This is so helpful, thank you. I used Dragon for a while but then they increased the cost phenomenally - so I dropped it. I hope Otter doesn't do that. So many apps go after the business customer and forget about non-business users.
A fellow journalist recommended Otter.ai to me back in May and it has transformed how I work. Instead of writing profiles, I now do Q&As, that capture all the nuance that was being left behind. Subscribers love it.
I am the co-founder of a company ( www.ziotag.com ) that picks up where transcription companies leave off. Once the words are accurately transcribed by the ASR engine, the next step is to apply meaning to the words and derive what concepts are being discussed in the transcript. We call this media contextualization. Otter.AI has done a great job on achieving highly accurate ASR for the spoken word. That sets them apart from their peers. The next step is using AI to provide structure around the transcript, enabling discovery, search and navigation for the concepts being discussed in the recording. Getting the words written accurately on a transcript is the first step. Deriving the concepts beings discussed correctly unlocks the true value of the content and exposes all of the content discovery, search and navigation.
Many years ago, when I had more hair and was actually working, I subscribed to the Atlantic so I could read your “software chronicles”. I think I tried them all, and still use several, but for me, the grail was always speech to text. I’ve read about Otter, but have not tried it. I think I will give it a whirl. Dragon pretty much pounded a stake through the heart of a project I have sitting on a shelf somewhere, but now I’m motivated to try again. Thank you for that spark.
For decades, I had vowed to cover presidential politics long enough to enjoy a self-transcribing tape recorder. Otter changed my life on the road with the Democrats in 2019-2020. One of the biggest virtues is that Otter allows you to easily play back the tape of any part from the transcript that you're using. So as a reporter, I could always check to make sure a meaning-changing word like "not" had not been omitted. Now that I have Otter, I need a new excuse to cover the 2024 campaign. Walter Shapiro
A thought experiment: if we invented a software called Beaver.ai, what would--or should--it do?
This is so helpful, thank you. I used Dragon for a while but then they increased the cost phenomenally - so I dropped it. I hope Otter doesn't do that. So many apps go after the business customer and forget about non-business users.
A fellow journalist recommended Otter.ai to me back in May and it has transformed how I work. Instead of writing profiles, I now do Q&As, that capture all the nuance that was being left behind. Subscribers love it.
I am the co-founder of a company ( www.ziotag.com ) that picks up where transcription companies leave off. Once the words are accurately transcribed by the ASR engine, the next step is to apply meaning to the words and derive what concepts are being discussed in the transcript. We call this media contextualization. Otter.AI has done a great job on achieving highly accurate ASR for the spoken word. That sets them apart from their peers. The next step is using AI to provide structure around the transcript, enabling discovery, search and navigation for the concepts being discussed in the recording. Getting the words written accurately on a transcript is the first step. Deriving the concepts beings discussed correctly unlocks the true value of the content and exposes all of the content discovery, search and navigation.
Very nice job on this article.
Many years ago, when I had more hair and was actually working, I subscribed to the Atlantic so I could read your “software chronicles”. I think I tried them all, and still use several, but for me, the grail was always speech to text. I’ve read about Otter, but have not tried it. I think I will give it a whirl. Dragon pretty much pounded a stake through the heart of a project I have sitting on a shelf somewhere, but now I’m motivated to try again. Thank you for that spark.
For decades, I had vowed to cover presidential politics long enough to enjoy a self-transcribing tape recorder. Otter changed my life on the road with the Democrats in 2019-2020. One of the biggest virtues is that Otter allows you to easily play back the tape of any part from the transcript that you're using. So as a reporter, I could always check to make sure a meaning-changing word like "not" had not been omitted. Now that I have Otter, I need a new excuse to cover the 2024 campaign. Walter Shapiro
Thanks for the update and the links to your past personal tech software!