Analogue or tape based systems are becoming obsolete, and many people looking at replacing their dictaphones are realizing that digital dictation is more affordable. We will help you understand better the benefits of using digital dictation and transcription.

The benefits you can gain from using digital dictation equipment:

Enhanced recording:
- High quality voice recording
- Digital devices-small, handy and lightweight
- Virtually unlimited recording capacity via memory cards
- High compression rate and optimum playback through professional .dss standard
- Easy editing, inserting and annotation capabilities
- Integrated workflow management

Enhanced transcription:
- Full transcription management speeds workflow, optimizes capacity utilization and reduces cost
- Facility to prioritize, ID, time stamp or catalogue dictations
- Ability to e-mail dictations from anywhere to everywhere!
- Excellent sound quality

Digital Notetakers

Olympus, Philips, and Sanyo all offer their own digital recorders. Basically these are for personal use. The main reason for this is that every time you stop and start whilst recording, a new file is started. This means that if you downloaded these files and sent them to a secretary, the secretary would find it very difficult to transcribe. Additionally some of the recorders will record in a file type that cannot be easily transcribed using the normal digital transcription kits.

Digital Dictation

When it comes to proper digital recorders, then there are a number of factors you want to be aware of. Some for example have buttons that need pushed, which is awkward if you are used to using the analogue tape based systems with the slider switch on the side.

Many have various folders you can use, so for example you could have folder A for work notes, folder B for dictation, folder C for reports etc. Most digital recorders will also allow you to edit the recordings before you transfer them. For instance, how often have you ended your dictation, and added something at the end that should have been in the second paragraph? Well now you can insert the extra bit exactly where you want it, without overwriting your work.

Another factor is the ease of use with the software. Will you be using your digital recorder on a one to one basis, i.e one author to one secretary? If so then an entry level system costing under $250 per user will be fine.

If however, you will have several authors to one secretary, or many authors to a typing pool of secretaries, then the more professional systems would be better, these can be from around $350 per user.

Something else worth considering is the transfer of the data on the digital recorders. All digital dictating machines will have USB cables that you can attach in order to connect to the PC for transfer, however for a regular user this can become a chore. Therefore you might need to look at docking stations.

Docking stations have 2 advantages, firstly for the ease of transfer of the data and secondly many of the professional dictating machines can have their rechargeable batteries charged up whilst in the docking station. Be aware that not all machines will charge up on docking stations, fully check the specifications of the recorder before you buy it if this is a feature you require.

Software

Most manufacturers hardware bought 'off the shelf' come with software, although what you can do with the software can be limited. The software will allow you to download the voice files to your PC. This can be to your own PC or to a folder on your computer network.

Many organizations that have a large number of users can experience difficulties in tracking dictation using the standard software, which is why there are a number of companies that offer workflow software.


Workflow Software

There are a number of workflow solutions available, including BigHand, Winscribe and DictaNet to name a few. These can come at a price, however workflow software can and will save a lot of headache, lost dictation and generally make the digital dictation process much more efficient.

Digital Transcription

Of course there is no point in dictating your work, if there is no way to transcribe it. For most busy people, the most effective way is using a human, as many find speech recognition systems too complicated and inaccurate.

For secretaries, digital transcription systems are much preferred to the tape based transcribers. The sound is much better and they can allocate their work much better.

All the manufacturers offer their own versions of transcription kits, and you might even find that the Olympus will accept the Philips files for example. However not all files are compatible.

Essentially the foot pedal and headset and connected to the secretaries' PC and the software will allow easy playback. Some manufacturers such as Dictaphone, Philips and Sanyo will have a box that connects to the PC and then the foot pedal and headset is connected to the box. This box will have a soundcard built into it. This is a helpful feature especially if the secretaries PC does not have a soundcard, or has a poor soundcard built into it.

Digital Transcription

There are many secretaries who are known as cyber secretaries, or virtual secretaries. These are people who have set themselves up to receive dictation from various sources, and in particular via the internet or email.

They can be very useful if you do not employ a full time secretary, or to cover for holidays and illness.