GateWay Com

Dictaphones or Digital Voice Recorders (DVRs) are ideal for recording voice memos, interviews, conferences, meetings and phone conversations. The term Dictaphone is a brand name that refers to the version that uses cassette tapes to record, as opposed to the newer Digital Voice Recorders (DVR) that the save the audio to memory.

Digital Voice Recorder (DVR)

• Use your USB port to save typing time by directly transferring audio files from your DVR to your computer

• With the DVR there is no need to rewind; when you finish recording you simply press the play button to playback immediately

• Each audio file you record to your DVR is automatically saved under a number with a time-and-date stamp

• The DVR usually has between 2 to 5 folders to separate audio for better organization

• Some DVR's allow you to move messages between folders and split or delete messages

• You won’t cause a distraction during meetings or conferences changing tapes and you won’t miss anything important whilst doing so

• Some DVR's come with software that automatically converts the voice file to text for easy transcription

• Newer DVR's have expandable memory and come with external memory cards. Look out for this as it gives you more flexibility with recording time and makes it easier to download audio to your computer

• The DVR is normally powered by 1 or 2 AAA alkaline or rechargeable batteries

Cassette Tape/Dictaphone

• Choose between Mini, Micro or Standard; Mini cassettes (15min per side) hold half of the content of Standard and Micro (30mins per side)

• Cassette Tape Dictaphones can be played on any player that takes the respective size

• With digital you only have a limited amount of space to store recordings (if you have no external memory card) - whereas with a cassette tape Dictaphone you can simply exchange tapes if you run out of room

• Battery life is longer in a Dictaphone than a Digital Voice Recorder

• A Dictaphone is a cheaper alternative

• There is no digital storage on a Dictaphone cassette tape

• Reuse the cassettes - you can buy a machine that automatically erases micro and mini cassettes

• Many come with equipment specifically for recording phone conversations

Desktop or Portable Voice Recorder?

Desktop DVR's or Dictaphones are generally cheaper and are ideal for recording phone conversations or are used in conjunction with transcription software. There are numerous models of portable Dictaphones varying in size and ability, but are all ideal if you are on the road or need a Dictaphone or DVR for times of inspiration.

Push Button or Thumb Slide Recorders?

Push Button Cassette Recorders usually have the ability to insert dictation but it can be very difficult to find the point you want. With the Thumb slide switch it is much easier to review and control with rewind review capability, rewind, insert, play and stop.

Which Mode?

There are three levels of recording quality and differing recording times. The longer the recording time the lower the quality.

High Quality (HQ) - 43 mins approx.
Short Play (SP) - 65 mins approx.
Long Play (LP) - 121 mins approx.

Advertisers usually display the longest recording time, so keep in mind that the Dictaphone or DVR will record at less than half of that on high quality. This is particularly important for DVR's, as the higher quality mode uses much more memory and you don’t want to be halfway through a meeting or interview and find you are out of memory.

There are usually two levels of sensitivity available on a Dictaphone or DVR. LOW is the best for dictation, as the microphone tends to be uni-directional in this mode and will focus on your voice. HIGH sensitivity picks up sound in all directions along with unwanted background noise.

Dictaphones and Digital Voice Recorders: Other Features to Consider

• Voice Activate System (VAS) - Dictaphones or DVR's with VAS will automatically record when they hear your voice (or other sound) without having to push any buttons. Great for when your hands are tied up.

• Alarm - to remind you when to record or a timer that you can set to automatically record between two times

• Tie clip microphone - for hands free recording

• Earphones - for play back when you do not want to disturb others

• Rechargeable batteries and a battery level indicator

• Microphones can either be built in or detachable. If you want your Dictaphone or DVR for a higher quality of recording such as music, then look for one with a microphone jack

• Speakers – most are built in but some models have detachable speakers that can be used for presentations.

• Digital storage - some come with more than others

• Hands free or foot control - keep your hands free for typing or playing an instrument

• Automatic backspace - automatically reverse the desired number of seconds for input or playback

Transcribers and Docking Stations

All digital transcription systems require you to use a foot pedal connected to your computer. This enables you to transcribe files from your Dictaphone or DVR from audio to text by listening and typing a few seconds at a time.

Docking stations make it very easy to download the files you have recorded to your computer. Some docking stations also recharge the batteries on your recorder, which is ideal if your Dictaphone is in high use.
.....................................................................................................................................

An Easy Performance Enhancement

If you’re using the NTFS filing protocol on your system, instead of FAT32, you can get a bit more speed by disabling Windowsฎ Indexing. The downside to this is that searching your drive for a specific file might take a moment or two longer, but everything else should run faster.

To disable this feature open My Computer and then right click on the drive you wish to reset – usually C-drive. Now click on Properties and then uncheck “Allow Indexing Service.” It will take Windowsฎ a few moments to accomplish this task, based on your processor speed. If you have other hard drives, perform the same process for them. After this is done, it’s a good idea to empty the Recycle Bin and then Defragment your hard drive(s).

FREE Software

If you have a system and it does not have an office suite, such as Microsoft Office, and you don’t want to pay several hundred dollars to have one, try Open Office. This is a great alternative to other suites, and it’s free! Simply direct your browser to www.openoffice.org and follow the instructions for downloading and installation. Make no mistake, this free office suite is an extremely powerful set of software tools – easily a match for any competitor.

Internet Explorer (Microsoft’s Internet browser) is unarguably the standard in computers. This is why hackers develop so many malware applications to invade it. If you use a different browser, you have much less chance of an invasion by malicious software. There is a great alternative available, and it’s free. You can download a copy of Firefox at www.mozilla.org/products/firefox. You can even move your Internet Explorer settings into Firefox automatically – so you don’t lose your Favorites, etc.

Laptop Printer Fix

If you’re using a laptop that is running Windowsฎ ME, and you’re having trouble printing through the USB, try this simple fix. Go to the website for the company that manufactures your printer. If you use a Hewlett-Packard, for example, go to www.HP.com and download the appropriate drivers and install them. ME has drivers that recognize the USB printer is present and attached, but not the drivers needed to make it print. Which drivers you download and install will be dependant on your printer. After installing new drivers, update the printer as necessary in the Control Panel.

Save $$$ When Shopping On-line

If you’re making a purchase on-line, and you know the item you want to buy, you can easily compare pricing all across the Internet. This can amount to a very substantial savings.

At this writing, I went to www.mysimon.com and typed in that I wanted to buy a printer: a Canon PIXMA iP4000. The service instantly checked the Internet and returned prices ranging from $62.00 up to $286.00. This kind of price spread is not at all unusual, especially for computers and electronics.

The My Simon website service only checks pricing, it does not provide a platform for purchasing anything, though it does link to such places. It also gives a rating for the sellers and other users’ input regarding their experiences with the company. You can order the results of the search for your product by price, so that you can quickly find the lowest price from the highest rated dealer.

Windowsฎ XP Professional Only

A feature of Windowsฎ XP Professional, that is not available in the Home Edition, is the ability to encrypt files. This encryption prevents others from opening the files in the folder you encrypt. To encrypt one or more a folders, follow these easy steps.

Click Start, then My Documents. Now locate the folder you wish to encrypt and right click on it and choose Properties.

On the General tab, click on Advanced. Put a tick mark in the box for Encrypt Contents to Secure Data. Click okay two times and the confirmation dialog box will appear allowing you to select the folder, the folder and all files, and/or the subfolders within it.

Now you'll be able to place files in this folder (or folders) and since they're encrypted, others will not be able to access them.

Internet Safety

You should never reveal your username or password to anyone who e-mails you and asks for it. This information is frequently asked for by an Internet scheme called “phishing.”

In a common phishing scam, you receive an e-mail that looks quite official. It usually appears to come from a bank or credit card company. A common title for these e-mails is “We need to verify your account information.” Another is “Please logon to your account and verify your settings.” If you do click where instructed, you’ll end up on a site that appears to be the real one. If you fill in the username and password for of your on-line banking account, you can expect serious problems within twenty-four hours.

If you believe that a company or business that you do on-line business with really does require your information, then simply contact them. This way, you will know where you are sending your information, and what it will be used for.

CD Burning Error Fix

Burning music, video, and data CDs has become quite popular over the past few years, and the evolution of the supporting technology has yielded hardware and software that is better than ever – and very reasonably priced. CDs offer a great place to store substantial amounts of data in a small, easily retained format. They also give us new control over aspects of our entertainment.

A relatively common error received during CD burning informs you that the CD cannot be burned, or that there was an error during burning. Of course, you could actually have a defective CD drive, but this is usually not the case.

If you receive a message indicating that your CD cannot be burned, go to the website of your CD drive manufacturer. Look for the list of CD types (manufacturers/numbers) that are compatible with your device. Most often, you’ll find that your CDs are not listed. The two types that seem to have the least difficulty being burned are manufactured by Sony and TDK. These cost a bit more, but they burn very reliably.

Along the same lines – H-P has introduced a new CD burner. This new burner requires the use of special CD blanks, but after you burn your data into the CD, you can flip it over and close the drive again. Then you can use the laser to burn a title for the CD directly onto the CD itself. It’s new technology, but perhaps it will catch on and we’ll see newer, better such devices in the near future.
.....................................................................................................................................