Since the time I wrote the above "solution" which DID WORK for me, I have stopped using the Olympus recorder because of this whole process of converting files. I guess the takeaway from this is to never buy a handheld recording device which uses a proprietary format! That doesn't solve my problem, though, which is that I have this file sitting here and no sensible way to transcribe it as quickly as I can do any other kind of file. In which people say that the fault actually lies with Olympus, who are being difficult about their proprietary format. There is a discussion about it here, also: I'm really interested in a solution for this problem, too.
Even if it had worked, I'd be pretty annoyed at having to buy a license for Switch (it's a 14 day trial) to correct something that should work in the licensed NCH software I already own. I've sent in a support request but I am not holding my breath.
Their help file sends people to go download a bunch of. DSS/.DS2 files, which is why I bought a license, but in the end, it doesn't work on a mac. I use another NCH program called Express Scribe to do transcription work. If you go to their documentation, it does clearly state that it doesn't do. Macanudo, that really worked for you? Because if I download Switch, I still cannot convert a. Essentially what you're doing is a software version of the old tape to tape method (if you go back that far) where you set a cassette player to play a tape, another one to record, and you have a cable connecting the output of the first to the input of the second - this "cable" is the role that SoundFlower is playing! It may sound a bit clunky and complicated but once you've done it once it's pretty straightforward. This is called SoundFlower and is also available free from: You need routing software that will route the audio from the playing software to the recording software.
The Mac offers no way to record the audio playing through the soundcard. So now you need to record it, so get the free recording application Audacity from: You can now play the DSS file on your Mac. I've had a bit of a google around and I can't find anything for the Mac that will do the conversion, so here's a way to do it.