Easy ways to get your lectures for free or at an affordable cost
Everyone who has ever tried to convert an audio file into text knows that this type of work is very exhausting. Even possessing good typing skills, transcribing audio content of minutes duration turns into hours of tedious work. There are perfect ways to ease life, which do not cost space money. And we are going to speak about it in this article.
The necessity of academic transcription
Academic transcription is a vital method to review the audio source on paper. It is convenient for educators and students both to emphasize the most significant points without missing any detail.
Since the lecture usually includes many facts, digits, and other valuable information, sometimes it is uneasy to find the slightest details while searching it in a media source. Yet, it is simple when the text lays right before your eyes.
Having the lecture printed or saved in a text document makes it easy to return to it any time later. While reading, you can refresh the meaning in your mind quicker without the need to listen to the audio file over again and filter the minor information. That is the next advantage of the transcription among the convenience: it saves plenty of time.
Academic works include a wide range of studies, researches, discussions, interviews, seminars, and lectures. While listening to this information in audio, you get a general understanding, the scope of the problem, solutions, and other crucial facts.
However, an audio file is barely appropriate for an in-depth inside review of the material. You may need to play-pause a hundred times before you find what you need.
To get academic work on paper, you have two ways to follow. The first one is automatic transcription. The second one is applying for transcription services.
Students often confuse due to the costs to transcribe the recording. In this case, a free online transcription program can be helpful, although it is time-consuming. Let’s try to find the middle ground to get the text cheaper and quick.
5 tips to economize time and money on transcription of academic works
Getting the best transcription at an affordable price without spending a lot of time is not fantastic when you determine the purpose of your transcription. For instance:
- Do It Yourself. If you need to get your content transcribed for personal usage without any strict demands, you can use any online transcriber. On the Internet, you can find free ones as well as partly free with modest upgrading costs. These tools will give you a general meaning of your audio content. Machine errors will be present there. If that fact does not make you upset, you can do the corrections on your own, choose this economizing method.
- Audio of pure quality. If you decided to apply to a transcription company, it is possible to save the costs via delivering an audio file of excellent quality without any sound distortions. For that, maintain the necessary conditions in advance:
- record audio file in a quiet environment;
- test the sound quality before recording the whole speech or a dialogue;
- use high-quality technical equipment with a powerful microphone;
- keep the distance of the speaker as close to the microphone as possible;
- use reliable software for your records.
- Hire a freelancer. A client who needs to get their video or audio to a text has a wide range of vendors. If your audio file does not include private information (or you are not bothered much about it), needing someone to complete the current work, hire a freelancer. There are many platforms with profiles of available specialists in your field. So you can choose even among freelancers too. However, if you are demanding about privacy, quality, and deadline frames, expecting the guarantees from the organization, do not risk and place an order in a credible professional human transcription service.
- Play on your requirements. Discussing the deadlines, formats of the outcoming file, and other wishes in advance can decrease the expenses for transcription. You can ask the price at several transcription companies and choose the cheapest one with a decent level of service without overpaying. Secondly, it will exclude any surprises from a transcription company when the time comes to pay the bill.
- Transform video into audio beforehand. There are plenty of free services on the Internet that can help you to do that. Meanwhile, you will save the costs for delivering an audio source for transcription, which will cost reasonably cheaper than a video one.
Do not be shy to discuss all your requirements with professional transcriptionists. When forming an order, inform that you are on a tight budget and listen to the suggestions they can offer.
Transcription has become a vital part of studying nowadays. Enjoy it to the fullest for the price that completely satisfies you, leaving enough time for your rest. Keep all your lectures for better time management, balancing time for studying and fun.