Damian Lettie

Express Scribe will happily keep playing audio in the background (with optional, "always on top", mini-controls) while you bring any other application to the foreground. Scribe doesn't interact directly with the foreground application so it doesn't matter if you're using Notepad, Word, or another third-party application.

There are known issues with VEC USB foot pedals when running Express Scribe on 64-bit Windows Vista. Apart from that, I'm not sure.

You can't export an MP3 from Express Scribe, but you could use "Save As" to create a DCT file, then use Switch or WavePad to convert it.

Technically, Express Scribe doesn't load or save any time-code data. It only tries to work out what time a recording was started, then offers you one of two display modes: Audio Time: This is a relative duration from the start of the dictation. (eg. From 0:00:00.0 to 0:05:00.0 for a five minute recording made at any time of the day) Recording Time: This is the absolute (AKA: "real") time of the recording. (eg. From 14:30:00.0 to 14:35:00.0 if you made a five minute recording starting at 2PM)

The only issue that I'm aware of when running recent versions of Express Scribe on Windows Vista is that some audio codecs that are installed by default in Windows XP may need to be installed manually. Try describing your problem in more detail here and you might have more luck getting a response from another user. If your problem is with a serial to USB adaptor then note that, as mentioned elsewhere in the forums, although these do work for some people they are not officially supported by NCH. If you have a different problem, however, you still have no luck on the forums, consider purchasing support from NCH here.

Which port have you selected from the Port drop-down list? You should be using the "VEC Infinity Pedals" choice. Does the problem go away if you close and re-open Scribe?

Please use the Help -> "Send Bug Report" menu item in Scribe to submit a bug report. Make sure you enter your email address and the address of this forum topic (ie. http://nch.invisionzone.com/index.php?act=...10&t=11456). Someone from NCH will contact you with details about where you can upload the problematic WMA file for testing.

How does it sound when you play it in Windows Media Player?

Please submit a bug report (in Scribe's menus: Help -> "Send Bug Report"), making sure to include your email address. NCH will then contact you, asking for a sample file for the developers to test with.

Can you be more specific than "will not load"? Can you describe the symptoms? Do you get any error messages? How are you trying to load the files? (Double-clicking them in Explorer? Drag-and-drop into Scribe? Via Scribe's "Load" menu item?)

Steps for trouble-shooting problems loading WMA files in Express Scribe: Update to the latest version of Microsoft DirectX. Update to the latest version of Microsoft Windows Media Player. Play the file in Microsoft Windows Media Player. If you've completed the above three steps successfully and still can't play the file in Express Scribe then check for Digital Rights Management (DRM): Load the file into Microsoft Windows Media Player again. Right click on the file and select Properties. Click on the "Media Usage Rights" tab. If the media usage rights information does not say "This file is not protected" then you need a licence to play the file. If you do not have this licence then you cannot use the file in Express Scribe.

Could you answer the questions too? - What is your Express Dictate "Data Folder" option set to? - Are you using Windows roaming profiles?

So you're trying to load the dictation directly from a website? It's probably a problem with your file associations. ie. What program you use to load files with a certain extension (.wma). To confirm, save the file to your desktop and use Scribe's File -> "Load Dicatation Files..." menu item. Can you load the file OK?

You'll need to uninstall "MEO Encryption Software" as well as FileFort, because they're separate programs.

No, it doesn't. Please select "Send Improvement Suggestion or Feedback" from Scribe's Help menu and post M4A file format support as a suggestion. In the meantime, if you have Express Dictate then I believe it should be able to open your file. Otherwise, both Switch and WavePad should also be able to convert it to a format that Scribe understands.

There is a setting in Express Dictate to do this. Go to Options -> Sending. Choose the recipient and click Properties. In the Recipient tab, if Email is set as the "Send Method" then you'll see a check-box labelled "Automatically split the file if greater than (MB)". Increase the size to send longer segments, or turn off the check-box to disable the feature to send the dictation as one big file.

Express Scribe should be able to load AMR files. You should report this as a bug by selecting "Send Bug Report" from Scribe's Help menu. Make sure you include your email address in the bug report, so we can contact you to get one of the problem files for testing. It might help if you mention the address of this forum topic in the "Problem Description" field of the bug report: http://nch.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=11228 Thanks.

Sounds like a bug in Express Scribe. Please select "Send Bug Report" from Scribe's Help menu and send in the details.

Changes in Express Dictate v 5.08 for Windows: Fixed: Priority column was not visible by default. Fixed: XML tags are now added before, instead of after, any default notes when creating a new dictation. Fixed: Notes field was not being cleared when multiple dictations were selected or when a dictation was deleted. Fixed: Can now delete more than one system-wide hot-key or VIS "Special Code" at once. Changed: Generating dictation reports for dictations with long notes is now faster. Changed: System-wide hot-key, VIS "Special Codes", and recipient list views are now sorted.

Express Scribe is a free product. There is no trial period, and no licence is required. You can't open audio files of unsupported formats as dictations.

Changes in Express Dictate v 5.07 for Windows: Fixed: Foot pedals would only function correctly after program startup once the pedal settings had been re-confirmed in the Options dialog.

Are there paddles on the back of the wheel? That would probably be what the other two lights are for. That would also mean the pedals are actually analogue inputs, in which case I don't think there is any way to get them working with Scribe, sorry.

Do you remember the address of the web page you were looking at? Open up "Game Controllers" from Windows Control Panel. You should be able to test the controller here, to make sure all the buttons / pedals are working. Does the combo show up as one device or two? How many buttons / pedals show up, and what order are they in? I suspect what's happening is that you've set Scribe to use, for example, "2 Pedals" in Options -> Control, and so Scribe is checking the first two input, which are probably buttons on the wheel itself rather than the pedals. Do button presses on the wheel show up in the foot pedal setup wizard?

Is it only F7 that causes the problem? Have you confirmed that F7 is really assigned to Rewind? (Open the Options dialog and click on the Control tab - the key assignments are in the "System Wide Hot Key Assignment" list.) Also, could you try pressing F7 in Word while Scribe is not running, just to confirm that Scribe is causing the problem?

The 44 byte CDA file is just Windows' short-cuts to the actual audio CD data. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_Audio_track_shortcut Express Scribe is trying to rip the tracks, just like the other software that you mentioned. That's why "the track loads very slowly". If it's an audio CD and you can't rip it to MP3 using any other software then you won't be able to load it in Scribe either. The disc might be damaged, it might have been created (burned) incorrectly, or it might be protected by some form of copy protection.