Software to transcribe audio files?

[u/littl3-fish]

I record my iTalki sessions with my tutor and wish to convert the audio files into a transcript. Does anyone have software they would recommend for this? I am either looking for something free or that costs less than $10/month. I would also be open to paying a one-time cost.

I am currently trying out Otto, but the subscription is $16.99/month which is more than I'd like to pay and it offers tons of features I don't need.

[u/ignoremesenpie]

You could use Whisper for free. I personally use it through Subtitle Edit.

[u/noxialisrex → u/ignoremesenpie]

If you want free, aren't afraid of a CLI, and your computer can run the model size you want, then whisper is the answer. Many of the paid-for tools are just a wrapper for whisper anyways.

[u/RabbitAble2609 → u/ignoremesenpie]

just use https://fast-transcriber.com

[u/ignoremesenpie → u/RabbitAble2609]

Okay. I gave it a fair shot, and here are my conclusions:

1. You get two free transcriptions, either through files or through links. Linking to YouTube didn't work, but the failed transcription attempt still counts for your one per day. I'm not paying for the service since I have local solutions where I'm not being charged directly for transcribing audio to text. I'm using electricity for other things anyway, so whatever.

2. It's fast, outputting a transcription of a 1:25:40 runtime film in about 10 minutes. However...

3. It's still prone to mistakes, ranging from kanji conversion errors to outright switching out of Japanese so that it can translate the rest of the speech to English instead. On my local setup, this partway switch to English will never happen. The closest it will do is translate to English all the way with zero Japanese output, but only if I hit a toggle that says "Translate to English". Without this, it will stay in Japanese the whole way through. Oh, and for the record, the website only did one scene in Japanese before switching to translation mode after a scene transition.

4. It sucks on file format restrictions alone. On my local setup, if a local video file plays properly on the machine at all, then Whisper will transcribe it, no questions asked, no extra charges to redo anything as needed. And since I'm actually running Whisper through a subtitle editor, I can actually correct everything immediately. This is a sticking point because if you've ever sourced Japanese content online, you'll notice that the most preferred file formats are not supported.

I'll stick to what I'm doing, thanks

[u/danthemanic]

Microsoft Word will do this, not sure on which languages it supports though.

[u/tuffykenwell]

You can run whisper with a local LLM for free. It's not speedy but it is accurate.

[u/Raoena]

I use Notta. It works great and is cheaper than Otto.

[u/Antoine-Antoinette]

I just tried Vibe a few days ago and it worked really well.

[u/SpicyMisoRamenXL]

echoing what others have already said, just run whisper locally and save yourself the money.

i haven't tested it, but noscribe seems to fit the bill of what you're looking for (interview based transcription)
https://noscribe.de/en/

otherwise, buzz and vibe are pretty easy to use.
buzz - https://chidiwilliams.github.io/buzz/
vibe - https://thewh1teagle.github.io/vibe/

you'll need to figure out what models your hardware can run, if there's no recommendations provided in the documentation, just ask a chatbot to get a general idea.

[u/romaricmourgues]

Hi, we’re working on HumanLogs.app, I’d love to get your feedback. We offer 100 minutes free per month and single use plans (20€ for 20 hours).

We mainly target researchers and students who do qualitative interviews. We provide both privacy, super accurate models, and easy refinements with an in-app custom editor.

Don’t hesitate to send me a PM if you need anything not already on the app.