When someone can’t write something down or wants to dictate voice memos quickly, they can use hand held digital voice recorders or smart phone apps to record their ideas or important information. These speech recordings can be converted into text format using audio transcription services.
Thoughts, reminders, or personal notes can be recorded using the “Voice Memos” app on mobile devices like iPhones. You can also share your audio recordings via email or text with those who own iPhones or Android smartphones and Windows PCs or Mac laptops.
Thanks to GPS, barcode readers, facial recognition, video recording, and virtual assistants, our phones now have capabilities that few people could have even dreamed of twenty years ago. Even though the voice recordings app can seem like a frivolous feature compared to Siri or Google Maps, for some professionals, recording memos is one of their phones’ most valuable functions. Because of this technology, we no longer need to carry a separate recording device or go for a pen and paper when we want to take quick notes or record an important message.
Use Cases For Converting Voice Recordings to Text
- You might need to convert an audio file to text if you routinely record your voice memos.
- Visual learners prefer reading text to listening to recordings.
- You will need additional storage for audio files than for text-based files.
- Text-based files are easier to exchange, while audio files demand more bandwidth to send and download.
- To quickly understand anything or to acquire the main points of a conversation, text is preferable to audio.
- Text may be merged and modified easier than audio files.
Two Methods for Converting Voice Recordings to Text
To convert your audio notes into text, you have a wide range of possibilities. It all comes down to your needs, budget, turnaround time, etc., That said, even with so many available options, when you need to convert (or transcribe) audio recordings into text, you typically have two categories to choose from:
Automated Or Machine Transcription
Transcribing with automated voice-to-text software on your computer, online, or mobile phone is typically faster and less expensive per audio minute than using a human transcriber. However, the results are often less exact and may require extensive editing and modifications to ensure everything is clear.
Using a Reputable Audio Transcription Service
Audio transcription services like Ditto Transcripts offer, are noticeably more accurate and might take a little longer to finish than an app. Professional typing services companies are much better at understanding accents, and slang. Not only that, they are pros at deciphering what two or more speakers are saying while talking over one another. Filler words, like “ums,” can be eliminated by human transcribers and almost always cause problems with software-based transcription options because they can’t understand them well.
Best Apps to Transcribe Voice Memos
Accuracy and high-quality transcriptions are essential when selecting an app that transcribes audio. You must be confident that the tool you’re using will deliver the desired results.
Many applications claim to be able to perform all of this conveniently, but which is the best app for transcribing audio to text?
Express Scribe (For the Do-It-Yourselfer)
One of the first companies on the market to offer transcription tools is Express Scribe. I should mention that Express Scribe is not an AI-based transcribing tool. Rather, think of it like a feature-rich audio player. Customers can take advantage of this audio player transcription editor using a USB foot pedal to start and stop the audio. Also, the software allows the user to control the audio playing speed. Transcriptionists use speed control because it enables them to alter the playback speed of an audio file to more clearly grasp what is being said, making it easier for the transcriber to transcribe what they hear manually.
Not only that, automatic file saving safeguards the transcriptionists’ work, in case the computer shuts down.
If you’re looking for audio transcription software that works with various audio file types, Express Scribe is a good option to take into account.
SpeedScriber (Insanely Fast Automated Transcription)
SpeedScriber is a software package that offers automatic transcription and allows users to transcribe audio files (such as voice memos) quickly and easily. This product enables users to import audio or video files from Finder and its main advantage is that it allows you to edit your transcripts. That means you can make changes to your transcriptions as needed, which can save you time. Moreover, with SpeedScriber, you can also print and export transcripts for future reference.
That said, SpeedScriber isn’t cheap. Published rates are between $0.37 per min – $0.50 per minute.
Warning: SpeedScriber is an automated transcription software package – so, it might work well for single-person narrative or one-on-one interviews. However, anything beyond that, and accuracy will suffer greatly.
How to Transcribe iPhone Voice Memos?
The easiest app I’ve found to transcribe voice memos is to download the Just Press Record iPhone app (from the App Store.) It costs $4.99 (one-time purchase) and is packed with features.
Just Press Record is a well-thought-out speech-to-text app with one-tap recording, transcription, and iCloud synchronization across all devices.
To use the app, launch the Just Press Record app to start transcribing notes. Like other automated transcription apps, this app performs well, but it’s not perfect. If your transcription is important, you’ll want to double-check the contents before saving it.
Warning: Like SpeedScriber, Just Press Record is an automated transcription software package that could work well for single-person narrative or one-on-one interviews. However, add additional persons or background noise, and accuracy will suffer greatly.
We Can Help You Get A Perfect Transcript
It makes sense why some content creators initially hesitate to trust their audio to a transcriptionist. You might be reluctant to hire someone to transcribe the audio files if they include sensitive information. This is where Ditto Transcripts shines.
We understand the value of secrecy thanks to our experience over the past twelve years providing legal and law enforcement transcribing and medical transcription services. Whatever the topic of the audio file you provide us, we value our customers’ privacy highly and have security measures in place to protect it.
To provide you peace of mind and trust, Ditto Transcripts is more than happy to sign and provide you with an NDA and confidentiality agreement. Along with cyber liability insurance, we also have general liability insurance. Our company also complies with HIPAA and CJIS regulations.
With Ditto Transcripts, you can be confident that your projects will have accurate, timely, and economic papers. Contact us at (720) 287-3710 to learn more.
