Which Voice Recorder Should I Buy?

Digital dictation hardware is now widely available and is revolutionising the workplace. Accuro can offer advice on purchasing your digital dictation hardware but here are a few points to note:

• Do get a high quality voice-recording device. Dictation machines are like digital cameras - the more you pay, the better the final product. Higher sound quality means quicker transcription times and lower costs in the end for you. It is a false economy to buy the cheapest.

• Do get a recorder with a standard .wav or .dss sound file format facility. It is an easy mistake to buy equipment that uses an obscure file format which cannot be opened or played except by specialist software provided by the manufacturer.

• Do not buy a recorder with an odd sound file format, or use a basic MP3 recorder as the files will have to be converted first. Sony files are particularly big and awkward to send and convert. The ideal files are .dss as they are small. If a file is more than 1MEG per minute, you will have a problem with bandwidth. As a guide, a 1MEG .dss file will equate to approximately 10 minutes dictation.