Introduction
Trint was founded in 2014 by a journalist, and it is an online transcription service specifically designed for media. Users upload audio or video files to this web-based service, and Trint sends back automatically generated lecture transcripts or translations. The collaboration features in Trint make it a good choice, although it is costly, for those working in media, whether in podcasting, scripting, or publishing. Trint does not offer an upgrade option to a single translator for more accurate final products, which is available from our Editor’s Choice award winner, Rev. It also cannot transcribe conversations in real time, unlike Otter, another Editor’s Choice award winner.
How much does Trint cost?
Trint offers a seven-day free trial, which is a good way to try the product before committing to the service. This is particularly important as Trint is the most expensive transcription service we reviewed. The starting price is $60 per month for an individual user or $576 per year if paid upfront, which is $48 per month. With this plan, you can upload only seven files per month, although Trint does not specify the duration of these files. Compared to Rev, which charges $30 per month for 1200 minutes of audio transcription, this is costly.
The cost of Trint’s advanced plan is $75 per month for one user ($720 per year per user if paid annually), and you get “unlimited” uploads, translation into 54 languages, and access to Trint’s mobile apps for Android and iPhone. The terms on “unlimited,” according to Trint’s site, are “apply to daily use” and “rarely reached.” However, the company will warn you if you are close to reaching it. For teams working with large volumes of audio files, it may be beneficial to reach out to Trint’s sales team to determine whether the advanced plan is sufficient or if it would be better to obtain an enterprise account with customized pricing. We reached out for clarification but did not receive a response.
Upon cancellation, you will only have access to Trint and all the files in your account until the end of the paid billing cycle. However, you can pause your plan for $5 per month to maintain access to your files if you don’t need any new transcriptions during that month. There are no “a la carte” services, so after the seven-day free trial, Trint requires a minimum commitment of 30 days.
The cost of most transcription services is not straightforward, either due to confusing subscriptions or numerous additional services added to the basic price. For example, Transcribe has a starting price of 79 cents per audio minute, but this does not include timestamps or speaker identification. Therefore, you have to pay at least $2 per minute to get the literal word rate. Gotranscript has prices starting at 84 cents per audio minute, although this only applies if you have over 10,000 minutes of audio recording and can wait five days to receive the completed files. Scribie, which we recommend for those using transcription services regularly, charges $1.25 per audio minute for human transcription, which is highly accurate. Rev’s prices for human transcription are higher, starting at $1.50 per minute, although Rev’s site and tools are better.
Getting started with Trint
Trint works on the web, so there is nothing to download to your computer. It works well on Chrome (recommended), Edge, Safari, and Firefox. You will need to grant it permission to access your microphone and approve additional permissions for integration with Zoom or any other app that can integrate with Trint.
Trint works
Trent supports a variety of file types, including MP3, MP4, M4A, AAC, WMA, AVI, WAV, and MOV.
To create an account, you need either an email address and password or authentication via a Google, Facebook, or Apple account. Once logged in, the user interface is well organized and easy to use.
The Trent dashboard can be easily found and navigated. There are directed tutorials and pop-ups that offer new features, although you can easily skip them if you prefer to explore on your own. The dashboard contains all completed lectures.
To create a lecture using Trent, upload an audio or video file to the dashboard or set Trent to integrate with a virtual meeting via Zoom. You cannot record from your Trent account when logged in from a desktop or mobile device, although you can record using the Trent mobile apps. While it’s useful to have your Zoom call transcripts, some Zoom subscriptions already include them, and Otter not only transcribes Zoom calls but can do so in real-time and also output a summary of the call.
Once you upload your file or complete the virtual meeting, Trent starts the transcription process. Although Trent does not transcribe audio in real-time like Rev and Otter, it is very quick. A two-minute test file took less than 30 seconds to transcribe, and a 35-minute file took only 11 minutes. Other apps estimate that it takes about three minutes to process each minute of audio. Completed files appear on the left side of the user dashboard under “My Drive” and can be opened and edited from there.
Editing in Trent
Trent has powerful editing tools, especially the story-building feature. The editing interface is quite simple and resembles the Rev and Otter interfaces. Clicking on the Trent logo in the top left is the quickest way to return to the dashboard.
While editing in Trent, it also takes just one click and a few seconds to translate any transcribed file into one of the 54 languages available in Trent. For testing transcription services, PCMag does not evaluate the translation.
The story-building feature is what truly sets Trent apart. By adding multiple audio or video files to a single story, you can cut snippets or specific sections on the left side of the screen and use them to build a story or script on the right side. The extracted text is also loaded into the story, so you can weave together various conversations to tell a story. This is what makes Trent very suitable for those working in media or content marketing.
Once the lectures and stories are edited in Trent, you can export the document with one click from the controls panel. Files can be exported as text, audio, or video files. Users can also choose to export the entire lecture or only the highlighted parts, which is a helpful feature for trimming unnecessary parts of any conversation. Helpful tutorials are found throughout the Trent dashboard, making it intuitive and easy to use.
How Accurate is Trent?
Trent is one of the most accurate AI-based transcription services we’ve tested. To evaluate the service, we uploaded a two-minute audio recording of a reading from the “Mist of Chincoteague” by Marguerite Henry. It’s a good test because it includes difficult-to-spell place names like Assateague, Chincoteague, and Pokomoke. We use the same audio recording to test other transcription services.
Trent
Trint only committed two mistakes and some grammatical and capitalization errors. The mistakes were in the names of places, which is common across almost all transcription services except for Scribie, which got all the names right. Otter and Rev, the winners of the Editors’ Choice award, had four and six word errors respectively. Otter had additional mistakes related to punctuation and capitalization, which is common in automated transcription services. Transcribe made seven mistakes, including general names and punctuation errors combined.
Trint offers a customizable dictionary that allows you to add place names or industry-specific words that the service may fail to transcribe correctly. So, if you frequently use it for audio recordings in the same field, you may be able to effectively improve its accuracy with a little time and effort.
Trint Security
Trint is transparent about its data security features, which the company lists in its FAQ. Lectures for North American users are stored in Amazon Web Services in Northern Virginia. Trint complies with U.S. privacy laws and uses end-to-end encryption. However, Trint does not support multi-factor authentication. Currently, your login options are a standalone email and password or authentication via Google, Facebook, or Apple. Institutional users have the option to enforce single sign-on for their users.
Trint is not HIPAA compliant, so medical professionals cannot use it for their work. If you need a HIPAA-compliant service, check the plans for the medical and health industries offered by Rev or Transcribe.
A Unique Service for a Niche Market
Trint is a high-quality transcription service designed by journalists for people working in the same field. The ability to cut and merge different audio files is unique and beneficial for those writing articles or building scripts. Trint transcripts are accurate, leaving you with a clean document in minutes. But with a high price and subscription-only plans, Trint is not suitable for most people. Rev is our best choice if you need a human or automated transcription option, and Otter is best for automated transcription, especially those done in real-time.
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