                              README

                     Dictation Buddy version 2.2
               Copyright (C) 1999-2002 High Criteria, Inc.
                        All Rights Reserved

CONTENTS

  Overview
    - Introduction
    - What’s New in Version 2.2?
    - Version information
    - System Requirements
    - Registering Dictation Buddy
  Installing Dictation Buddy
    - Package Content
    - Installation 
    - Uninstallation
  Configuring Dictation Buddy
  Technical Support


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                               OVERVIEW
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INTRODUCTION
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Dictation Buddy is a Windows program that records your voice from
a microphone and saves it as a compressed sound file that you can play,
edit, send, or publish.

The features include:
- Recording and playback of compressed sound files using fast
  and efficient Windows codecs.
- Recording from any line or sound card on your computer.
- Recording phone calls using a voice modem.
- Accelerated playback for easy searching.
- Ability to edit your recording.
- OLE support that allows you to imbed your recording in other files
  such as Microsoft Word documents.
- Direct sending of your recording via E-mail.
- Easy to use audio wizard to help you select the best recording
  parameters.
- Sound activation and reduction in silence intervals.
- Auto save parts of a recording to separate, automatically named,
  files.
- Global hot keys to allow quick access to common functions. 
- Ability to create bookmarks in sound files and use them for quick
  navigation.
- Controlling playback using a foot pedal.

The program is an ideal choice for:
- Dictating.
- Adding voice comments to a document.
- Publishing speeches and other sound data to a Web site.
- Sending voice messages through E-mail.
- Importing from a portable dictaphone or cassette recorder.
- Transcribing sound data to a text document.

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WHAT’S NEW IN VERSION 2.2?
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Version 2.2 includes the following new features:
1. Record phone calls using a voice modem.
2. Control playback using a foot pedal.
3. Ability to adjust playback speed.
4. New events for automatic creation of bookmarks.
5. Choice of the audio device used for playing.
6. Notification when saving a file in “auto save” mode.
7. New “Save As” button in main toolbar.
8. Automatic creation of new folders.
9. A priority setting for the Dictation Buddy application.
10. Additional global hot keys.
11. Additional displays of hardware recording format.

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VERSION INFORMATION
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Version history:

Version 2.1	10 December 2001
1. Creation and support of bookmarks in sound files.
2. Ability to add notes to a file.
3. A Sound Activation Wizard that helps you with settings.
4. New recording mode that lets you append data.
5. Fast save operation for changes limited to the ID3 tag of MP3-format
   files.

Version 2.0	18 May 2001 
1. A Sound Activation which enables sound activation and
   a reduction in silence intervals.
2. Auto save parts of a recording with automatically generated
   filenames.
3. Different options for minimizing the main window.
4. Create and use MP3 type files.
5. Global hot keys for easy transcribing.
6. Start-up options to control the start of the application.
7. Ability to cancel long operations.
8. Main toolbar with access to common operations.
9. Dialog to display properties of a sound file, such as size, format
   and attributes.

Version 1.0	15 October 2000
The first version was released.

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENT
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To use Dictation Buddy, you need the following:
- an IBM compatible computer
- a sound card 
- a voice modem, if you plan to record phone calls
- Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, or NT 4.0.

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REGISTERING DICTATION BUDDY
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After installing and verifying the program works properly, you should
obtain a registration key from High Criteria. If the program is
unregistered then the first 30 days it will function without any
restrictions. After 30 days each of your recordings will be limited
to 1 minute and each playback is limited to 15 minutes.

To receive the registration key:
1. Follow the instructions on High Criteria Inc.’s web site at
   the following address:  http://www.highcriteria.com/products.htm
2. Select Registration from the Help menu. Type in the same name you
   used to obtain the registration key and your registration key.
   Note that this menu item is not accessible after you register
   successfully.

To order by check, refer to the Registration.txt file in
the installation folder of Dictation Buddy.

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                     INSTALLING DICTATION BUDDY
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INSTALLATION
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Take the following steps to install Dictation Buddy on your PC:

1. Download the self-extracting archive named dicbud22.exe
(http://www.highcriteria.com/download/dicbud22.exe) and run it. 
OR
Download the archive named dicbud22.zip
(http://www.highcriteria.com/download/dicbud22.zip).
Unzip it to a temporary folder and run setup.exe. 

The installation program creates a directory for Dictation Buddy,
copies all of the files to that directory, and creates a Program Group
called Dictation Buddy. 

2. Dictation Buddy is now ready to run. When you run the application
for the first time, it starts the Audio Wizard to analyze your sound
system. Later, if you change your sound system or you have trouble
using the audio features, you can run the audio wizard again.

Note
Dictation Buddy is shipped via the Internet, as a self-extracting
or regular archive, and consists of the following files:

File             Description
Dicbuddy.exe     Dictation Buddy application
Dicbuddy.hlp     Help file
Dicbuddy.cnt     Help content file
Readme.txt       Read-me first file
Setup.exe        Install program
Uninst.exe       Uninstall program
License.txt      License agreement file
Registration.txt Registration form

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UNINSTALLATION
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To uninstall Dictation Buddy, select one of the following methods:
- Use Start - Settings - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs.
- Use the corresponding item in the Start Menu: Programs -
  Dictation Buddy - Uninstall. 

Note
- Before uninstalling you should quit the application.
- The folder containing the installed application will not be removed
  if it contains anything other than the previously installed files.

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                       CONFIGURING DICTATION BUDDY
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To configure Dictation Buddy, start the application and select Options
from the View menu. You are presented with the configuration dialog
with the following tabs:
- Folders
- Playback      
- Recording
- Sound Activation
- Auto Save
- Using MP3
- Minimize
- StartUp
- Hot Keys
- Bookmarks
- Foot Pedal      

Some of these configuration options can also be set using
the Main toolbar and the View menu.

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                            TECHNICAL SUPPORT
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If you experience problems with Dictation Buddy that you cannot resolve
yourself, visit support area on our Web site:
- http://www.highcriteria.com/support.htm - Support Area
