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As a journalist and reviewer, what I needed to increase my productivity was voice dictation software.

I wanted all my carefully curated thoughts ready to be padded out into a fully-fledged review.

Endel app on phone display with finger selecting an app option

Otter.ai allows you to upload audio files for transcription. It will archive both your audio and the transcript, so you always have access to them online. New Ai features allow it to create summaries of your transcripts.

There had to be a better, more efficient way.

Otter.ai is a web-based automated transcription service.

There is another part of what I do, which involves interviewing photographers to write feature articles.

A variety of app screen from Otter.ai showing the main menu, a sample of a transcription and the ai generated summary of a transcription

Otter.ai allows you to upload audio files for transcription. It will archive both your audio and the transcript, so you always have access to them online. New Ai features allow it to create summaries of your transcripts.

I record with two voice recorders - one fromSonyand the other from Olympus.

The reason for two recordings is redundancy, just in case a recorder fails or a file gets corrupted.

Again, Otter.ai came to the rescue thanks to the ability to upload audio files for transcription.

A screenshot of the desktop version of the Otter.ai transcription service

The desktop version of Otter.ai is virturally identical to the app, making it seamless from recording a voice on your phone to working with the transcript on a PC. The service also archives past recordings and transcripts, so you can access them wherever you are.

It’s not perfect, but the word recognition does well.

Also, the app could be a little more personalized.

I could, for instance, do some camera and photography-specific terms.

An image of an iPhone 14 held in a hand with Otter.ai transcription app open on the screen

However, the transcription is accurate enough for me to get started.

Impressively, it integrates withZoom and Google Meetingsto record the audio and transcribe everything that has been said.

With a free account, you might only upload three audio or video files for transcription.

I have a Pro account, which is $16.99 a month or $120 per annum.

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