Transcribing can be a nuisance. That's why I like Otter. It instantly—and surprisingly accurately—transcribes any audio you feed it. Up to 600 minutes a month for free.

These days I use Otter for dictation and to transcribe Zoom meetings. You can start Otter during a meeting and it’ll record and transcribe in real time. Or link Otter to Zoom automatically. (Ask participants for permission).

I shared a live transcript link with colleagues in a recent meeting. We could then scan through the various transcribed comments in five to 10 minutes and mark up highlights. Reviewing meeting recordings used to take an hour.

Here’s a two-minute video showing Otter live-transcribing a pre-pandemic interview.

Use the mobile app to dictate thoughts. That's especially handy now. After Zooming all day, I need an escape from screen typing. Here’s a sample transcript.

The pro level offers 6,000 minutes for $10/month, but 600 free minutes works for me. I have no affiliation with Otter, by the way, I just find it really useful. I share what I like.

To see more of Otter in action, here’s my new three-minute video demo:

p.s. For more on transcription tools, here’s a post I wrote referencing 20+ alternatives to Otter. This transcription tool Twitter list features their updates.

Future tool: I’m enjoying exploring Descript.com, a next-gen transcription + edit tool. More on that in a future post.

p.p.s. A one-minute summary video: