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Digital Voice Recorder buyer guide – Top Tips from UltraDisk

Digital Voice Recorder Buying Guide

With analogue or tape based dictation systems becoming obsolete, many users are looking at replacing their dictaphones or audio recording equipment with a digitlal voice recorder.

In the past Digital Voice Recorders and dictation machines were usually associated with secretarial work and were considerbaly expensive, making them out of reach from the every day consumer. Today we find that the latest technology provided in digital voice recording dictation is more affordable and available to all. They are no longer the sole use of the company Director or Human Resource manager, but just as likely to be used by students in lectures to users in legal or medical professionals. Even for use by victims of verbal abuse, bullying or individuals suffering with dyslexia, or simply as a reminder of important discussions.

Musicians are switching from four track tape recording to digital media and pro audio equipment, like the increasingly popular zoom H2 & H4 models that offer professional portable studio results at a fraction of the price.

There are not many online stores that tell you why you should actually go digital or what the benefits of making the move, so with this in mind I hope this short guide will give you a brief introduction to the benefits of using digital dictation as to the more traditional tape methods offered in the past..

In brief Some of the benefits you can gain from using digital equipment:

*        High quality voice recording.
*        Digital devices are modern looking small, handy, portable and lightweight
*        Virtually unlimited recording capacity via memory cards or built in USB memory
*        High compression rate and optimum playback through globally recognised formats ACT/WAV/MP3
*        Easy editing, organising & archiving
*        Store files on your PC / Laptop with fast USB 2 Data transfer.
*        Ability to e-mail dictations from anywhere to everywhere! using remote office secretarial services.
*        Record both sides of telephone conversations.
*        Excellent sound quality.
*        Digital date stamping of files.
*        No need to purchase additional tapes, keep all files safe & secure.
*        Latest Digital technology allows built in FM radios, variable speed playback and MP3 players.

How to use your portable Digital Voice Recorder

When you dictate into a digital voice recorder, much the same way you would dictate into any handheld voice recorder you can simply uploads the files from their digital voice recorder to their computer. Uploading is simple, simply upload the files from the recorder, the recorder is connected to the computer with a USB cable (similar to those found with all digital cameras), this should be included with the digital voice recorder at time of purchase, or you could use a docking station. Some have the USB connection actually in the body of the recorder, see our slimline credit card recorder or our vt50 model with the built in USB memory stick, no need for cables (or losing them)..

At this point, the software either included with the digital voice recorder or other software (XP & Vista automatically detect the USB port and identifies what to do with the files), recognizes there has been a connection made and a window will pop up asking the user where the files should be saved. The recorded files can then be saved to the directory of choice.

Once the files are uploaded to the computer, the process is finished and the USB cable connection can be removed. For sending via email the author then opens their e-mail program and prepares a message to send to his/her transcriptionist/secretary and, using the “attach a file” feature available in most e-mail programs, attaches the digital files that were just uploaded and saved from their handheld recorder to a directory on their computer. The e-mail is then sent, encrypted, to the transcriptionist with the file attached.

Telephone Recording and Consumer Evidence.

FACT – You do not need to ask permission to record your own private phone calls !
FACT – Recordings made for personal protection can be used in an employment tribunal.
FACT – Using an audio recording will help you protect your consumer rights!

It is common place and acceptable in legal and employment tribunals to accept the use of an audio recording as evidence in a court case or hearing. The recording can be used as evidence to protect consumer rights and ensure that the facts speak from themselves. It is common for telephone transcripts to be misunderstood in court, so by having the actual recording is very supportive when you need it ! Basically without it you could be in a worse off position so protect yourself now..

Legally in business, you do have to tell someone if you are recording a phone call and the call is for business purposes and data of a personal nature is collected, but not when it is on your own private phone and is nothing to do with a third party business.

This is regulated by RIPA Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 which is there to protect you and data collected via the phone call, it should not be passed into third party hands for data protection, but could still be used as evidence at a judges descretion..

Consumer protection is essential in times when you find yourself in a position of needed independent evidence. The ability to record your audio with portable digital voice recorders, covertly or openly is an accepted form of consumer protection by legal courts & tribunals who could use your  recording to arbitrate a disagreement.

Let the evidence speak for itself !

you will need

1. Digital Voice recorder (covert or open for business/education use)
2. Telephone recording adapters
3. a Telephone !

The USB telephone recording system is USB powered and is designed to automatically record and provide real-time monitoring software and hardware for both sides during the call. Audio-recording adopts the common international voice process and compression technology conformed to CCITT standard. It samples, digitalizes, compresses and saves the voice signals to the computer or network. The full telephone conversation can later be played back, ideal for training, telephone contracts and ensuring that the full discourse of the conversation is digitally captured.

E-mailing Digitally recorded files to recipients/remote secretary

It is very important to note that each and every e-mail, especially those containing a digital file whose contents are personal and confidential information on individuals, should only ever be sent by encrypted e-mail. When the recipient receives the file, it can be opened and then brought into the PC/MAC audio player. Using the supplied software or other audio editing software the recipient can then manipulate the digital voice file with the software controls. A-B marking is a commonly used to repeat sections and mark important sections with flags to mark specific playback points.

After finishing transcribing the files, the secretary simply e-mails the finished reports, as an attachment (digitally signed and encrypted, of course), back to the author’s office for filing or printing there.

Files can be transferred to remote storage devices and even uploaded to websites.  Our DVR7 DVR8 and DVR9 UltraDisk voice recorders all record in MP3 mode, thus enabling an immediate podcast availability and immediate playback through media players. DO Watch out for the cheaper Olympus/Sony models who all use a non standard computer compatible file recording format, you will have difficulty in playing back, editing and sharing without specialist software which can come at an extra cost..

Text to Speech conversion software

So did you know you can turn any voice recording into Text on your pc, first you need the software to do it, we reccommend either Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking, Mac Speech or NCH Software are fast becoming a name to be reckoned with Professional audio editing software for Windows and Mac. Free trial available. Download today for 10-50% discount off the normal price.. Simply import your voice recording from MP3 or direct recording into the software and it will convert to text. You will need to train the software to recognise your voice, a short read to your pc of a chapter in a book is all it takes. Within 30 mins you could be controlling your pc and turning your voice straight into text. Its the ideal solution for long dissertations and essays, lest forget if you are looking for support with dyslexia or have difficulty typing. Typically we talk a lot faster that any of us can type.

Editing Recordings..

Whatever your requirments are for buying a digital voice recorder, sometimes you may want to edit the audio recordings you have made, maybe when constructing a podcast or audibook.. With the availability of opensource software (thats free software) there is no need to dive in and buy something really expensive. Start with a product like ‘Audacity’ which can be used for many things including:

• Record live audio.
• Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
• Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
• Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
• Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
• Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
• Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps.
• Very fast editing of large files.
• Edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks.
• Use the Drawing tool to alter individual sample points.
• Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.
• Change the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa.
• Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises.
• Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects.
• Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects.
• Other built-in effects include:
  • Echo
  • Phaser
  • Wahwah
  • Reverse
  • To Download Audacity you can search for it on google, or
    visit our www.ultradisk.co.uk website download /support area
    to download it for FREE !.

Things to think about when buying a Digital Voice Recorder

Something else worth considering is the transfer of the data on the digital reecorder. All digital dictating machines should have USB cables provided with them, or have a connecting USB feature that you can attach in order to connect to the PC for transfer so you might want to think about docking stations to speed up the transfer process.. The recorders that utilise SD cards like those in the Zoom range and used for pro audio recording can easily be transferred using usb or sd card readers. Also try SAFA models 600 and 700 and the UltraDisk micro SD voice recorders here.

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 or connected with the USB Cable to the laptop/PC

Also look for recorders with built in usb attachment, if you are like me i dont always want to be carrying a usb cable with me! The UltraDisk DVR7 is ideal for this.

The telephone recording adapter kit is an essential gadget, ideal for the home or office to help you remember both sides of a conversation and can be used to refer back to when gathering facts or using as evidence.

Pro Audio Recording – Achieving recording studio results

As with Digital voice recorders, Professional audio recording is also moving into the digital era. What was once offered only by professional recording studios at great expense is now achieved by individuals in the home studio with the same results in a more portable form, this is achieved by the likes of Zoom H2 & multitrack version H4. Korg, Yamaha, Roland & Boss, needless to say the price of attaining professional audio recording is now available to all.. UKET are authorised dealers of Zoom pro audio equipment and since their launch in Jan 2008 we have seen a great increase in the interest shown by independant recording labels and musicians for recording in the home studio or for recording live gigs..

The ability to upload recordings online to places like itunes / myspace is fastly changing the face of the UK music and recording scenes. All achieved simply with handheld digital recording audio equipment.

Some commonly found lingo & features found on Digital Recording machines..

SP LP – Short play / Long play the short play gives a higher audio quality whilst the long play enables longer recording at a reduced quality.
Backlight – Quite useful if you want to record and operate in the dark (venues/lectures etcs)
Recording bit ratio – generally the higher the number the better the quality and is measured in bits per second. kbps, typicall mp3 recording is 128kbps-192kbps
Memory – Could be built in or use compact flash / SD / mini SD memory cards, all are measured in MB. 256 MB recorders should record approximately 70 hours of recording with 512MB recording upto 140 hrs and so on…
Telephone Recording – Adapters that allow the telephone line to be tapped into, ensures that you can record both sides of the telephone conversation clearly.
Microphone – many have built in microphones and some also come supplied with clip on mics to use in interview situations.
Earphone/speaker – listen back on the go..If your recorder supports MP3 files then why not use it as an MP3 player and workhorse..Playback supports previously recorded ACT, WAV, MP3,MP2,MP1, WMA, WAV & ASF files.
Operating systems supported – check that your operating system is supported, generally if your OS is compliant with USB devices and has a sound card then you should not have a problem playing back the files.
Recording mode – Most digital voice recorders will record in ACT, AIF, WAV and will need to be converted to mp3 format if you want to use it in a podcast with the provided software.. Some like the UltraDisk DVR7, DVR8 and DVR9 will record durectly in MP3 mode, so you can very easily transfer the files and recipients can readily listen online or via an mp3 player.
MultiTrack Recording- The ability to record more layers ontop of each other, eg drums, keyboards, guitar & voice..

If you are not sure of something, then please get in touch with me or have a browse of the Digital Voice Recorders in the UKET voice recorder  shop i am more than happy to help with any question or sales enquiry.

We are fast becoming the UKs leading independant voice recorder specialist and we are here to help and guide you into selecting the model you need at the best possible price. We provide global delivery, offer pre and post sales support..

many thanks

David Grant
UKET Digital Voice Recorder Specialists

About the Author

David Grant is Owner and Director of UKET Limited – Manchester – United Kingdom. Suppliers to retail, trade, education and businesses globally.

UKET Digital Voice Recorder Specialists

The UltraDisk® brand of handheld Digital Voice Recorders. Supplied to retailers, education organisations, business and individual consumers globally. Established in 2006 the family owned company is based in Manchester, England and offers a wide range of portable audio recording products & solutions for individuals and business.

UltraDisk® Digital Voice Recorders are designed to meet the requirements of a diverse range of customers by offering a wide range of handheld digital recording devices that demonstrate quality and sophistication using the latest digital audio technology.

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