Transcribing podcasts: methods and results estimation

Ways to follow when you need your podcast transcribed

Podcasts have been gaining popularity in recent years. And it’s not weird. The convenience of transmitting the information via audio records is exceptional. The confusion starts when it comes to disposing of all said in audio on the paper. This article helps to choose the most appropriate way for your case specifically.

The transcription services and their necessity

Podcast transcription is converting audio speech into a text document for reading online and further printing if necessary. At first glance, this type of job is facile and includes typing of the heart only. Yet during the process, you can realize some underlying potential problems, e.g., backstage sounds, different speech accents, a long and tedious process entirely. You may spend an hour transcribing ten minutes of speech, maintaining decent quality, grammar, punctuation throughout the text.

When you need to get the speech to text you should apply for a professional human transcription service.  As a result, you receive perfectly written and edited text material for further usage at your discretion. Pure quality for your audio file conversion in a short time frame with no effort from your side is the core advantage of using professional transcribing services.

The text file has many advantages compared with a podcast. You can publish it on your website, blog, or network account, attracting the audience with hearing problems or those who initially prefer reading to listening. You can enhance its popularity via SEO engine tools, inserting them into the text. With this technique, the chances of reviewing your file increase exponentially.

The last but not conclusive benefit is reading the text whenever you need it, pointing out the remarkable pieces of text, and focusing on the details without wasting time while listening to the record over and over again. To find a specific phrase or claim, you may need to pause-play an audio dozens of times.

Professional transcribers release you from all these tortures, providing an excellent opportunity to promote the audio file in many ways and save your time.

Do It Yourself (DIY) method of transcription: pros and cons

If you are strongly encouraged to handle the transcription by yourself, there is plenty of automated transcription software to support you. Automatic transcription will help you to convert your audio file into text.

The general process is generally the same for different programs. You should download your audio file or insert the link with the source, run the transcription, do the corrections, and save the file in the appropriate text format.

However, be aware that the outcoming file will contain many errors. It happens due to the imperfection of the machine to match a human transcription. Among the most spread problems you will face while doing the automatic transcription are:

•   limited vocabulary: the program might not recognize narrow specific lexis, idioms, unique terms used by a particular group of people;
•   inability to recognize the accents: an overwhelming number of programs recognizes North-America accent while the accuracy of speakers with an accent or non-Americans is questionable;
•   misleading the transcription of quick speakers: the fast rhythm of speaking complicates the machine proceeding, providing a mess of disconnected words in the outcome file;
•   microphone issues: some people record the audio on the go, another – in a loud environment. All these features affect the quality of an automatic transcription;
•   overlapping conversations: when transcribing a dialogue, a machine can not focus on the transcription of the words that belong to one person only.

All these factors affect the automatic transcription and require many corrections and rechecking to do in the text file. Also, consider that machines provide low-quality results for the transcription of data analysis and scientific sources. Hence, eliminate software usage when dealing with the transcription of these sorts of files. The approximate rate of mistakes is about 30 errors per 1,000 words. One mistake can turn into a disaster for the entire document.

The benefits of automatic transcription are speediness and a brief transmitting of the overall content on the paper. It is more efficient than listening to the audio player and typing. Various settings, e.g., listening intervals in 10-15 seconds, ease the process. Free or partly free automatic transcription software usually includes the basic set of features to get an output file.

H2: Human transcription: pros and cons

Even the most advanced machine can not replace human work. The software developers continue struggling, enhancing the automatic transcription process, and they have made some progress. However, users expect more renovations ahead.

The most notable advantage of human transcription is accuracy. Transcribers with rich experience will provide you exceptionally correct, edited, and formatted according to the writing standards text. If you are busy with blogging or other activities that take all your time without a spare hour for transcription, human services become a perfect solution.

Human translation has a few disadvantages as well. Firstly, it is not free. Also, you will need to spend some time finding a freelancer or a company that agrees to do the job within your budget. Secondly, you should be cautious while providing a podcast with personal information to third parties. Only reputable organizations can give you the guarantee of non-disclosure and data protection. Hence, if this point matters to you, search more thoroughly not to find your audio file on the Internet one day used for someone else’s purposes.

Converting your podcast into text significantly increases the opportunity to share your discussion with as many people as possible. The correct way to transcribe your audio depends on your plans, quality demands, spare time, and budget. If you deal with podcasts regularly, handling all these methods and estimating their advantages on your personal experience is essential for your further convenient and speedy work.

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