Transcription - Using the Right Software

The hardest way to transcribe an audio/video file is to listen to them on your computer or any other device, and then write them directly on a doc file. This will take a lot of time and effort, because you'll have to manually pause and un-pause your audio/video, and write the words down. Trust me, transcribing anything this way will take thrice the usual time.

On the other hand, there are a lot of free and amazing software to help you. The free versions usually have some limitations, but you can work with them fine.

With transcription software, the work can become much easier and take less time. In this post, I am going to give the names and the links to some of the transcription services that you can find to download (both free and paid), and use in your projects. I have personally used three of them a few years ago, so I can add my personal experience.

1. OTranscribe 

Now, this is one of the best and the most user friendly transcription software for free. In fact, you won't even have to download and install it on your computer. You can simply open oTranscribe in one of your web pages and start working. 

You can directly upload YouTube videos or your own videos/audio files in the page, and start writing. Everything you need to do has shortcut buttons, which is a big help. Pressing "Esc" will pause and un-pause the video, which means you won't have to remove your hand from the keyboard for even a second. 

Downside: Since this is a free version, it may not be able to save your transcript. But whatever you have written, you can copy+paste it every few minutes and save to a separate file. Other than this, this is a great software. If you have any questions about it, here are some guidelines. 

2. Express Scribe

Express Scribe has all the usual facilities of a transcription software, but you'll need to download it to use. The free version lets you play a wide variety of audio and video files, and you can control everything from your keyboards. 

You can actually adjust the speed of the audio/video file, so that the speaker speaks fast or slowly. This can help you type continuously without even having to pause your file. 

With Express Scribe, you can add a foot pedal to pause and play your audio/video files when transcribing. A foot pedal needs to be purchased separately; this is actually something a professional and full-time transcriber uses. 

3. InqScribe 

InqScribe also needs to be downloaded but it's free version has the same features of the other similar software. 

You can control the audio/video file with your keyboard while typing, and adjust the speed of the speaker. You can insert a time stamp [the exact hour, minute and second location of the audio/video file you are transcribing] anywhere and anytime you are typing, and when you click on the time stamp, it will immediately take you to that particular place in the file, which is a big help if you want to make edits or corrections. 

Some other similar software are: 

4. The FTW Transcriber 

5. Transcribe

6. f4Transkript

All the transcription software have almost the same features, more or less. However, what matters is what the free versions offer you. With some software, the free version gives you limited facilities but unlimited use. With some other software, you can get all the facilities, but only for a month or so. 

The paid versions of these software aren't very expensive either. If you plan to do this for a long time, or if you get a permanent client, you can definitely invest in one.