If you think tape-loaded dictaphones are ancient relics. we’ve got one client in his 80s who always reminds us about a time when recordings were made into wax. Having been around at the time of this old-fashioned technology, he’s lived through a remarkable acceleration in innovation. One of the most incredible feats is the processing power of data… a statistic that completely dwarfs any other in terms of rampant growth shooting skywards.
The biggest change over the years when it comes to dictaphones is that they’ve jumped the digital divide. MP3 players in the last few years of the millennium used to come equipped with 32MB memory cards, which were enough to hold about 30 minutes of good quality playback. Nowadays that storage is comparable with how we used to view floppy and stiffy disks. The benefit of digital is that it’s easier to store, faster to transfer and doesn’t wear out like tape.
Digital voice recorders are great because they make it easier to store more voice files, record for a longer duration and aren’t as fiddly as physical media like tapes or discs. You can record lectures, meetings and interviews with relative ease and not have to worry about running out of tape or misplacing them. While these conveniences exist and processing power has improved in leaps and bounds, we’re not quite at a point where commercially available products can transcribe multiple voices from a meeting.
On that note, we often get queries from people trying to speed up their meeting management operations around this aspect of speech recognition services. It’s not to say you won’t get a result but that each voice needs a custom profile for accuracy to permit this method. We recommend using Dragon to transcribe meetings and have a more efficient method we’d be happy to discuss with you if you contact us directly.
More good news is that digital voice recorders can be used in conjunction with Dragon. Doctors do ward rounds, some attorneys like to pace around the room when they dictate and then for others it’s just the ability to be more portable. You can dictate in a queue, waiting in an airport lounge or wherever you can find a quiet corner. Pairing your digital recording device with your Dragon software is easy and allows you to do work on-the-go. If you’ve got a hands-free kit, you can even record notes while driving.
The first prize is always dictating directly into Dragon but having the ability to record high quality audio can make the product much more versatile. Imagine the doctor who has to try to keep accurate records, keep his reports up-to-date and never miss a beat. Using a digital recorder makes this so much easier and connecting it with Dragon makes it much easier to transcribe once back at the office. Site inspectors would get also derive a similar benefit from being able to make observations as you make your assessment.
Harness the power of digital voice recorders and Dragon to make your workflow more streamlined and your reporting so much more accurate.