Hello

I've seen this discussed here before, but haven't been able to find the posts.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone out there has been able to use echo dictation successfully. If so, do you have any advice on how to set this up? Do you use headphones to listen to the original recording, for instance, while re-dictating it?

I was thinking about trying this with two voice recorders or perhaps with a voice recorder and my desktop profile. The idea is to dictate a rough draft with the recorder, then play it back and dictate a revised version either into another recorder or into, say, Word using my desktop profile.

I did a brief experiment with echo-dictation once, but found it awkward to use because the original recording went by too fast and I was constantly having to manually pause it. Even slow playback was too fast in some instances (I'm using a DS5000id recorder, BTW) and I had to search backwards a lot.

The DS5000id cradle has a port for a foot switch. Has anyone used this? I was thinking that if I made the original recording using the DS5000id, I could use the foot recorder to control the playback while echo-dictating into Word. 

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

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Compaq 6730b laptop Intel Core 2 Duo p8400 2.26 Ghz 1.93 G RAM (available) Intel Wireless Wifi Link 5100 adapter / Windows XP SP3 / Knowbrainer purchases: Philips 9600 DPM, Knowbrainer headset microphone, Samson Airline 77, Olympus DS5000id, DNS 10.1, Knowbrainer 2008, Parrott Half Duplex VXI USB Sound Pod

That would be our favorite approach. 

The DS-5000 is crippled so that you can only use a foot switch with the recorder itself; not the software. If you need to completely control the recording, you might want to consider the AS-5000 Transcription Kit which includes a foot pedal, headphones and a variation of the DSS Player Pro software that is designed strictly for transcription.

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Thanks.

If I was just using a foot switch connected to the recorder cradle, would I be able to stop the playback, search backwards and forwards and so on? 

Also, with the AS-5000 transcription kit, does the version of DSS Player that comes with it include the ability to change the recorder settings, set worktypes, etc., like the regular version does?

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Compaq 6730b laptop Intel Core 2 Duo p8400 2.26 Ghz 1.93 G RAM (available) Intel Wireless Wifi Link 5100 adapter / Windows XP SP3 / Knowbrainer purchases: Philips 9600 DPM, Knowbrainer headset microphone, Samson Airline 77, Olympus DS5000id, DNS 10.1, Knowbrainer 2008, Parrott Half Duplex VXI USB Sound Pod

Unfortunately the foot pedal is strictly start stop for the DS-5000. The DSS Player Pro software is crippled to prevent extensive use of a foot pedal to entice you into purchasing the AS-5000. The programmable foot pedal, that is included in the AS-5000 Transcription Kit, permits cue, rewind, shuttle and various other programming.

Quote:

Also, with the AS-5000 transcription kit, does the version of DSS Player that comes with it include the ability to change the recorder settings, set worktypes, etc., like the regular version does?

Unfortunately no. You would have to switch back to the DSS Player Pro software that came with the DS-5000 for complete functionality because that's what it's designed for. The AS-5000 software is designed exclusively for transcription work.

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I echo-dictate all day long.  Yes, decent headphones are essential!

Just to add to what Lunis has said, you could use Express Scribe (ES), one of the players of choice of transcriptionists.  There is a free and a paid-for Pro version.  I suspect you might need the Pro.  I know nothing about digital recorders, but if you can convert your files into another format, the free version will suffice.

http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/index.html

A foot pedal, if you are using the keyboard a lot otherwise, can be helpful.  If not, the hotkeys in ES do the job nicely.  The pedal which works with most players is the Infinity USB.  You can also slow the audio down within the program and tweak volume, background noise, etc.

Hope this helps.

Just to endorse Express Scribe Pro, one of my researchers uses this all the time and swears by it.  The color of money as she would say.

Don't know if I'd say that I echo dictated successfully, but several years ago I used a program called Audio Notetaker (from a UK based company) to help with echo dictation.  I liked it because it would help me replay the recorded speech in whole sentences.  I always wondered why there aren't more programs like it.  It's just easier to break up the recorded sentences in easy to remember chunks, and replay those over and over till you get it all transcribed.