Okay, everyone got that?

Here's a little film clip we've made for the Digital Voice Tracer.
These are really inexpensive digital voice recorders that you can record lectures and meetings on.
The message? If it's important, record it.

Why buy a recorder when you could just use a mobile phone or an MP3 player?

The most logical analogy I can think of is the mobile phone vs. the digital camera: you can take photos on a phone but would you use one for your wedding photos? A digital voice recorder, like a digital camera, does one thing and does it well. Buttons are logically positioned, the microphone sensitivity and recording quality is adjustable and recordings can be downloaded easily without the need for proprietary software.

The fantastic new iPod Nano now has a voice recorder function. Handy for the quick reminder but a bit limiting for lecture or meeting recording. Why?

The Nano has one recording quality setting: 44.1 kHz, a sampling rate usually reserved for recording music, which means an hour of recording is about 60MB – not ideal for emailing or transcription (typing-up).

What should I look for in a Pro Dictation Recorder?

A pro dictation recorder is a tool for professionals to reduce their admin workload by passing on the typing duties to an assistant.

Important features:

1. Slide-control: I think this is key – the Digital Pocket Memo 9500 (below) has the intuitive and venerable slide control for record/stop/play/rewind. It also has a fast-forward button on the opposite side. This means all important functions are controlled by the thumb and forefinger.

2. Cradle/docking station: this is a handy way of pairing the device with the PC. Each time the device is docked the new dictation files can be automatically downloaded to the typist.

3. Automatic emailing: depending on how you configure the software new dictations can be automatically sent to the typist just by putting the recorder in the docking station. This suits many doctors and lawyers who are so practised at dictation they don’t even review their recordings before firing them off to the secretary.




4. Automatic file back-up: many authors have their software configured so that dictations are automatically deleted from the recorder once it is put back in the cradle. This is not as scary as it sounds as all dictations are automatically backed-up in an archive folder either on the PC or the server