
• Click "Programmable Buttons" in the left column. In the "STOP Mode" row select one of your funtion buttons to enable "Pending". Look at the screen shot below.

• Now click "Recording" in the left column under "Administrative Settings". Click the button next to "Finished Files" to tell the recorder to download only finished voice files and not all files.
• Now to apply these settings to the recorder, click the UPDATE button at the top of the window and select "All Pages" to update all the settings you have selected.

Now the "Pending" feature is enabled. While the slide-switch is stopped, you can press F3 (in this example) to mark the current voice file "Pending". This will leave the file on the recorder when connected to your PC so you can go back and add onto it later. Press F3 again to take off "Pending".

For more helpful tips and how-to's, browse the previous posts on this blog. Also, visit AmericanDictation.com for more information.

Introducing the Olympus DS-3400

Since Olympus released their latest pro hand-held digital voice recorder last year, the DS-5000 has become one of the most popular voice recorders used by professionals today. Its comfortable design and highly capable features allow you to manage dictations and even edit them on the device. This is truly the top-of-the-line digital voice recorder available.

However, Olympus recognizes that many people who use digital dictation will not have a need for such robust features, but still want a durable and reliable digital voice recorder. Hence, the DS-3400.
Here are some differences between the DS-3400 and the DS-5000 recorders:

• The DS-3400 has buttons for rec/play/rewind instead of a slide-switch.
• The DS-3400 does not come with a docking cradle, instead you plug the recorder directly into your PC with the USB cable.
• The DS-3400 also does not support a re-chargeable battery pack.
• The DS-3400 comes with a 1GB SD memory card, whereas the DS-5000 comes with a 512MB microSD memory card.

Visit this page at AmericanDictation.com to learn more on how these two recorders differ.

Although some features were not included on the DS-3400 hand-held, the software that comes with the recorder is the same as the DS-5000. The DSS Player Pro will allow you to transfer dictation files via FTP or e-mail, save files to a server and even encrypt voice files for a secure transfer. To learn more about the many features of the Olympus dictation software, click here.
Also, visit the Hand-Held Dictation page of the American Dictation Store to see detailed specifications on these recorders.

Using FTP With Professional Dictation Systems

If you are currently using a transcription service outside of your office, or even within your office, the easiest and most reliable way to send your dictations to another PC is with FTP transfer. Instantly send your dictations and receive documents from your transcriptionist via a secure FTP server (provided by American Dictation) for a quick, easy and HIPAA compliant transfer. If you are unfamiliar with what an FTP server is, in short, an FTP server uses the internet as a means of transferring many different kinds of files from one computer to another.
Say, for example, you are a health care physician dictating patient notes at your office in Salt Lake City to be transcribed and/or entered into an E.M.R. system by your transcriptionist in San Diego. If you are using a Pro series digital voice recorder from Olympus, Philips, Dictaphone or Grundig, the software that was included with the voice recorder will allow you to transfer files using an FTP server. Here's a quick step-by-step of how it all works...

1. The dictating author records one or more voice files on their handheld recorder.
2. The recorder is "docked" or connected to their desktop PC.
3. The digital voice files are automatically copied to the author's PC. The software will then send the files (encrypted for security purposes, if desired) via FTP to an FTP server in the office. The recorder is then automatically erased and within a few seconds, the author is back at work.
4. The typist receives an alert that dictation files are now available
5. The typist selects the file they wish to transcribe from within their Transcription Software.
6. Once the voice file is typed, it is moved out of the work queue and archived or deleted at a later time.
7. The typed documents are stored and shared according to your existing workflow.

Our most popular professional dictation and transcription system, especially among healthcare physicians, is the Olympus 5000 series. The Olympus DSS Player Pro software will allow you to not only send your dictations via FTP, but also receive documents back from your transcriptionist using the same FTP account.

Another popular pro series is the 9600 digital voice recorder along with the 7277 transcription kit. Both of these include Philips' SpeechExec Pro software with FTP transfer capabilities. However, Philips' software will not allow the transcriptionist to send documents back to the sender.

The Olympus 2400 Series

Few companies provide professionals with digital dictation equipment as functional and comfortable as Olympus. They understand the workflow relationship between dictators and their transcriptionists. The professional DS-5000 series provides robust file management and encrypted file transfers for a safe and secure (and HIPAA compliant) workflow. However, not every user of digital dictation equipment will find the need for file encryption or the other bells and whistles that come with pro software. 

If you dictation demands are more occasional, consider the consumer series of Olympus recorders and transcribers, the 2400 series. The DS-2400 recorder records in DSS Pro, or DS2, format. This format allows for superb sound quality during playback. Easily create new voice files with the "New File" button right on the recorder. 1 gig of memory will allow up to 159 hours of record time. The cool Voice-Activation Mode will save you time because it only records when you begin speaking, and it stops recording when you stop speaking.

The AS-2400 Transcription Kit is the digital transcription kit to be used when transcribing files recorded on the DS-2400. It allows you to comfortably playback and transcribe voice files with the Olympus foot-switch while you listen with the head set. 

One thing to note, particularly if you're an Olympus dictation user already: the DS-2400 only records in DSS Pro (or .ds2) format. That means that in order to transcribe these files, you must upgrade your transcription kit to the AS-2400.

Olympus DS-5000 Has Arrived!

The long-awaited Olympus DS-5000 and DS-5000iD have now arrived in our distribution centers and are being shipped out now.

And, boy, are they cool!

After filling all the pre-orders, we still have a good amount of inventory. Unlike previous new product launches, we were sent a good initial supply of recorders.

We also have new pages on our Web site with downloadable brochures, specifications and other information.

To commemorate this arrival, we are including free aluminum cases with these recorders (while supplies last) and shipping them via Next Day at no additional cost. We're anxious to get these into the hands of professionals.

The new AS-5000 Transcription Kit is due out in a week or two. We'll let everyone know when that becomes available, as well.