There’s a tool I cannot live without as a writer and journalist. A few years ago, I relied heavily on voice dictation software to increase my productivity. I recently discovered the greatness of a web-based service, Otter.ai, which has revolutionized the way I work with text, particularly in transcribing audio, making my work much more efficient.
The Otter.ai app enables me to record, instantly translating my spoken words into typed text. It does what most smartphones can do but offers more than just real-time transcription. I love to interview photographers for feature articles, and until I found Otter.ai, I had to replay hour-long audio recordings to accurately transcribe the conversations by hand. As an alternative, I can now upload audio files to Otter.ai, which archives both the audio and transcript online, providing access to summaries, making my life much easier.
Using Otter.ai has saved me countless hours, extensively improving my workflow. I’m now spared the laborious process of typing or dictating verbatim. Its impressive accuracy has exceeded my expectations, tagging speakers and recognizing camera and photography-specific terms. Moreover, Otter.ai can be linked to your Google calendar and integrate with Zoom and Google Meetings to record and transcribe audio from meetings.
The app also holds an outstanding AI software that recognizes topics and creates summarized timecoded transcripts, allowing convenience in accessing information. The chat feature lets me ask questions about the transcript, saving me the effort of transcribing conversations. And the best part? Otter.ai is free, but I find the Pro account at just $16.99 a month offers everything I need for better efficiency and accuracy.
Otter.ai is my go-to and is highly recommended for writers, journalists, bloggers, content creators, podcasters, and anyone else dealing with transcribing speech to text. Whether it’s the free, pro, or business accounts, Otter.ai is worth the investment and has made a significant impact on how I work.
I have over 10 years of experience in the cryptocurrency industry and I have been on the list of the top authors on LinkedIn for the past 5 years.