There are a variety of recording systems available, suitable for dictation to conference recording. If you already have a digital recording mechanism, there is a good chance that it will record a variety of different file types for different purposes. If you do not know what file types you are working with, you can tell by looking at the file extension. The different file types all have advantages and disadvantages for transcription services, the most obvious of which is a trade-off between quality and file size. If you are planning to email files for transcription to your transcriptionist, the advantage of a 2MB file, as opposed to one 40MB in size, should be obvious! No sound file of any length is small, but at least it is possible to email a 2MB file for transcription. More and more transcriptionists are using a system which bypasses email; you can either upload files directly to their website or send your files using a simple file transfer programme. If it is a dictation, a lower sound quality will still provide a clear enough recording for a digital transcription.
Your recording equipment may allow you to set different attributes for the same file type. This can make an enormous difference to the sound quality and size of the file, and consequently the transcription quality. WAVeform Audio (.wav)
WAVeform Audio (.wav) is a common file format and was one of the first audio file types developed for use with the PC. Not all wav files are the same! An example is Sanyo; a popular and moderately priced recording system but one that records specifically Sanyo wav files. It aims to cover most of the types recorded by available transcription software.
The compressed files will be around a twelfth the size of WAV files.
Windows Media Audio (.wma)
In my experience, most playback software used for transcription will play .dss files. I believe .dss was developed by Olympus and almost all, but not all, Olympus recorders will record .dss files. CD Audio file (.cda)
These files are standard recordings onto CD, and are generally the file type of music files bought no CD. As I understand it (not too well!) the CDA is actually just a sort of cover file that says this is a file on a CD, and the underlying file is probably a wave file or one of the other file types listed above.
