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Voice recorder hardware
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Posted by Dr Andus
Mar 5, 2012 at 06:12 PM
Gary Carson wrote:
>Oh yeah, Dr. Andus is right. If you’re already carrying around a smartphone with
>recording capabilities and you just need to record casual notes, that’s probably the
>best solution of all.
Though I’m sure more complex setups are also possible, such as using Dragon Naturallyspeaking for transcribing recordings and importing the text into a PIM, in which case you want a top-notch digital recorder, like the one I mentioned. If you do a search for ‘Dragon” on this forum, you will probably find people describing such systems. Personally I find the transcription process still a bit too convoluted for dealing with occasional notetaking on the go. But I can imagine doing that when working on a large project and wanting to avoid a lot of typing.
Posted by Gary Carson
Mar 5, 2012 at 07:33 PM
I seem to have gotten mixed up with my last reply. Dr. Andus was responding to Jack Crawford, the original poster. I would’ve noticed that if I’d actually been conscious when I responded to the post.
Just wanted to add that transcribing dictation on a recorder isn’t really all that complicated with Dragon, but I agree that it’s probably too much trouble if you’re just dealing with casual notes.Voice recorders and PIMs don’t mesh very well, unfortunately. The process usually involves transcribing the dictation into Word or Dragonpad or Notepad or something, then manually copying the information into the PIM. Not very efficient, but I guess it depends on the circumstances.
Recorders I can personally recommend:
Olympus Pearlcorder J500 microcassette recorder—great for casual notes that don’t need to be transcribed. Microphone/speaker jacks. Voice-operated recording. Sensitive mike. Good loud speaker. Index marks (playback preview only). Clear playback. Price: ~$40.
Olympus LS-7— fantastic linear PCM recorder, three microphones, very sensitive, excellent for recording meetings, lectures, interviews, concerts, ambient noise, etc.,etc. Multiple file formats including mono WAV and MP3, alarm functions, timed recording, digital pitch control playback, etc. Very versatile. Great accuracy (98%+) with Dragon Naturally Speaking using mono WAV and low mike sensitivity. CONS: small, low-volume speaker, no append or overwrite. Not ideal for casual note-taking. Price: ~$200.
Olympus DS5000—advanced professional-grade dictation recorder. Mono only. DSS/DSS2 file formats optimized for use with Dragon Naturally Speaking (accuracy 98%+). Security (PIN) feature prevents unauthorized access. Full editing (insert/overwrite/append). Reasonably loud onboard speaker. THE recorder for serious dictation (though the new Grundig Digta 7 apparently has more features, plus stereo-recording capabilities). Good for casual note-taking, though overkill if that’s all you’re doing. Price: ~$500.
Posted by jimspoon
Mar 7, 2012 at 07:32 AM
I am also one who wants to be able to integrate on-the-go voice recordings into my outliner/PIM, and always on the lookout for the best way to do this.
Smartphones with mobile voice recorder apps offer at least one advantage - you can make a voice note in your recorder, and it will be available to you on your desktop quickly via cloud synchronization. (e.g. Evernote). That eliminates at least one step. Also your phone may offer a general speech-to-text capability enabling you to use speech to input text into an app via speech. For example, when you bring up the Android keyboard to input text, you can tap the microphone key and start talking. The recorded sound is immediately uploaded to the Google servers and transcribed is sent back to your phone. Not the most reliable process. Also - an app may offer its own specific speech-to-text capability. For example you can use the Voice2Note add-on for Evernote which will convert your Evernote voice notes into text.
The built-in Google Android speech-to-text is a bit finicky for my tastes - and when I want to make a voice note on the go, speed is often of the essence. So I find myself using a voice recorder to record the voice quickly, while forgoing the possibility of immediate and automatic conversion of speech to text. I can listen to the notes later and type up any info I want to put into my PIM. This can be a fairly cumbersome process. I just bought Dragon Naturally Speaking 11 hoping this will help in the process, but I haven’t installed it yet.
As for voice recorders, I’ve owned several - mine are very low-end in comparison to the ones that Gary mentioned. I’ve had the Olympus VN-6200PC - the buttons crapped out after awhile. After swearing not to buy Olympus again, I ended up doing just that - got a VN8100PC - which also stopped working properly after a few months. Now I’ve got a Sony ICD-PX312, which is working OK. I don’t like the ergnomics of it nearly as much as the Olympus, but at least it’s still working.
jim
Posted by Dr Andus
Mar 7, 2012 at 11:00 PM
jimspoon wrote:
>As for voice recorders, I’ve owned several - mine are very low-end
>in comparison to the ones that Gary mentioned. I’ve had the Olympus VN-6200PC - the
>buttons crapped out after awhile. After swearing not to buy Olympus again, I ended up
>doing just that - got a VN8100PC - which also stopped working properly after a few
>months. Now I’ve got a Sony ICD-PX312, which is working OK. I don’t like the ergnomics
>of it nearly as much as the Olympus, but at least it’s still working.
I’ve been very happy with my Olympus WS-331M digital voice recorder. I’ve been using it for 5 or 6 years and it never failed me (I’m sure more advanced versions are by now available). So not all Olympus products are bad (though some of its executives might be :)
Posted by Arnold
Mar 9, 2012 at 12:55 PM
I have been using the Philips 9360 digital voice recorder for little over 6 years and has proven to be reliable. The desktop software will allow for transcription - have not used Dragon software with it yet.
On unit editing is possible (basic cut/paste), index marking (why is this not on every device?) , expandable memory via MMC/SD (use 2gb cards right now) and uses ‘AAA’ batteries.
For analog tape old Dictaphone microcassette has been inservice since mid 1980 still going strong. Finding it hard to get the microcassettes, may be the death of it. Uses either rechargeable ‘AAA’ pack or two ‘AAA’ batteries.