Software On-Demand

I recently finished reading The On-Demand Brand by Rick Mathieson, which takes a look at how our culture has become increasingly demanding, seeking instant gratification. From everything from fast food to television, we are no longer willing to wait for things. While Mathieson points to Burger King and their "have it your way" campaign in 1970's as a starting point for this trend, technology and the internet have only increased our need for having things the way we want them on our own schedule. Mathieson goes on to examine ten rules that marketers should know in this on-demand world, all relating to how companies need to shift their thinking to be in line with the expectations consumers have.

The software industry has seen this shift too. We've talked before about software buying trends and the percentage of people who buy their software in a retail store versus purchasing online. It used to be the only way to get software was to get the box with several floppy drives or CDs inside to install from, and it could be a rather time consuming process. Now, you can download and install software in fraction of the time. You don't really need to make plans in advance about your software needs; if you come across a need you can download a software solution on-demand.

NCH Software has adapted to this on-demand mentality quite well. We spend a lot of time trying to improve the usability of our programs so that a user can have the software up and running in three minutes or less, catering to this high-speed demand. Most of our products are under 1 MB in size, so the download time is negligible. We also have a wide range of products that are easily integrated, making it easier for customers to customize a software solution to meet their needs by picking and choosing only the exact products and features that they are looking for. All so you can "have it your way" with software on-demand.

See How In Action

We have been working on expanding the number of video tutorials on NCH Software products. Since our post back in March we have added several more video software tutorials plus the series on to help you with some the programs that you might want to make available to others over the Internet. Be sure to check out these video tutorials, and let us know if you are itching for a tutorial on one product in particular so we can try to move it up in the queue.

So now in addition to the BroadWave, Golden Records and WavePad tutorials we previously announced, you can also find video tutorials on VideoPad, BroadCam, Troubleshooting server-based software applications and Setting up Web Access in Express Invoice.

These videos are part of our continuing effort to help users get our software up and running as quickly as possible. We hope that these videos will answer some of the common questions about basic functions, especially for people with a visual learning style. Stay in the know and see all of our tutorials by subscribing to the NCH Software YouTube Channel.

After You Point and Shoot, Convert and Share

We recently teamed up with Aperture Light to provide our Pixillion Image Converting Software as a prize for their monthly photo contest. Aperture Light encourages photographers to take their photos to a new level of creative and innovative photography, and Pixillion helps you take your images anywhere by making it easy to resize, rotate and reformat images so sharing your creativity is even easier. Power features of Pixillion Image Converter include batch conversion to handle large numbers of photos at one time, watermarking, adjusting the quality of jpeg files, and more, making Pixillion a must-have utility for ever shutterbug out there. Good luck to all the contestants out there, and win or lose, we hope you will take a look at our graphics software.

NCH Software Now in Canadian Retail Stores

Today is the first day that two of our essential business software programs are available across Canada in Staples business supply retail stores. As bundled French and English versions of Express Invoice Invoicing Software and Inventoria Professional Inventory Software hit the shelves today, it marks not only the first time NCH Software products are being sold in retail stores outside the US Market, but also as the first time localized versions of our software are being sold in a retail store environment.

NCH first entered retail stores across the United States early this year. WavePad, VideoPad, PhotoStage, FlexiServer, and Golden Records are just some of the software titles that can now be found at stores including Office Depot, CompUSA, Micro Center, and Fry�s. Seeing our software on the shelves at retail stores in the US has been incredibly exciting and we hope our success here will help us continue to branch out to still more retail stores both here and in other countries, including Australia where we are based, in the future.

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.

Kinks in the Transcription Flow

We read comments from transcriptionists all the time about how much they love Express Scribe transcription playback software. It gives them complete control over the transcription process: slowing down dictation playback to a speed transcriptionists can keep up with, system-wide hotkeys so convenient shortcuts (such as timestamp) are only a couple of keystrokes away, a convenient file-management system to help keep track of which transcriptions are priority, and much more. Oh, and did we mention it�s free?

A few years ago, Olympus introduced the proprietary file format ds2. The move put a kink in many a transcriptionist�s work flow. In order to use the ds2 format freely, one has to be in possession of Olympus software: either with their transcription kit (but you already have a transcription kit�headphones, pedal, software, right?), or with their software that can convert the files (about $100).

The least expensive solution takes the control out of the hands of the transcriptionist, by simply asking the person making the recording to set their recorder to �Classic Mode.� This will ensure the recordings are saved in dss format, a format recognized by Express Scribe. To assist the person creating dictations, DictateAustralia put together the following video tutorial: How To Set Classic Mode For The Olympus DS-5000 & DS-5000iD Digital Dictaphones. This should work for all DS-3400, DS-5000, and DS-5000iD dictation recorders.

Recording in classic mode is the ideal solution, but might not always be possible. For the times a transcriptionist receives dictations in ds2 format, they will need to convert the file to a format recognized by Express Scribe. There are ds2 converters available (not through NCH software, sadly), and many come with a free trial so you can test the software on your files before you commit to buy.

Unfortunately, at the moment we can't say for sure whether we will be able to add support for the ds2 format. But we do hope you continue to take advantage of Express Scribe in the meantime, whenever you possibly can. Additionally, we have other typing tools to help speed your transcription process along. Some are free, and all are useful.

Don't Get Lost in Translation

NCH Software Translation and Localization

One of the things that we are striving for with our software applications is to make them as easy to use and accessible to use as possible so that our customers can start using the programs and be up and running as quickly possible. We use the "3-minute rule" trying to make sure that you can install and start using NCH Software products in 3 minutes or less.

Another thing we have been busy with to make software even more accessible worldwide is translating our popular applications into Spanish, French and German, putting the powerful and intuitive audio editing tools of WavePad in the hands of audio enthusiasts across the globe.

If you've been to the NCH Software homepage recently, you may have noticed the addition of the language drop-menu option giving you the option to switch to Deutsch, Espa�ol or Fran�ais. In addition to those three we are gearing up to add Japanese, with a translated WavePad in Japanese coming soon, and more products to follow.

If you want to receive updates on our localized software you can sign-up for our newsletters at:

• English NCH Software Newsletter
  
• Deutscher Newsletter
  
• Bolet�n en Espa�ol
  
• Bulletin d'information en Fran�ais