As we are slowly moving towards the end of the business transcription season, maybe the academic transcription season is going to start in full flow.  So, this serves as the perfect premise for us to let you know about ScriptoSphere.com‘s attractive academic transcription services.

Our academic transcription services are probably one of the best on the internet.  We have served, over the years, a lot of clients, providing them accurate and affordable transcripts, which fits perfectly into a PhD candidate or a student’s budget.  We charge only $0.90 per audio minute for transcribing and proofreading all academic interviews, for a turnaround time of 2 to 3 business days.

We pride ourselves on our extensive experience in the field of academic transcription over the past decade, and the affordable rates are because it comes as second nature to us.  The whole process is also extremely easy and streamlined for our clients.  If you have a recorder, all you have to do is transfer your audio files to a computer or a portable device, then open up ScriptoSphere.com, go to the upload page, browse and select your audio files, and just click send.  We’ll receive the audio files within minutes, contact you via email with a quote and begin the transcription, and you get the transcript back in your email inbox as soon as humanly possible.  Really, it’s that easy!

Do not hesitate to contact us in case you have any questions.  We are here to serve.

Audio transcription pricing

Upload your audio files for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

Since we’re coming close to another extremely busy season of business transcription, maybe this post would serve as a good reference for new transcribers to prepare for the third quarter season beginning in October, and also for clients to know how much effort really goes into finishing the transcripts in time.

Business transcription is one of the, if not the most, important services offered by any transcription service online.  The audio files are usually earnings results disclosures by large multinationals like banks, oil and gas – petroleum companies, retail supermarket chains, automobile manufacturers, software giants and video game studios etc.

These files usually have extremely tight deadlines, and that sometimes means that they need to be transcribed within 4 or even 3 hours.  This requires from the transcriber to have extremely fast typing speed and a good ear, and pretty much know all business terms and jargons, because you just can’t afford to waste time going back and forth searching for some simple terms.  Time management is another key thing required in business transcription, which means your one eye should always be on the clock, because if the transcript is not returned on time, there could be penalties.

Hopefully this post was an eye opener many new transcribers just getting started in the field of audio transcription, and also a reference point for clients to learn how much effort really goes into transcribing a conference call.

Rates for audio transcription

Upload your audio files for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

As a business company, you have to build the trust of your customers just like any other business enterprise.  Confidence building with clients is a very important factor, and also for them to see your service is reliable and that they can trust you with their personal or professional files, that often involves confidential data (PhD or some university project). You’d be surprised to find out that a confidentiality agreement is required not only in academic transcription and legal transcription, but many other fields.  Clients also need the assurance of quality and accuracy, but that can only be judged after they review the transcripts.

Now, ScriptoSphere has been delivering transcription services for many years, so I believe we would be qualified to underline and point out or even identify as a completely new feature, the key fields to assess an individual transcriber’s skills OR the services of an entire audio transcription company.

Ethical Code:

• Degree of professionalism: Not much to say here, it has to be proven with references or samples and trials.
• Confidentiality: Ask for a confidentiality agreement if you need one.  Any online transcription service should be gladly willing to sign it
• The human touch:  When contacting the transcription service through email or on the phone, the customer service has to be top-notch.  Not only do they have to be nice with you, that is a prerequisite, but more importantly they should be able to answer any and all questions you might have.

Experience:

• To gauge how experienced a company is, one should look at their testimonials page.  Of course, not all clients provide a testimonial.  The more experience a transcription service has, the more accurate and fast the transcription process would be.
• Database of specific terms – obviously in the fields in which they are qualified. This again can be ascertained with the accuracy and quality of the transcripts.
• Proofreading:  This is one of the most important aspects of audio transcription.  Once a file is transcribed, it’s proofread at least once, if not twice (in case of tough files).  This helps clean up the file a great deal and correct it grammatically, and also the resulting transcript is better since it went through two sets of ears.

It will be safe to assume that ScriptoSphere rates highly in the all the above mentioned key features, and you can safely choose us for the transcription of your audio files, you will always get the best quality at the lowest price, in the shortest time.

Audio transcription pricing

Upload your audio for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

Audio transcription has been in the media industry for as long as you can remember, but it was almost invisible to those who didn’t pay attention.  Of course, the process of turning voice to text wasn’t as lightning fast as it is today (thanks to online transcription services for that), and the whole process also wasn’t as streamlined as it is today.

Earlier, after the radio shows were recorded, the tape cassettes then were snail mailed to either a select few transcription services operating at those times, or they used an in-house transcriber who used to pull excerpts from the recorded interview, to print in either newspapers or magazines.  Same would hold true for journalists and reporters who were able to record interviews with celebrities either in sports or the entertainment industry, or with politicians.

Today however, the whole process has changed dramatically, thanks to the ever evolving technology and faster internet speeds.  These days, we have podcasts, which are nothing but radio shows that a user is able to download to their computer or a portable player, and listen at their own convenience.

To provide better alternatives to their listeners, many podcasters, radio show producers etc. publish transcripts of their shows on their websites, so that if someone is too busy to listen to the podcast, they can simply open the transcript and get to the part they’re most interested in.  Many people also like to print these transcripts and read it in their comfort, on their own time, following their own pace instead of the talk-show hosts’.

For precisely the aforementioned reasons, there are many transcription companies around the web providing podcast transcription services as one of their premier services.  Obviously, podcasts being crystal clear audio, they are a favorite of all transcribers and proofreaders, and because of the audio quality, podcast transcription also costs the least.

Of course, there are certain money-grabbing companies who would ask you to pay unimaginable money to transcribe these podcasts.  Without taking any names, I saw one such company asking a monumental $3 per minute for converting podcasts to text!  That in our opinion is complete rubbish.

ScriptoSphere charges its clients a mere $0.90 per minute of audio for a turnaround time of between 2 to 3 business days.  That, as told to us by our clients, is a highly reasonable price for the quality we provide.  With this post, we are not trying to sway your decision by offering a cheap rate, but only trying to help new clients not get ripped off by “big name” companies where they pay thrice the price for the same quality of transcripts and turnaround time.

Rates for Audio transcription

Upload audio files for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

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ScriptoSphere gets some very common questions on Audio Transcription frequently, and we’ll attempt to answer those questions on our blog here in this FAQ series.  Some of the new questions are listed below:

Q:  I am confused about your rates.  I have a 60 minute file ready to be transcribed, but I don’t know how much would it cost.  Please give a quote.  Thanks.

A: Our rates are listed on our homepage here: http://www.scriptosphere.com and for the RUSH rates, you can visit our Policy page here: http://www.scriptosphere.com/policy.htm.  Now, as you can see, the rates depend on the quality of your audio file.  So, for example, if your recorded audio has two speakers, and the audio quality is clean and clear where both of them are easy to understand, it will fall under our Type I category, which is $0.90 per minute of audio.  So, for a 60 minute audio file, the transcript will cost you 60 x $0.90 = $54.  This is of course the rate for a normal turnaround time of between 2-3 business days.  If you want the transcript sooner, the rate goes up, as explained on our Policy page.

Q: What are your payment options and any policies that you might have?

A: You can pay us either via PayPal or via Xoom.  The first option is easier for some clients as they already do a lot of online shopping via PayPal.  Xoom is an alternative for sending money directly to our bank account, and this option is used for large orders of transcription, where the total invoice amount exceeds $300 or $400.

Our policy for new clients can be of upfront payment, because we have no way of knowing whether the client will remain honest and pay up after they get their transcripts.  We would like to think that it’s an ideal, honest world out there, but that’s not the case, and audio transcription is a really difficult job that deserves payment, just like you would pay any other service.

Q: I can’t figure out how to upload my file on your website for transcription.  Can you please help?

A: The process of uploading your files on the ScriptoSphere website is really easy.  You’ll see the upload button at the top on our website, and also the big banner that says “Upload your audio files here” at the bottom.  If there is a problem with either of those two, simply click this link: http://www.scriptosphere.com/upload.htm.

Once you open that page, be patient because the upload box can take a little time to load.  Once the upload box has loaded, simply enter your email address, and details about the file and yourself, then proceed to the next step.  Next, simply click on the “Browse” button and locate the file on your computer hard drive.  You can choose up to 5 files to upload.  Now that you have chosen to upload your files, simply click on the “SendThisFile” button, and the file will reach us.  We’ll contact you within 24 hours with the quote and other information.

Hopefully the above questions were helpful for you, our beloved clients.  Do not hesitate to email us for any further questions that you might have, on transcription@scriptosphere.com.

Audio transcription pricing

Upload your audio files for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

I guess all of us at some point in our busy daily life spend a few minutes to read an interview of our favorite actor/actress, sportsperson, politician, media celebrity, book author and what not.  Of course, none of those people have the time to sit and narrate their interview to an on-the-spot transcriber who types it all into a print-ready document.  Of course not.

What the reporters and journalists do is record their interview and then get the interview transcribed by professional transcription service providers, which turn voice to text making the interview print-ready to be published in newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites.

The whole process happens pretty fast too.  In today’s world, where technology has made so many things so much easier, audio transcription has gone pretty much on the same path.  With the advent of SmartPhones all over the world, people can now just record the interview on their phone, and then using the phone itself, upload the recorded audio to the transcription company‘s website, and receive the transcript back within a mere hours, depending on the file duration and quality.

This wonderful streamlining of the transcription process has been made possible by the thousands of online audio transcription services which have opened shop in recent years.  Hopefully this post was able to shed light on the importance of audio transcription in every day life.

Audio Transcription Pricing

Upload your recordings for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

What we are getting at in this post is that today’s booming online transcription service industry has been helped in a big way because of technology and the advent of digital sound formats like MP3, WAV, WMA, RA, DSS, M4A etc.  Earlier, let’s say about 15 or 20 years ago, there was no way that online transcription companies would have existed, well because first of all the internet was not as widespread as today, and secondly there were no digital file formats available at all.

The process of converting voice to text became oh so convenient only because of the availability of internet in the 21st century, which meant that it was accessible to everyone at a nominal cost, and as the computers became cheaper, it made its way into almost every home.  Today, almost everyone can afford an internet connection, and this has made the process of audio transcription really that easy.

Before all of this however, transcription services used to operate out of yellow pages, radio and print advertisements etc.  And since there were no digital sound files available, that meant that transcription had to be done via tape cassettes, VHS or audio CDs, which meant using different players for each of them.  And of course, all of this made the whole process extremely tedious, painstaking, expensive and time consuming.

Today, the digital audio files that we’re talking about, that everyone is familiar with, for example MP3, WMA, WAV etc., these can be emailed to the transcription company, if they are small enough.  If the files are huge in size, transcription service providers like ScriptoSphere provide an upload page, where people can browse and select their audio files from their computer and upload it.

These files are then downloaded by the transcriber, who then transcribes it as quickly as possible with the help of a transcription software, a word processor software and several transcription equipments like a digital noise-canceling headphone, transcription foot pedals, sound amplifiers and so on.  After these files are transcribed, a highly trained and qualified proofreader then takes the transcript and edits it thoroughly, making the transcript much easier to read, grammatically correct, clean and concise and pretty much print-ready.

Because of the smaller file-size of these audio files, the whole transcription process takes almost only 1% of the time it used to take two decades ago.  This has proven to be extremely useful for people wanting to outsource their work, for PhD candidates who are also full time workers, for multinationals who can’t do this work in-house etc. etc.

Audio transcription rates

Upload audio for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

In these times of economic instability, it’s obvious that everyone searches for ways to cut their expenses.  So, when you need your audio files transcribed, how do you achieve this?  The answer is very simple and you might have guessed it already.  The good news is that in the last 15 years, the internet has spred all around the globe.  Today, people get the same things done in mere seconds, for which they had to spend hours standing in queues.

You could say what has this got to do with anything?  So, here is your answer: the advent of internet and all the online services have given birth to outsourcing.  If you need to cut down your expenses and get your audio files transcribed at much, much cheaper rates with the same level of accuracy and quality, if not better, the best solution is to outsource your transcription needs.  You would want to take the following criteria under consideration:

• Choose an online transcription service, don’t try to do it yourself.  Anyone who has ever tried transcribing even 5 minutes of audio will tell you, that without the proper expertise and equipment, it’s a painstaking and tedious process.  So, getting an online audio transcription company will save you a huge amount of time and result in a much better quality of your output file.
• Precisely for this reason, the internet proves to be of tremendous help.  Spend some time searching for a proper transcription service.  It’s recommended to not choose a big transcription company with a big and fancy website, because usually they have high costs and no promise of a turnaround time.  So, while you could pay around $0.70 per minute, you wouldn’t know when you would get your transcript back, could take weeks or even a month.
• Do not choose a company situated in any of the western countries, because their expenses, as well as their wages, have to be higher since they have higher costs due to the maintenance of a large team, and auxiliary personnel (the web-page design and maintenance, for example).
• The so-called “third world countries’” workers are satisfied with much lower rates, due to a lower level of subsistence, but the level of expertise in the field of turning voice to text is the same, since the level of education is almost as good, if not on-par.  For example, a lot of multinational companies who outsourced their work in the last 20 years, found the same level of quality and a higher level of dedication, at 10 times lesser price!
• Do not be fooled by claims from other companies that they’re completely onshore, as they claim to be completely “in-house” either in America, UK or Australia.  99.9% of the online transcription companies get their job done offshore, most of the English related work in India, and also Philippines and Eastern European countries.  If you do even a little research, you will find this out.  The reason being quite simple, because it will be foolish, from a business point of view, to offer competitive rates while living in a western country, and still manage your business efficiently.  It’s impossible!

So, all that we want to tell you is to be prudent when making your choice.  Do some research first before making your choice.  Don’t just spend time on the first few pages of the search engines, explore some more.  You might find something much better and cost effective.  This is not an advertising message for ScriptoSphere, because we are already on the first page for many search engines.  This post is meant only to help new clients.  Hopefully it did help!

Rates for audio transcription

Upload your recorded audio files for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com

We get new requests from new clients regarding audio transcription on a daily basis, and so we thought it would be a good idea to make a post with useful information that could help these clients and save them some time.  I’ll illustrate this information in a few bullet points down below, so here it goes:

• Read the website first: In many cases, most of the information that you seek can be found on the website alone, and in ScriptoSphere‘s case, all the information that a new client may need, is given on the homepage, the Policy page, and the Terms & Conditions page.  Going through these pages will save you a whole lot of time.  You may also want to check out the Privacy Policy page.
• Your audio file format: Though ScriptoSphere has absolutely NO issues with whatever file format you may have, for your convenience it’s advisable to record your audio file in any one of the “lossy” formats or formats that make your file-size smaller, for example MP3, WMA, DSS etc.  You can do so by setting up your digital recorder or buying a digital recorder that records in MP3.  This way, when you upload your audio files, it takes lesser time.  This is hugely helpful especially if you’re running on a tight schedule.
• Be prepared to pay first: Because of certain inconveniences in the past, not only us, but many transcription companies around the web have become more wary of first time clients or clients who provide no name, no data, and provide an external email address.  This is why ScriptoSphere may ask you to pay us first before emailing the transcript to you.
• Specify instructions clearly for custom transcription: Always specify how you want the transcription done, whether it’d be verbatim transcription OR grammatically correct, clean and concise edited transcripts (which is what we do by default), and also if you have a specific template in mind, otherwise you may need to re-send the transcript and we may have to redo it.

Hopefully this post will help new clients with making key decisions, which in the end will help them and the transcription service save a lot of time and do the job in a fast and efficient manner and produce a highly accurate, clean top-notch quality transcript.

Pricing for audio transcription

Upload your audio for transcription

Email us for a quote or further details: service@scriptosphere.com