Xscribe and other old writers

[Mary Jo Cochran]

For those who remember, I bought a nice Protege last year, but sold it when I moved because I needed the money.  I went back to the Stenoram II.  Aside from being heavy and being obvious it was old, it really was a poor writer.  

My translation rate was poor (not consistently poor to know it).  Lately it just wasn't working (like stopped translating).  The motherboard died soon after.

I just got a Stenograph 6000.  It was stored away for five years.  Just doing practice writing I was amazed.  That LCD screen is nice, took away all my work at reading.  

I know there are reporters on this site who swear their old writers are good enough.  They aren't.  They are costing you in productivity and physical and mental energy.  If you take a depo and it takes you longer to get it out, you will probably lose work too.

[Janiece Young]

Hey, Mary Jo,

Personally I don't upgrade often because of cost.  I think I had the model you are talking about.  I then upgraded to a Mira G2.  I found it was less hard to write on the long days and no more paper to bother with.  I recently upgraded to the Diamante.  I love the features it has.  I love being able to listen to the soft-spoken witnesses through my headphones.  The writer amplifies soft-spoken people.  My old writer had floppies.  I'm glad I don't have to deal with that anymore.  The Diamante is much lighter to carry.

Each time I have upgraded I have found it has made my job easier.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I was wondering why Mark had headphones.  That is nice.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I buy a new writer almost every year.  I want the best equipment as soon as I can get it.  I agree that the new and improved writers, computers, iPads, etc. make it less work and also make you look good because you're keeping up with technology, which is never a bad thing.  Also, it is a write-off you know; don't want to forget that fact.  We all need as many of those as we can get.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I just connected my new realtime cable to the writer (along with the old serial adapter).  It worked.  I did practice writing.  It's perfectly clean!  That Stenoram was far worse that I thought.  All I need now is a better laptop.

Any one of you writing on those old Stneorams or Smartwriters, at least swap it for a Stentura 6000.  I wish I had done this at least a year ago.

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Mary Jo.

I'm pretty sure I told you to upgrade quite a while ago! Of course, I would have recommended that you get a Flash ...
 

As for the laptop, if you don't have a computer store in your area, you should check with your local tech/community colleges. Up here in the Pacific North Wet, at least one of the colleges sells older laptops to students for about $150.

If that's not an option, some of the pawnshops will take payments if you make a down payment; I think that want either 20 percent or 40 percent; depends on the pawnshop.

Good luck!

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Yeah, you did tell me.  But money was tight.  If you remember, it took me (a month maybe?) to figure out how to connect that Stenoram.  I had the wrong port, wrong USB serial cable.  This Stentura took only the time to connect it.

[Glen Warner]

 I remember! I just couldn't resist an "I told you so" ...!