what is the name of that foot pedal thing that you use for typing up dictations? and where can I get one?

Question

I'm looking for this thing you use when typing up dictations from casette tape- you press a button for stop and play etc. with your foot to make the typing easier. I'm in between South London and Oxford so any hire places/stores around those two areas would be good. Also I don't want to buy one just hire/borrow one so I can get on with typing up the data from some research I'm doing for uni, please please help I'm in desperate need it's mind-numbingly boring work!!

Answer 1

It's called a foot switch and you should ask the place you bought the recorder if they have one. If you don't know where it was purchased, try an office supply store, or if there is still one around, a stationery store. Another option might be an office equipment repair shop; they might have a used one lying around.

Even a new one should be under $60 US, so you probably won't be able to just rent one. Here's an example from Olympus...

Have you thought about trying some voice recognition software and hooking the cassette directly into the sound card? It might be easier to let the computer transcribe it and you go back and check it for accuracy. It would cost more, but some companies want to get students addicted and give huge price breaks.