Hello. The DS5000id is a great recorder, but I've found a couple of features that don't seem to work. At least, they've never worked for me. One of them doesn't really matter, but the other one is a major annoyance.

First of all, I've never been able to get the "Edit Work Type" feature to work. When you select "Work Type" under the menu File option, you get two choices: "Edit Work Type" and "Select From Work Type List." I can select from the list with no problems, but the edit option doesn't do anything. According to the manual, it's supposed to bring up a virtual keyboard or something. Has anyone else been able to get this to work?

The second, more serious bug is that I can't delete index marks. Supposedly, you can hit the Erase button when the index number display is flashing and it will clear the index mark, but when I do that,  I just get the usual Delete File menu. Am I doing something wrong here? Not being able to delete index marks is a real problem.

Thanks for any suggestions. My recorder's using firmware version 1.03, which as far as I know is the latest version available.

By the way, have the edit features been upgraded or expanded at all on the DS7000? Will the detailed spec sheets and manual for the DS7000 be available for download? I can't find them anywhere, even on the Olympus site. 

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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

If it's anything like the DS-7000, you will only see the virtual keyboard if you have configured one or more custom fields associated with the selected work type and uploaded that configuration to the recorder using DSS Player Pro or ODMS 6.

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David Wood

Hardware: Olympus DS-7000 (for dictation) - Olympus AS-7000 (for manual transcription) - Olympus DM-670 with ME-30W microphones (for seminars and events)

Software: DNS 12.5 Legal UK - Olympus ODMS 6.1.1 (Dictation and Transcription Modules) - Olympus Sonority Plus 1.4.2

In case anyone's interested, I figured out why I couldn't delete index marks in the DS5000id.

It turns out that you have to be in play mode before you can delete an index mark. Start playing back the file, then cue forward or backward until you hit the index mark. The index mark indicator will flash for about three seconds and if you hit the delete button at that point, you can clear the index mark.

If you jump to the index mark in a file that you're not playing back and then hit the erase button, the recorder thinks you want to erase the file.

BTW, thanks DavidW for the dope on the virtual keyboard. I've never created any custom fields in DSS Player Pro, which is still a semi-baffling piece of software as far as I'm concerned.

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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

 

For what it's worth, the DS-7000 behaves identically with respect to clearing index marks. You have to be in playback - when Index 07 (or similar) pops up in a box at the bottom of the screen, press Erase.

 

The instructions in the DS-7000 manual are highly misleading, because they talk about finding the index mark you wish to delete by holding down Cue or Review, then pressing Erase when the pop-up box appears. This fails to mention that you have to be in playback mode to Erase (even though Cue and Review work in stop mode), and you can find the index mark any way you like. I wonder if these mistakes by Olympus' technical authors has kept being copied between recorder manuals for some time.

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David Wood

Hardware: Olympus DS-7000 (for dictation) - Olympus AS-7000 (for manual transcription) - Olympus DM-670 with ME-30W microphones (for seminars and events)

Software: DNS 12.5 Legal UK - Olympus ODMS 6.1.1 (Dictation and Transcription Modules) - Olympus Sonority Plus 1.4.2

 

According to the Olympus Professional Dictation support site for Europe, the latest firmware for the DS-5000 and DS-5000id is 1.07, which can be downloaded from their site. With 1.07 firmware and DSS Player Pro 5.0.13 Dictation Module, you can configure one or more of the folders on your DS-5000id to use 256 bit encryption, the same as the new DS-7000 and DS-3500 recorders.

 

The DS-7000 manual is available on the Olympus UK site. The in-recorder editing features are very similar to the DS-5000 - though as a DS-5000 user, you may be better equipped to spot any differences in the DS-7000 manual than I am (a DS-7000 user who never had a DS-5000).

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David Wood

Hardware: Olympus DS-7000 (for dictation) - Olympus AS-7000 (for manual transcription) - Olympus DM-670 with ME-30W microphones (for seminars and events)

Software: DNS 12.5 Legal UK - Olympus ODMS 6.1.1 (Dictation and Transcription Modules) - Olympus Sonority Plus 1.4.2

Thanks for the link to the firmware update. My version of the Dictation Module kept telling me that I had the latest firmware version and no updates were available.

The folder encryption is a useful feature, but I'm not sure how this is different than what I could do already. The Dictation Module always gave me the option of encrypting a specific folder on the recorder with a password.

I never could figure out what this encryption did, however. Anyone with the pass code (or my fingerprints) can access all the files on the recorder. I guess that it just means that the files are downloaded in encrypted format. I'll have to test that.

I've been waiting forever for Olympus (or anyone) to come out with true onboard encryption that would prevent playing back a recording--even if you have the passcode--without entering a password first.

UPDATE: OK, I created a test file in my encrypted folder. I was able to play it back on the recorder, but when I tried to play it back on the device in the Dictation Module, I had to enter a password. Same thing happened when I downloaded the file to my laptop.

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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

 

The new feature is that your DS-5000 now supports 256 bit encryption, one of the headline features of the DS-7000 / DS-3500. Previously it only supported 128 bit encryption. Be aware that a lot of software supporting DSS Pro only supports 128 bit encryption, including Dragon NaturallySpeaking up to 11.5. I don't know whether 256 bit encrypted DSS Pro is supported in Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12.

 

 

You've pretty much got the measure of the on-device encryption, which is a fairly decent balance of usability and security.

 

You can play back and edit encrypted files on the recorder that created them, but this assumes that you have physical custody of the recorder and you know the pass code (or can defeat the fingerprint sensor of the DS-5000id). You only get five attempts at entering the pass code before you have to wait ten minutes, so brute force would be painful! If your recorder is set to ask for the pass code when you turn it on and again when you allow it to go into standby, it is hard for your recorder to fall into malicious hands in an unlocked state.

 

As soon as the file leaves the recorder, via download or by physically removing the memory card, you need the file password. You can enter this on a file by file basis, or you can configure it on one or more folders in DSS Player Pro / ODMS. If sending the files to a transcription agency, you would send the password via a secure means, ideally separate from the files.

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David Wood

Hardware: Olympus DS-7000 (for dictation) - Olympus AS-7000 (for manual transcription) - Olympus DM-670 with ME-30W microphones (for seminars and events)

Software: DNS 12.5 Legal UK - Olympus ODMS 6.1.1 (Dictation and Transcription Modules) - Olympus Sonority Plus 1.4.2