Talking New Media: Trint launches new tool for transcribing audio files to text

Trint launches new tool for transcribing audio files to text
September 29, 2016

Company has received funding from Knight Enterprise Fund, the Google Digital News Initiative, Cisco and BBC Worldwide Labs

Here is a new solution for transcribing interviews that TNM readers may find very interesting. I know I do.

I have not tested Trint out yet, but I will soon. I signed up for the service. Most of my interviews, when I actually do them, tend to me longer. But I could easily edit them down to this length to test the service.

There are three price levels for the service: a pay as you go level that costs 25 cents a minute, with the first hour at $5; a $40 per month level where you get 3 hours; and a $120 per month level for heavy users who need 10 hours.

That still seems pricey to me, but if the service is actually good it might still be worth it for me. For those working for actual pay (!!) they might be able to get their publisher to allow them to expense this.

Here is the company’s announcement:

NEW YORK, NY – October 11, 2016 –– Following successful beta tests at Thomson Reuters, BBC, NPR and The Washington Post, Trint has launched its cloud-based transcription platform to the world. CEO and Co-Founder Jeff Kofman, an Emmy-award winning journalist, announced today that Trint is open to everyone. Thousands of people on its waiting list have now been given access, including a free trial of 30 minutes of transcription.

“Until now, transcription has been stuck in the last century. Even with the huge advances in the accuracy of automated speech-to-text, the error rate has meant the output can’t be trusted,” said Kofman, who was an ABC, NBC and CBC correspondent for more than 30 years. “Trint’s innovation solves this problem. Our technology does the heavy lifting, making it easy for anyone to search, verify machine-generated transcripts and polish them to perfect in minutes.”

Trint’s automated speech-to-text technology provides users with transcripts they can trust. It opens new opportunities for journalists, academics, healthcare providers, legal professionals and others, who want to streamline their work.

The technology marries a text editor to an audio/video player. The intuitive editor makes it simple to quickly search a word, click on it to play – if there is an error in the automated transcription users can instantly correct it. Hours of work are reduced to minutes. Users can add instant captions for silent video on social media and export content with unprecedented ease to Twitter, Facebook etc. With good audio users are reporting transcription accuracy of up to 98%.

WHAT TRINT DOES

  • Upload audio or video to get accurate transcripts back in minutes
  • Search for relevant content in seconds
  • Polish transcripts using the Trint editor that glues the text of the automated transcript to your audio
  • Get accurate timings and timecodes instantly
  • Caption audio and video for social media in one click

Trint has received funding and support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Enterprise Fund, the Google Digital News Initiative, Cisco and BBC Worldwide Labs. It won 2016 Startup of the Year from the Global Editors Network.

“There is increased demand on journalists and content creators of all kinds to produce quality news and information as efficiently as possible,” said Ben Wirz Knight Foundation Director for Venture Investments. “Trint answers this call by automating the transcription process and giving readers more complete, discoverable stories in text and video.”
After two years of development, Trint is changing how journalists access content from across the world.

“In a time of newsroom budget cuts and live video content, the tool aims to support and accelerate the invaluable work coming out of the news industry today,” said Kofman.

Claim your free 30-minute trial of Trint at https://trint.com

Originally published here.

We’re always happy to chat about the innovative tech we work on here at Trint, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for all media enquiries at victoria@trint.com.

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