Digital Transcribers Lecture 1

DIGITAL TRANSCRIBERS 1-2-3
The History

Thank you for enrolling in our Digital Transcribers 1-2-3
course! Here at Learn to Transcribe, we have combed through the
various transcription software available today and present to you a
full overview of all of the choices, as well as state a couple of our
favorites.

We give you instructions on how to download and install
the software, how to load files, and some actual files to practice
loading into your software. You will be downloading a few free
transcribers, just to get the feel for how to work with digital audio.
But, first, let's take a step back into time so that we can bring you
forward to today.

For many years, a transcriber was a piece of equipment
sitting on a desk. Into that transcriber would be loaded a tape which
contained recorded audio. Those tapes varied over the years from
reel-to-reel to standard-size cassettes to mini-cassettes. Examples:

Standard-size cassettes Mini-size cassettes

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Foot pedals matching the machine were used. The
functions were “rewind,” “play,” “fast forward,” and “stop.”

Headsets were used to hear the audio more clearly. Most
of the earlier machines were sold with an “under the chin” headset
included, as pictured in the “Mini-size cassettes” photo. Since they
were free and worked fine, many transcriptionists just used that type
of headset and were happy with it.

Headphones then came onto the market, and some of the
headphones seemed to enhance the sound, so many transcriptionists
began switching to headphones which went over the head instead of
under the chin, as pictured in the “Standard-size cassettes” photo.

Muffled sound was a big problem with audio cassette
tapes. It could be nearly impossible to hear, with no way to improve
the quality. As a result, many transcriptionists felt frustrated with
having to leave so many [inaudibles] in transcripts.

Isolation by channels: This was invented so that, for
instance, in a courtroom, four different microphones were used, each
recording onto a separate track. In addition to the recorder, there
was a separate transcriber which allowed the transcriptionist to
isolate the tracks and only listen to what the judge said, what the
witness said, or what each attorney said. This was important when
there was rapid-fire crosstalk.

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Too expensive: The drawback to this system was that it
was very expensive at the time, so not everyone had access to four-
channel equipment. The transcriber itself was expensive and was
generally only provided to the court reporter. If the reporter hired
someone to transcribe the tapes, the transcriptionist would not have
the four-channel transcriber, as a rule. Why? It was simply too
expensive for the transcriptionist to purchase. Here's an example of
such a transcriber:

Other issues: Sometimes the tape itself would break,
requiring some surgery with Scotch tape. The tape sometimes would
not advance, requiring the use of a pencil into the sprocket, forcing
the tape to go forward or backwards.

Cost: For the provider of the audio, the cassette tapes
themselves were expensive, and they could only be erased or reused
twice or maybe three times at most. They could be “dubbed” with a
dubbing device so that the originals were kept intact, only providing
a copy to the transcriptionist, but this process was tedious, slow, and
expensive to hire someone to dub, say, hundreds of tapes to be sent
out for transcription.

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Delivery: To get the tapes to the transcriptionist, the
provider had to either hand deliver or have them mailed. The
mailing process delayed the project by a few days, assuming nothing
was lost in the mail. The system was not really efficient, but it
worked for many years and for thousands of transcriptionists. That's
all everyone had at the time, and nothing was thought of any other
way.

CD recorders: As technology progressed, onto the scene
came CD recorders that recorded the audio to a CD that could be
duplicated and delivered to the transcriptionist. The recorders were
very expensive and the delay with having to mail CDs was no
different than working with cassette tapes except that instead of
having to mail 30 or 40 tapes, all of the audio was condensed onto
one CD.

Digital audio transcribers: In order for a transcriptionist
to listen to the CD and transcribe the audio came the invention of
digital audio transcribers! The CD would be loaded into the
transcriptionist's computer, the transcription software would “find”
the CD, and the transcriptionist could then transcribe the audio using
a digital transcriber.

Too big to e-mail: The reason the audio could not be sent
via e-mail was because of its size. Different audio types are different
sizes. We have a whole course called Audio & Video 1-2-3 covering
everything you want to know about audio and video, which explains
all of this in more detail, but the short explanation is that the audio
from the CDs was uploaded. But how? Where?

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The cloud: As the Internet became more popular, ways of
transmitting data, including audio, were discovered. The audio
could be copied from the CD and uploaded to a “holding tank,” so to
speak, on the Internet. The client would upload the audio, send the
transcriptionist a link to download it into their computer.

These places where the audio was “held” for a few days or
longer were actually just giant Internet servers. They have become
known as “the cloud” offering “cloud storage.” Some companies
use commercial clouds and others have their own in-house servers.

Digital recorders: Around the same time as CD
popularity, we saw the advent of digital recorders. Most of them are
handheld, small in size, but powerful in the amount of audio that can
be stored in them. This was the breakthrough that began making the
audio cassette tapes obsolete.

At this point, all the client needed was a digital recorder, to
learn how to save and manipulate their files, upload them to a server,
and send the transcriptionist a link to download the file into their
computer. Here's some examples:

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Early digital transcribers: The transcriptionists then had
to find digital transcribers compatible with the audio files sent by
their clients. At the beginning of this new digital age, only a handful
of companies existed.

An early one was Express Scribe software. One reason for
its popularity was that it was totally free to download and use
forever. That is, until Express Scribe's company, NCH, decided to
no longer give away the software but only allow a 30-day free trial,
then the customer would have to purchase it.

Comparing the price charged with other companies, it's
really not that expensive, though, and so many transcriptionists just
stuck with Express Scribe because of its familiarity to them. The
paid version also unlocks loads of nifty features, such as the ability
to transcribe videos and do timestamping.

Lots of competition: Over time, as you can imagine,
digital transcribers have been developed by many companies, each
boasting of their specific features. New companies develop this
software at an amazing rate of speed, so you might find other
choices available in addition to the ones we discuss.

Sticking with what you know: Some of the digital audio
software is “tried and true” as claimed by lots of professional
transcriptionists. Most of them say that once they become
accustomed to a particular software, they stick with that same
software for years and years.

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Your system: The first step in the process is knowing your
present operating system and then looking through all of our listed
software for comparison. You will note that almost all of the digital
transcription software runs on Windows, with only a few brands
compatible with Mac.

The process to view your computer's information is similar
in all Windows versions. In some versions, it's Start, Computer,
Control Panel, System. In Version 7, it's Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, System Information, shown as follows:

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Features needed: The next step is determining what you
need the digital software to do. At this point, you may not even
know the answer to that question because you may not have any real
experience with paying clients yet.

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What do you need your digital software to do for you?

Q. Do you need multiple-channel A. There is no way you can predict whether

software? you will be offered multi-channel audio to

transcribe. Should that happen, then you

would need to find the multi-voice software

and either download it or buy it, learn how to

load and work with the files and be ready to

work for that client.

At this point, the vast majority of digital

audio files are not recorded with multi-

channels, just so you know!

Q. Do you need software that will A. Again, there is no way to predict whether

also allow you to timestamp? you will have a need for timestamping.

However, learning to timestamp is a

function that we teach in a separate course

called “Timestamping 1-2-3,” which you

should enjoy tremendously as you watch and

learn about timestamping.

Q. Do you need software that will A. Once again, the answer is the same. There

not only allow audio transcription is no way to predict whether you will need to

but is capable of transcribing transcribe videos.

video? But just so you will know how, we

demonstrate how to bring video into the

transcription software in this course.

Q. Do you need to buy digital A. The answer is simple: Start with the free
audio software, or can you just programs and only buy software should the
stick with the free ones? need arise.

Q. Do some companies include A. Yes. There are a few companies that want

the transcription software with the everything transcribed using their own

downloaded files? software embedded within the downloads

received from them.

Generally speaking, this is done for

security purposes to protect the audio from

the public domain or being shared.

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OVERVIEW

Now that you have a general understanding of digital audio
transcribers, how they came into being, and how they are now the
industry standard for transcription, you will now move into the next
lecture which discusses audio transcribers.

But before we continue our journey, it is very important to
note that we ALWAYS encourage using a foot pedal instead of hot
keys. Some long-time transcriptionists would argue, saying how
much they just “love” hot keys, but each time your fingers are
reaching to do a function, you are losing time from transcribing. The
second thing is that if you do timestamping, you will be using hot
keys, so there is no need to try to learn too many different hot keys.
For these reasons, we suggest that you go ahead and order an Infinity
foot pedal if you do not already have one.

Generally speaking, Infinity foot pedals are not stocked in
local stores and must be ordered via the Internet. The Infinity sells
for between $50 and $80, depending on where you buy, and can be
found at Amazon or similar places.

Buy it used? Sure! As long as the seller guarantees that it
works perfectly, go for it. Check eBay and similar places to find
your best deal. Even if you later choose to buy a “kit” that includes
a foot pedal, it is perfectly fine (even recommended) to have a
backup.

The reason we suggest the Infinity is because it works with
almost every transcriber on the market; and, thus, is considered to be
“universal” in nature.

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There is no software to install, no CD, as it is a plug-and-
play device. Your computer recognizes the device when plugged
into a USB port.

The cord from the pedal goes into a USB port on your
computer, so it is not wireless. For this reason, it's wise to keep this
and all other cords out of reach of young children and/or perhaps a
puppy who might love to chew on cords.

Here's a picture of the USB Infinity foot pedal.

Proceed to the next lecture!

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