Growing A Quality Transcription Business With Express Scribe

Guest Post by Annalisa Holmes, Director of The Transcription People

We have been using Express Scribe transcription software in our Australian-based outsource transcription business for years and we love it. Why? I have a list, so here goes:

Cost Effective

You can't get more cost effective than free software. For as long as I can remember Express Scribe has been free. This continues to be the case with a free version still being offered alongside a new paid Pro version.

In my business I employ a mix of transcriptionists; we have some work onsite in our office but the majority are work-from-home micro-businesses. Included in that mix are a wealth of "old school" typists and "wannabe" transcriptionists. Old school typists are used to the cassette tape days of micro and mini cassette dictation and are very experienced at transcription. Wannabe typists have time on their hands, want to learn a new job skill and possibly work from home or for an employer.

Express Scribe is perfect for both these dynamics, experienced typists can very quickly switch their mindset to the digital way of doing things and with the option of a USB foot control, can make the transition very quickly from tape to digital transcription with a free download and a low-cost foot pedal. Those new to transcription can have the software installed in minutes and have the flexibility of training themselves using the configurable control keys. For a zero dollar outlay Express Scribe is a very attractive tool to those looking to start a career in transcription.

Multiple Use Scenario

Most people think of Express Scribe as just a tool for transcription typists. That is true for the majority of people, but in my business we also utilise Express Scribe for our proofreading team. My company is renowned for producing high quality, accurate transcription and the way that we do that is with a two-step quality assurance process. Step one is the traditional transcription typist who listens and transcribes. Step two is where the quality and consistency across clients is provided by our proof-reading team. The proofreaders do not transcribe, their role is to apply customer-specific formatting and act as a second set of eyes over the transcript, ensuring the highest quality.

My proofreading team use Express Scribe to play back audio whilst reading through the transcripts. Typically they prefer the control key functionality and love the variable speed playback, one of the many features in Express Scribe.

Very Easy To Set Up, Install and Use

Express Scribe can be installed and up and running in minutes. For users of all technical levels we have found Express Scribe to be a breeze to get working and get used to. People of all transcription abilities get used to Express Scribe very quickly. As we all use the same software throughout my business, we have a pool of experts within our own teams who can help each other out with any questions.

From a business point of view, all my staff are on the same page when it comes to transcription and proofreading software. We don't need to waste time supporting various vendors' software. Consistency across the team makes for a smoother transcription and proofreading workflow.

The Future

I really can't see my business moving away from Express Scribe, there is no need. It has served us well for years and will continue to do so for years to come. We are particularly excited about the new Pro version of Express Scribe which can now process the DSS Pro audio files created on the latest Olympus and Philips digital dictaphones. Before the Pro version came along we had to include an extra file conversion step from .ds2 to .dss. Now NCH has that covered.

Thank you NCH for your excellent software, which has helped my business get to where it is today.

Annalisa Holmes is the director of The Transcription People Pty Ltd, one of Australia's largest outsource transcription services. Annalisa started as a transcription typist in the early years of forming her business and now oversees a large team of transcription typists across Australia and New Zealand. The Transcription People service clients from across Australia, the USA and the UK and boasts AMP, Holden, Ernst & Young as some of her clients.

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Scribe Excels at Thesis Transcription

Guest post by Clara Bianchini

I was transcribing the interviews for my master thesis and, like every student in this situation, I didn’t have enough time! I was using the software that my teacher recommended, but it was still taking too long and it wasn’t pleasant to use. To listen and type at the same time I had to reduce the speed, but the voice got distorted to the point that some of the transcribed sentences didn’t make any sense when you read them back. I had already transcribed two interviews and I had 17 more to go. Since quality and timing were crucial to my work, I decided to ask Google about better software.

On the first organic result that Google gave to me I came across a comment that caught my attention. I am normally the type of person that is a little sceptical and will investigate at least three options, but when I read the comment that essentially said, "Express Scribe made my transcribing work 5 times faster, without distorting voices. You should try!" I stopped. It was later than 10 P.M.; I was tired and frustrated with my teacher’s software so I decided to give it a try.

I Googled for where I could download Express Scribe, and in few short seconds, it was in my computer. I opened it, and the first impression was already better: it looked MUCH better than the other software. I opened one of my audio files there, changed the speed from 100% to 50%, crossed my fingers and waited to hear what the sound would be like. To my surprise, the voice was totally clear, almost without distortions, and there was a typing box right there, almost smiling at me and waiting for me to have fun.

The next day alone I transcribed two more interviews, at an incredibly fast pace. I was so happy that I shared my discovery with all my classmates. I am pretty sure that without Express Scribe I would be still transcribing interviews right now. It really made all my work much faster and easier.

Clara Bianchini is a student of Imagineering, a Master's degree in Strategic Business Innovation from the experience perspective, a new program about how to design companies towards co-creation of value. In a more participatory approach, business is done together with stakeholders and value and experience are co-created. Some people might say that this is the next stage of Marketing. In order to understand how to design the participation of stakeholders during her thesis research, Bianchini conducted qualitative research which included one-on-one interviews that were transcribed for analysis.

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The End of Accounting Nightmares

Guest post by John Chellan of ISOBE Soft Pvt. Ltd.

I am a small software business owner with lots of experience in software development, but little real knowledge of accounting. Sure, I have done my taxes online, but had never balanced a balance sheet or did any type of journal entry work. Honestly, I’d rather not think about accounting, and just spend my time being more productive developing software and meeting clients.

But at the end of every month, I knew it was inevitable that all those transactions needed to be somehow entered into Excel and create some kind of crude income statement. That was all I could do, and that is all I knew how to do. In the back of my mind, I realized there is was lot more information in those numbers, and I needed either a professional accountant or software to get to that data. So I called a few accountants. Ouch, they were expensive! Next, I tried the trial versions of the two most popular, very expensive accounting programs and I couldn’t figure out what to do—and trust me I spent days trying to figure out what I was doing. Then I tried some free programs off the internet, and they were just silly with no good reports and user interfaces that looked like they came out of the Stone Age of programming. Almost at the verge of going back to Excel, I ran across Express Accounts.

I was skeptical at first and didn’t expect anything different from what I had seen from the trials of the other software. Well let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, Express Accounts was easy to install and quick, too. The interface was broken down in such a manner that one only needs to understand how the sales and purchase process works, and how to enter in expenses. The interface is quite user friendly and intuitive. The wealth of reports was the big thing that really impressed me about the software. Setting up the electronic invoicing and purchase ordering system was also very easy.

I have been using this software for 6 months now, looking for something to go wrong. The reality is, the more I use it, the more I become accustomed to its wealth of functionality. I really think this is one of the best cost-saving tools for small businesses that can’t afford to put up a professional accounting staff and need to streamline the accounting process and produce business data on the fly. Express Accounts has made the end of the month a stress free time, and now I spend my nights dreaming of growing my business.

John Chellan founded ISOBE in 2009. ISOBE started as a humble English language training center in Tamil Nadu and by 2010 had evolved into an educational consultant for colleges, schools and business. In 2011, ISOBE became ISOBE Soft Pvt. Ltd; and began to develop its own home grown software for small to large businesses.

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Bringing A Comic To Life With Photo Slideshow Software

Guest post by Jessica Warner "Tomoyo Ichijouji"

At the heart of everything, what I want to do the most is to bring great stories to life. I'm primarily a writer, so that usually has to do with the techniques of prose on the page, of which I'm pretty comfortable with already. But, in the past year or two, as a result of getting involved in amateur voice-acting (I'm now a moderator of the forum I participate in, VoiceActingAlliance), as a lot of voice-actors there also put together their own media to voice, I've discovered many resources that could bring a story from simple text to a full blown multimedia production. I had sound effects to mix anything from a walk in the park to an epic battle of giant robots, and voice actors with professional-grade talent who I had at hand to recruit to make characters all that more real to the audience. Even better, I even had a few composers I could collaborate with to make a totally immersive, original work you could listen to. Really, what more could you ask for?

However...I have always been a visual person. While you can do a lot with just sound alone, characters and stories don't really feel complete to me unless you can really "see" them. In writing, these come in the form of prose descriptions, whereas for multimedia, pictures are a necessity. There are people in my online community with the artistic talent, patience, time, and resources to actually make full motion animations, buuuuuut...let's just say that I lack enough of each category for that to really be feasible for me, haha.

I had a project in mind that when I first learned enough to take a crack at these productions myself, I wanted to try to bring to the screen. It wasn't my own; it was an online webcomic called No Rest for the Wicked, as of yet unpublished and unfinished, that I saw a lot of potential in to be a lot more than simply a webcomic. It was presented in a way that I could see it practically coming alive in a cinematic form in my head. The art in the webcomic was characteristically stylistic and pleasing to the eye -- couldn't there be some way to present those same images in a way that allows that cinematic nature to be evident, and to combine it with all those resources I had to make something that was barely a few steps away from being like an actual "motion picture". And so I thought, "...Why not?!"

I was remembering from photo slideshows I'd seen, how they had different panning and zooming effects along with transitions, and I thought, perhaps if I could do the same for the images from the webcomic, that would simulate the panning and zooming techniques used in actual animated features usually with a lower budget to be able to make the most out of a single image, as well as to establish action shots with fast shifts and flashes.

After all, I already had the images in front of me -- it was a matter of how to have them displayed to make them come alive. It sounded like a very interesting endeavor indeed, and really played to my general life creed of "make the most possible out of the least amount possible". That said, how would I do it?

I started to research on what programs I could use to do this. I got recommendations of the widely-used programs that could do everything under the sun -- but when I looked at the licenses for those programs, it made me bang my head on my desk. I can't afford $500+ for a program license! I could probably better use that money to upgrade my computer equipment so that I could even USE such complex programs without crashing my hard drive after an hour of working with it. I wondered, did you really need to pay that much to have a slideshow program with customizable transitions and effects? Surely there was something else that people simply hadn't bothered to look into that would serve just as well?

After some careful searching, I came across the NCH Software programs, one of which was PhotoStage Slideshow Producer. I thought, sure, sounds like what could work. Seemed pretty simple in both structure and interface (it was a tiny download, I was amazed what functions you could pack into a few megabytes), straightforward, yet flexible. Downloading the trial version, but being the skeptic I have always been about good deals (why hadn't anyone heard of it before if it was so useful?), I wondered how much I'd be able to tell from a trial program that usually only lasted long enough for me to use it once or twice at most.

However, I found that PhotoStage let me use it for well beyond its suggested trial period, even keeping ALL of its features except for some file formats that weren't crucial to the functionality of the program. I have a lot of respect therefore for programs that will in fact trust that if you find you really like the program, eventually you'll support the programmers and publishers by paying for a shiny license for it that shows that you are in fact legit without having a swimming pool of money in your backyard.

And eventually, that's exactly what happened. I was actually well into working on the project, having done several clips already that I showed my staff as I'd been well into getting in the lines and mixing all the stuff together, and finding a special on licenses going on, I thought it was the right time to get one -- and I knew already, having been able to actually DO something with it, that I was getting my money's worth.

Here's a few of the test clips I've done so far of the production so far, from various parts of the webcomic (some of the voices and music are just placeholders and will be different in the finished production):


This test clip shows a more cinematic setting-establishing scene, where the panning and zooming is put to full use. Source reference: Ch 2, pg 1-3




This test clip has more narration, but I made little illustrative panels come to life by erasing out various objects and phrases, having them fade or pop back into view depending on the context. Source reference: Ch 1, pg 1




This test clip shows the control of comedic timing between the visuals and dialogue. Source reference: Ch 1, pg 12




This test clip integrates a lot of the things above, using both panning, zooming, and fades at various speeds for a comedic, almost cartoon-like effect. Source reference: Ch 2, pg 42-43




I'm still working away on the production and it's not anywhere near finished, but I'm getting there! (See, again, why I don't like programs with ticking fuses, because my working pace in general is tortoise slow) If you're curious as to more detailed progress info, here's my production blog, and there's a few additional test clips up at my Youtube production channel, Videocaptor Productions. (Tomoyo Ichijouji is my online alias, a little more unique than my real life name, haha)

I'm not sure at this point what future projects I'll use PhotoStage for next, but I've been pointing others at my community who want to do comic dubs like mine to PhotoStage as an easy, elegant way to bring some motion to the images to go with the voices and sound. It seems like the ones who've tried it liked it, so who knows? Considering nobody else in my forum seemed to know about it before I started mentioning it to people, maybe it'll start catching on. In the end, for me, it's all about making the most of what you've got. PhotoStage was definitely one of the programs that let me do that, so I'm sure I'll continue using it for creative purposes in the future.

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WavePad Makes Doing Radio Fun Again

Guest post by Paulette MacQuarrie of Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio

Back in 2002 I was introduced to audio editing software, when the AM station broadcasting my weekly radio show finally went digital and got rid of its reel-to-reel tapes.

It was the end of a romantic era, and I was not enamoured of the change. (Can anyone say "buggy whip"?) But I eventually realized it had ushered in an exciting new era of its own.

The things I could do now! No more razor blades, guesswork, or scrubbing tapes. No more recording shows onto cassette — they could now be archived on a microchip! And on a website for listeners who missed the radio broadcast. (This was before the term "podcast" was invented.)
Best of all, I could record in my own home studio. No more traffic!

I was well aware that as time marched along, my software was becoming dated. Still, it was comfortably familiar. I had become reasonably competent with it, and I hated learning new software on my own. It was hard enough with help!

When the time came to upgrade my computer, however, upgrading my audio software was no longer optional. I discovered to my horror that it was not compatible with Windows7.

One day while in an office supply store in Bellingham, WA I found myself in their software section. A nice-looking box labelled Audio Essentials by NCH Software caught my eye.

The description sounded good and the price was way less than an upgrade for my existing program. And, I recognized the name WavePad as one that a colleague has for years been ranting and raving about, and bugging me to try. So I bought it and once it was installed, it was pretty much love at first sight.

I don’t usually go crazy over software but WavePad cut my production time in half just on my first try. So what’s not to go crazy about?

Working with my old program involved selecting and arranging regions, then doing a mix-down to a Wave file. This resulted in a studio mix that, after all my finicky editing, was considerably more slick than what I had produced on reel-to-reel. And gradually I forgot how much I enjoyed the "performance high" from recording "live to tape" in my pre-digital days.

WavePad has rekindled that excitement while providing more efficient tools for the studio work.

Probably the most useful is "Insert file" (under Edit menu). I can add ready-to-air files (commercials, interviews, etc.), rip tracks off CDs in seconds and copy them in, as well as record my intros and extros right into the file. No mixing down and converting … just save file as an mp3 and I’m done.

Now the fun is back again!

I love the click-saving icons for basics like adjusting volume (Amplify), fading and cross-fading, mixing and pasting files, noise reduction, etc. I especially love how you can zoom in and out with the scroll of a mouse wheel!

WavePad has handy time markers along the bottom of the page and an indicator showing the length of the entire file and selections. That keeps me on track so I have less editing and adjusting to do later.

I still like to work in WAV because it’s uncompressed. The Batch Converter allows me to convert the show and several components to mp3s in a flash, to post on my program website. Skookum!

WavePad has to be one of the most user-friendly programs I’ve ever encountered. The interface is uber-easy and user-friendly. The brief video tutorials are helpful, and the manual is excellent. The support staff are prompt, friendly and helpful. Definitely real people!

Now I’m starting to experiment with MixPad and am finding it a similarly pleasant experience. It’s almost a surprise how fast and easy it is! I’m looking forward to using the other NCH products that came in the package.

My only regret is waiting so long to make the switch!

Author bio: Paulette MacQuarrie lives on Vancouver Island, Canada where she produces and hosts a syndicated one-hour weekly variety show called Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio in (mostly) English. More details at the show’s website www.nashholos.com and blog nashholos.blogspot.com

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WavePad Analyzes Electronic Voice Phenomena

Guest post by Shawna Hunter, investigator with Florida Paranormal Research

I love using WavePad Sound Editor from NCH Software to listen to EVPs, or Electronic Voice Phenomena. EVPs are believed to be possible communication with different entities in the paranormal realm. When investigating paranormal activity audio recordings can be made and analyzed later, sometimes bring sounds and patterns to the surface that I didn't pick up with my ears alone, but after I review the audio, using WavePad, there's an EVP! The opposite is sometimes also true and I will personally hear something with during the investigation that is never caught on the digital audio recorder. It really is amazing stuff.

I use WavePad as a tool to review the audio from our investigations. It is a very user-friendly tool. I can cut a section of the audio, amplify, slow-down, and even loop the clip of audio in question. This enables me to show our clients the evidence in a clip. This is one of the easiest programs to use that I have come across for reviewing audio in regards to the capture of EVPs. I suggest WavePad as a tool to help anyone who is looking for an easy to use audio program for the capture of EVPs from their audio recordings.

Become a part of the investigation: www.thewhitenoiseforum.com

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Making A Music Video

Over on Review Explorer Chris McGivern posted a detailed interview with Singer-songwriter Andy Fosberry of Ironlight River about making a music video. Fosberry took a do-it-yourself attitude and made a great video without sacrificing his creativity or breaking the bank. And we were particularly thrilled that Fosberry turned to NCH Software using Switch Audio Converter, Prism Video Converter and VideoPad Video Editor to help him along the way.

"As a musician, I use a piece of software call Switch by NCH Software which converts audio formats. And it’s brilliant. To convert these video files I used their A/V equivalent which is called Prism. When it was downloading, I had the option on loads of other things and saw something called VideoPad, which was billed as editing software. I figured it would be like WavePad and, therefore, just for clips etc, but it’s a fully working, kind of mid-level piece of editing software ... Its just so beautifully usable. So much so that I had a working edit in about 8 hours. All the effects, are nicely editable in themselves. So you can really make significant changes to what you are working on."

– Andy Fosberry

If you're interested in making your own music video(s) we would encourage you to go over to Review Explorer and read How To Make A Music Video – For Free for more details on what Fosberry did for his video, and to see the results.

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Use What Works: Why a Podcaster Uses Switch Audio Converter Every Day

Guest post by podcaster Kole Ross www.koleross.com

We take it for granted that our tools do what we ask them to. If they didn't, we probably wouldn't use them anymore. What makes a piece of software great, however, is how easy it is to tell it what to do. For me, Switch Audio Converter is one of those great programs, and I rely on it daily.

I'm an underemployed podcaster, a part the digital serf caste. You see us around, the overweight or underweight bearded dudes with laptops, blogs, and opinions about why Facebook sucks.

I graduated from an Electronic Media program where I was surrounded by these digital serfs, and learned how to use lots of different pieces of media software. Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, Pro Tools, the list goes on. If you have more than a passing acquaintance with these software suites, you probably have an opinion about which one works best.

I get them, I understand how to use them, and I know how powerful they can be. When I was starting out, though, I could never shake the feeling that they were "too much." If you're cutting a steak, you don't whip out a Swiss army knife. You use a steak knife, like a normal person.

I started podcasting in 2007, wanting to turn my internet radio show into a packaged, persistent product. This first podcast eventually turned into Stand Under the Don't Tree and Riddle Me This, a video game talk show with a bewildering name. Three years later, I started a second podcast, Those Damn Ross Kids, a NSFW comedy podcast that I do with my brother, Kris.

When you're a poor student (or even a poor graduate—feed me please) it's difficult to afford fancy software to fuel your hobbies. So, you use what works. To this day, I edit my shows in Garageband because it's free and simple. A friend of mine once criticized me for using "kiddie gloves," but my response remains: "It doesn't get in the way when I sit down to make things." I like a program that does one thing well. Every button and lever I don't use is just wasting my time.

The same goes for Switch, which simply does what I ask it to without putting up a fuss.

The end product of a podcast is always an MP3 file, but it goes through lots of different phases in its life cycle. The shows are recorded over Skype as high-sample rate stereo AIFF files. My voice is always on the right channel, while the incoming audio from Skype is on the left channel. I drop this file into Garageband to separate the tracks, and re-export them so that I'm able to do multitrack editing, making editing out overtalk a breeze.

The separated files are still in stereo, though, so I pop those back into Switch to squash them into mono AIFF files. These are easier to edit, and take up half as much space. I then put these files onto separate tracks in Garageband and go to town, making what we say clever and insightful.

When I'm done with that, I apply the Levelator to the AIFF. The Levelator's motto should be "Crummy thing go in, pretty thing come out." It doesn't work all the time, but it's better than spending an hour trying to configure a compressor.

The final step comes when I drop the finished file into Switch again, compressing it to a 96kbps mono MP3 file for distribution. This is the best compromise between sound quality and size. It's a quick download, and it doesn't waste all of that time I spent equalizing it to sound good. Switch made this easy to figure out. All I had to do was mess with the encoder options and re-convert until I got something good.

Voila, that's a podcast. Spank it on the bottom, FTP it, and let the world know that it's ready.

There have been other times in my professional and academic career where Switch has bailed me out... For example with how finicky Final Cut Pro is vis-á-vis what kind of audio files it will play nice with.

The moral of the story is this: Even though the aforementioned $1000+ media suites can probably spit out the kinds of files you want, I don't need all of the excess functionality that comes with it. Switch just exists. It's a box on my desktop that takes one thing and makes it into another thing, without complaint.

I don't need a Jaws of Life to open my beer, thanks. Just let me make something and get on with my day. My job is to be funny in front of a microphone, not fiddle with software.

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FlexiServer Creates a More Efficient Work Environment

The Center for Pain Control business manager Peter Graf was having difficulty managing his employees’ computer usage. The Center, which makes it possible for patients to avoid a hospital stay for surgical procedures while helping them to manage pain, has just over twenty employees. Graf wanted to ensure that each employee was using their computer systems efficiently. This is a very real concern for businesses considering how much money businesses are losing due to non-work related internet browsing.

Graf immediately turned to NCH Software, since he had successfully used products of theirs in the past. He came across FlexiServer employee computer usage monitoring software, which he now uses to double-check hours worked, view application use by staff, and to restrict programs and internet sites on necessary computers. “FlexiServer is easy to use and set up,” said Graf.

Using FlexiServer to monitor employees has finally given him the opportunity to get some real work done. “I run a report once a month to see where employees spend most of their time. This freed up more time for actual work,” said Graf. Before FlexiServer, Graf manually entered the hours of every employee into an Excel spreadsheet.

Graf’s favorite feature is the ability to prohibit employees from using programs and internet sites that they shouldn’t be using during work hours. He can also pinpoint which sites viruses were picked up on, and generate reports on employees’ start and end times.

FlexiServer software automatically logs employee time and attendance. It features tools for quality assurance monitoring and reporting, and works with home or remote employees. FlexiServer gives managers the confidence they need to know that work is getting done without needing to micro-manage. The monitoring features are non-invasive and respect the employees' need for privacy, allowing them to enter private mode when necessary, while creating a paper trail that can be referenced if needed.

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Case Study: Inventory Software Frees Up Time for Other Tasks

Hospitals and pharmacies are required by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to maintain a detailed and accurate inventory of all the drugs and medication that they stock. Keeping track of their entire inventory can be a very time consuming task, especially if the pharmacy is not up to date with the latest technology. Peter McNulty, Pharmacy Operations Manager at Salem Health, has had a significant reduction in the time spent maintaining and tracking inventory by transitioning from a manual system to Inventoria Professional Inventory Management Software.

Prior to using Inventoria, McNulty was manually recording his inventory in a log book, which was a huge drain on his time, requiring several hours daily to keep records accurate and up to date. Inventoria greatly simplified the way McNulty runs his business, "I estimate we save two hours per day in staff time that can now be used in providing direct patient care."

McNulty has found not only significant reductions in the time required to record and maintain DEA records, but greater control over the distribution processes in real time making Inventoria an ideal solution for tracking inventory movement of Controlled Substance Drug Distribution in an acute care Hospital setting.

"Setup was very easy, it required about eight hours of staff time to load items, record beginning inventory count, add customers and give user access," noted McNulty. "I especially like how quickly reports are generated and the ease of saving the report on a daily basis which makes it easy to comply with DEA record-keeping regulations. Inventoria is easy-to-use, requires minimal maintenance and has a high value in comparison to most other programs in this category."

Inventoria stock management software allows businesses of all types and sizes to track and manage inventory at a single location or across several locations. With this complete inventory management system you can manage stock levels by category, location and supplier, transfer stock between locations, set low level alerts, even generate and send purchase orders to vendors directly from within the program.

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Boost Audio Quality for Radio and Podcast Production

From radio to podcasting, having high quality audio matters. So if you are recording and producing audio content, NCH Software's top audio software duo Wavepad audio editor and Mixpad multitrack recorder and mixer will provide you with the audio tools you need to produce high quality audio to your listeners. Just ask the people behind The Yes Hour Radio Show, a growing radio program that will be increasing their broadcasts in January. As they grow they have been committed to providing the highest quality audio to their listeners, so one of the recent changes they've made was changing their audio editing software and coming to NCH:

"The first thing we've done, which you might have noticed, is to change our editing software. We initially started by using magic studio, which served its purpose for a small production, but as things grew, that is, as we began to develop our content for The Yes Hour and invited guests on the show we decided to try another program called Mixpad and it's editing component Wavepad... These two NCH Software applications have enabled us to do so much, including recording on a multi-track bed, editing telephone interviews, importing new music from local and existing artists."

– Serious Voice of New York, The Yes Hour Radio Show

If you are producing your own radio show, or any other audio project, we hope you too will check out the full range of audio software and software for radio stations we provide to help make you sound your best.

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Good Things Do Come in Small Packages

Pocket WavePad for iPhone was released a mere month ago, but it didn't take long to generate some interest. Though this app is meant for quick recording and editing on the go, it was created in the spirit of the full desktop version--and users took notice. User and reviewer Andrew Wardell stated:

"The number of effects included in this app was staggering to me, considering the price. What really blew me away though was that they all work really very well! I could definitely compare the quality of the effects to those on the desktop version of WavePad..."

Another bonus Wardell points out is that Pocket WavePad has more features than comparable audio editing apps, and is free to boot. If you haven't downloaded Pocket WavePad for your iPhone yet, what are you waiting for?

If you need more convincing, you can Learn more about Pocket WavePad and read the rest of Wardell's Pocket WavePad iPhone User Review. Then we're sure you'll agree that the only thing left to do is go Download Pocket WavePad for iPhone from the Apple app store.

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User Spotlight: First Time Success Making A Music Video

Bart Bryars recently purchased PhotoStage Slideshow Software and put together his first video. The opening number for their musical, Joey, is a take on everything New York City.

"It turned out so good and has had such a positive response, I thought I'd send it to you so you could see what's possible for a first time novice like me, who has no training whatsoever in video arts or production. We don't even have a camcorder. The action parts were shot on a regular Sony digital camera that happens to have a basic recording feature.

Thank you so much for your product. Very simple and easy to use."

– Bart Bryars

As we've mentioned in the past we strive to make all of our software easy to use. So it is great to not only hear that we are doing a good job, but to see the results as well. We really enjoyed watching the musical number they put together with the help of PhotoStage Slideshow Creator and wanted to share it with all of you fine readers:



We hope you enjoy their video too. Maybe it will inspire you to put together your own musical video montage after seeing what couple of beginners were able to do.

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Tell Us What You Think

AppleRepo recently posted a user review of our Free PitchPerfect Tuning Software, written by Oswaldo Suástegui. The article focused on PitchPerfect for the iPhone, but PitchPerfect is also available for Windows, Mac and Pocket PC mobile devices. Read Suástegui's complete PitchPerfect User Review to learn why he prefers PitchPerfect to some of the other guitar tuning applications he has tried.

We enjoy hearing about what our users think and how they use our products so much that I wanted to make it easier for you share your experiences. Today I gave our blog a little face lift and added the Contact Form so that you have an easier way to get in touch with us. Use the contact form to let us know what you think about NCH applications, to share your stories and experiences, to contact us about guest posting about software, suggest topics for us to post about, or about putting together a case study. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Florida Lawyer Reduces Paperwork and Cuts Administrative Costs with Express Dictate

If any job can claim to be buried in paperwork, it would certainly be the legal profession. Everything that is said related to any case must be documented, on the record, creating a constantly growing paper trail that can be hard to stay on top of. Just ask Richard Georges, a lawyer in St. Petersburg, Florida whose practice handles real property, corporate, wills, trusts and estates law.

“Dictating memos, correspondence, and mounds of paperwork is something that lawyers do all day, every day,” Georges said. He used to spend his days dictating into handheld machines, carrying tapes to his secretary, or using expensive systems that sent dictation over cords to a carousel tape machine on his assistant’s desk. But that wasn’t enough. He also wrote important case details down on paper and brought his scribbled notes to his assistant for transcription.

The paperwork was overwhelming, and he needed a solution that would enable him to devote enough time to strategize, research, to counsel his current clients, and to attract new ones.

Georges writes a column called Future Lawyer for the Tampa Bay Review. He served on the Florida Courts Technology Commission by appointment of the Florida Supreme Court, and is a past Chair of the Committee on Technology for the Florida Bar. He also served on technology-related Committees for the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Committee of the American Bar Association and the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association. His knowledge, experience, and position afforded him the opportunity to do exhaustive research of every possible dictation solution.

He found Express Dictate digital dictation software was a perfect fit for his needs, allowing him to record and send dictation directly from his computer. The software also included a Palm OS version that allowed him to dictate from his cell phone when he was away from the office.

“Express Dictate is the most useful, easiest to use, productivity tool in my arsenal,” Georges said. “Just dictate, and email the result to your transcriptionist.” This new dictation process is far more accurate and less time consuming than the old tape machine system. “My assistant no longer has to listen to me read to her, which has made her very happy.”

To see how Express Dictate can revolutionize workflow in your legal practice or office, cut down on scribbled notes, and relieve your assistant from doubling as a transcriptionist, download a free 14-day trial today. For your transcriptionist, Express Dictate works seamlessly with the free transcription program Express Scribe.

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Transcription - A Flexible Work At Home Option

Accuro Transcription Services is an outsourced digital transcription solution for a range of specialized professions including the legal and medical sectors. Transcription is completed by a panel of independent professional transcribers.

A recent story posted on the Accuro website talks about how transcription software and technology allow transcribers to benefit from a flexible working schedule, working from home and managing their own workload.

Christine Miller joined the Accuro team of typists in 2008 as a way to supplement her income. Christine found it very easy to start working at home. With her medical secretary skills, the only things she needed to get started was a computer with a broadband internet connection and Express Scribe transcription playback software. Express Scribe allows a typist to control playback of the digital dictation audio with keyboard hotkeys or a transcription foot pedal for hands free audio control, improving transcription efficiency.

Read the entire Technology Helping Firms to Embrace Flexible Working article for more about how Christine is enjoying the benefits of working from home and information about Accuro's services and professional panel of transcribers.

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Switching to VoIP Helps Companies Save

In this economy, companies of all sizes are finding they need to tighten the purse strings and save as much money as possible. AdminCorp Limited is one company that has seen significant cost saving benefits from switching to VoIP.

As a business administration outsourcing specialist, AdminCorp manages accounts ranging from small to medium corporations throughout New Zealand. They used to have a hardware setup that was eating into resources between technician and telephone line provider fees. Last year, in order to keep up with technology and find a more cost effective solution, AdminCorp made the leap and switched to a Voice over IP solution.

AdminCorp was already familiar with NCH Software, having used Express Scribe, NCH’s free transcription application, for years. Because of this familiarity, AdminCorp chose to use another NCH Software program, Express Talk, to handle their VoIP phone calls. Express Talk is softphone that lets users make VoIP phone calls from their PC, Mac or Pocket PC mobile phone.

The switch to Express Talk has worked out well for AdminCorp, who saw their costs drop immediately. Recording calls they transcribe for clients has become a much easier task, and they can now transfer between different DID (direct inward dialing) phone numbers with ease. Additionally, they’ve benefitted from the added control they now have over their phone system. Previously they had to give direction to the telephone company, then wait around for the changes to be made. Now, without any outside tech support or service costs, they are able to update their system as needed.

See if Express Talk is the solution for your company. Between the free or low cost phone calls you can make with VoIP, the mobile softphone, video capabilities, professional and easy-to-use interface, and the full range of additional business features, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Try Express Talk or any one of NCH's computer telephone software applications all with free 14-day trials available so you can make sure they will meet your needs.

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Ask Dad: Debut is a Simple Solution

My dad works for a major computer manufacturer as an electrical engineer, and even in that large corporate environment there are times when getting a simple software solution from outside the company is preferable to reinventing the wheel and creating something in house.

When I was using a little vacation time to visit my dad, he happened to mention not being really happy with the video capture program that he had been using for an experiment. He had been using a product called FreezeScreen that he said didn't seem as stable as he might like, and the recorded video wasn't always as clear as the original. Naturally, I recommended he try our program, Debut Video Capture Software, to see if he had better results with NCH's solution.

For a little bit of background I asked him if he could tell me more about what he was using the screen recording software for. He is using a collection of extremely high speed strobe lights and high magnification optics to image the operation of MEMS devices in motion with near nanosecond time resolution. There are no off-the-shelf systems that can do this type of analysis, so he put together the equipment himself. And, since there isn't a software front end, the only results he gets are on the on-screen display. So, if he wants to save any of the images to send to a colleague or to analyze further later, he needs a screen recording software like Debut.

I am happy to report that he has been very pleased with results that he has been able to get using Debut. To quote him, "The Debut software does exactly what I need. I even use the sound capture to annotate my observations in real time so I do not forget any of the things I changed during each test. When I play the video back I get a video recording of what happened, along with any measurements that were being taken, and my annotation is all synchronized in time in one video."

This is just one example of how a simple software solution like Debut can be a useful tool for research and industrial testing. Someone like my dad can put together a custom test environment with a number of individual software packages such as a digital camera interface, a timer program, a program that reads and displays the voltage, temperature, or some other information that is relevant to the test. By positioning the windows from each of the separate programs on screen before recording, Debut can capture a video record of all of the pieces in a single video. So even a piecemeal custom test can produce results that look like they were generated by a single, highly integrated system.

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WavePad helps one ringtone artist turn his songs into greatest hits

Christopher Sherron is a member of the Phonezoo community who has taken some of his favorite songs and turned them into popular ringtones. He uses WavePad Audio Editing and Ringtone Software, which can take any piece of music and turn it into a ringtone.

Phonezoo is a leading site for personalized online and mobile entertainment. On Phonezoo, it’s all about ringtones and mobile entertainment, bringing user-created content and community to a mobile social media platform. So finding and sharing personalized online and mobile entertainment is easy.

With thousands of ringtones and other content uploaded to Phonezoo every day, it can be hard to compete. Christopher has found that using the audio editing tools in WavePad has helped him improve his ringtone creations and get an edge in this competitive community.

WavePad makes creating professional sounding ringtones easy. It comes with its own ultrafast CD ripper, supports a comprehensive list of file types, includes all the editing and effects tools needed, and can convert and save the finished product to the file type suitable for your phone (e.g. amr, mp3).

"I love the software and would recommend it to anyone," Sherron said. "Since I applied it to my ringtones over 300,000 visitors to the Phonezoo site have downloaded my material." It really does sound like he could start a business. Just read some of the comments from Sherron’s fans:

Justin Jacobs:   Hey Chris your amazing man you have the most awesome ringtones you rock man. i was hoping that if you can can you make a ringtone for my friend Toni Jo please i would greatly appreciate it and thank you in advance.

Kevin Lanning:   Hey Chris! You're ringtones are excellent! I was wondering if you could make a ringtone for me now. Saying something like, "Kevin loves Leah" or "Kevin hearts Leah." I would really really appreciate it if you could! Thanks a ton. Keep up the great work with the ringtones!

Ashleigh Waddell:   I ♥ you sooo much! and it would be so totally awsome if you could make a ringtone about ashley and justin bieber or somethin about justin bieber...pretty please!

Cyndi Beasley Hobbs:   came across your work on phonezoo. loved it! you have a wonderful sense of humor and loads of creativity. keep up the great work.

Sherron is busy expanding to the Myxer site and has started a fan page on Facebook. He says thanks to WavePad, he could make his ringtones popular all over the web.

You can check out some of Chris Sherron’s ringtones on his Phonezoo profile TheChrisTopProgram. Or, if you have a little more time on your hands and a creative idea, download your own copy of WavePad and try making your own custom ringtone.

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Express Dictate Software helps a Medical Practice Find More Time for Patients

You’ve got to love it when someone calls what you’re offering “a revelation.”

Those are the words of Dr. Sam Rodgers, general practitioner at the London-based Marven Medical Center, which treats 5,000 patients.

On an average day, each physician at Marven Medical dictates between 8 and 12 letters using Express Dictate to make their recordings at a computer set up with a microphone. Combined, that makes for a lot of letters that need to be sent out.

“Express dictate has been a revelation,” Dr. Rodgers said. “We used to use tapes and dictaphones to record our letters. We now dictate the letters on to our desktop machines as we see the patient.”

Rodgers and his staff have found that in working with digital audio they have had improved audio quality, reducing the number of questions from the administrative staff about what the doctor was saying. They also love the backup feature, because they can recover recordings if there are any queries after the letter has been typed and sent. And the office’s workflow is much more efficient, as the letters are typed as soon as they are sent to the typist—no waiting for a tape to be filled with dictation before being given to the receptionist.

And those are just a few of the benefits to using Express Dictate Dictation Software. The software also allows for assigning priority to dictations, keeping track of transcription progress and the expected completion times, as well as having HIPAA compliant encryption capabilities.

If your office or firm is in need of its own “revelation,” give Express Dictate a try. Or take a look at our full range of dictation software to find more ways set up a dictation solution to meet your individual needs; including dictating on the go from your Pocket PC, Palm or iPhone.

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