Transcription FAQ

See also: The podcast subscription service's FAQ, and the Expedited Service page.
Is the price really per minute of audio?
Yes it is. We price on the length of the audio we receive - not the amount of time it takes to complete the transcript. This means that all audio submitted will be transcribed - and you need to pay for the full length. Also this is the price for good quality audio - see What quality of audio does CastingWords accept? for more details.
What influences turnaround?
Many things influence turnaround, if you need your file within a week, use our expedited service. We currently offer 24 hour turnaround.
We also now offer a difficult audio option which helps speed up turnaround as well.
The biggy here is audio quality. Even if your audio meets our minimum quality standards, it may still take longer to transcribe than better quality audio. Audio with heavy accents, background noise, and/or highly obscure or technical content may take longer to transcribe and edit. Longer files take longer than short ones -- particularly as they start to get longer than 2 hours, turnaround increases fairly dramatically.
What format are the finished transcripts delivered in?
The finished transcriptions are delivered in plain text, html and rtf. RTF is MS Word friendly format. If you have the URL for a transcript change the file extension bit at the end to download the other formats.
What is the notes box for?
The "notes" box is a way for you to communicate with both CastingWords and the transcriptionist. The box may be used, for example, to list the names of podcast speakers, or to point out potentially tricky technical terms, acronyms, or spellings of words. It is helpful to include a link to the site of the original podcast or another relevant site, notes on anything in the podcast that does NOT need to be included in the transcription (beyond the commercial breaks - those should be noted if you DO want them transcribed). Please keep in mind that the quality of the notes included will directly affect the quality of the final transcript--a good set of notes can reduce the time required for you to edit the podcast transcription once it is delivered to you.
Why get an account?
Castingwords accounts are not required for orders, and they do not save your credit card information. However they are very useful, they allow you to check up on your order status, retrieve all completed transcripts, and set up standard notes for all of your orders.
Does CastingWords skip the ads in the podcast?
Yes. Our standard policy is that all breaks from the program are to be noted but not transcribed by the transcriptionists. This includes ads, promos and songs.

If you need this content transcribed, please mention it in the box provided for notes to the transcriptionists.
How many speakers are too many?
With each additional speaker the chances of mislabeled speakers increases. In addition, changes in speaker may not be identified with larger numbers of speakers, or speakers with similar voices. If you don't need to distinguish between every speaker, but want to use something that is more inclusive (such as Moderator and Panelist), please include this in the notes. This helps speed up editing quite a bit.

We generally accept podcasts with large numbers of speakers - but set lower standards on the resulting transcript quality. As a general rule, transcripts with 3 or less speakers -- or with one main speaker and some 'Q & A' are of good quality. Other transcripts may require significant editing on your part.
What quality of audio does CastingWords accept?
Audio quality affects transcript quality. We need audio sampled at least 44.1 kHz, with adequate volume, and very limited background noise, to produce transcripts of a reasonable quality. We may turn down work if we feel the audio quality is poor.
What is meant by difficult audio quality?
Difficult audio is transcribable, but noticeably hard to understand. Some things that can make audio difficult include: background noise, many speakers who talk on top of each other, lots of jargon, and/or strong accents. If you have more than one of these present in your audio, it is pretty much guaranteed to be difficult audio. Expedited and Podcast Subscription products only work with good quality audio, and if we can't handle the audio quality we will notify you and refund your order.
When are timestamps placed (if requested) ?
Timestamps are inserted at the beginning of each speaker change, and if appropriate, for instance in audio with longer monologues, at paragraph breaks.
What feed types does CastingWords handle?
Currently we only accept RSS 2.0 feeds with enclosures, or direct links to audio files. In the future we may handle other feed types -- send a feature request to support@castingwords.com if this is an issue for you.
What file types does CastingWords accept?
We can only handle MP3, MP4, and WAV files at this time. See the next question for how to convert some other file types into MP3 format.
How do I convert my audio file into MP3?
WAV to MP3 on Windows or Mac using iTunes:

If you have a .wav file, you can easily convert it into MP3 using iTunes. Just open it up using iTunes, then right-click (control click on the Mac) on the song. Choose "Convert Selection to MP3". To figure out where iTunes saved the new MP3, choose File - >Get Info, then look at the Where section at the bottom of the Summary tab.

Can I use FTP?
We now offer FTP to registered users. You can sign up for an account at the customer center. After that upload your files to ftp://castingwords.com, using your email and password to login, just as you would at our site. (Note: Many FTP clients ask for a `username` this is your email address.) Once your upload is completed go to my uploads to view, manage, and create orders from your uploads.
What kinds of notifications will I receive?
We always email you. We try to use the email supplied with the audio file, but under certain circumstances we end up using the PayPal Email.

We also supply you with an RSS feed for your order, which tracks it's progress through the system, unless we encounter problems this is a boring feed, but it provides the most detail of any notification from us.

And finally we provide you with a 'podcastable' RSS feed of all of your the transcriptions we have done for you + their associated audio.
What kinds of payment does CastingWords accept?
CastingWords uses PayPal and Google Checkout for payments. As such you may use your PayPal account or Google Checkout account as normal. Or if you do not already have a an account you may pay using Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express on our PayPal and Google Checkout payment pages.
Are you hiring?
Yes, we are always looking for freelance transcribers and editors. This page explains how to work for us: How to Work for CastingWords. Below is a brief overview of how we get our transcription done.

We are using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform to do the transcriptions. It's easy to become a transcriptionist,all you have to do is visit mturk.com and sign up for an account - you don't need to have an Amazon account already, as when you sign up one will be created for you.

The next step is for you to take our qualification test. Click on the Qualifications tab at the top of MTurk's website (after logging in) and then find "CastingWords PPT". Click on "Take the Qualification test" and follow the instructions. When your test is accepted you will receive an email letting you know, then you're ready to transcribe!

When we send transcriptions to MTurk and they appear in the "HITs Available to You" area. All you have to do is find the CastingWords HIT, click on "View a HIT in this group" and, if you'd like to do the transcription, click Accept.

If you want to learn more about MTurk itself, please visit Mechanical Turk.


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