Introduction

Also known as CGBiz Corporation, Scribie first entered the transcription scene in 2008. Founder Rajiv Poddar was working on Skype recording apps, an endeavor that evolved into an audio transcription service.

Like many other online transcription companies, Scribie’s business model depends on freelance transcriptionists to keep large volumes of work moving 24/7. But unlike many other internet transcription companies, Scribie offers one service only: audio transcription. This allows the company to focus on what it does best.

Scribie follows a four-step process for its manual transcription:

1. Transcription of sections by different transcribers
2. Review, including timestamps and speaker labels
3. Proofreading
4. Quality checks

Standout features of Scribie’s service are confidentiality, 99% accuracy (with the manual transcription service), and a range of add-on options. What’s more, the Integrated Editor lets you compare your audio file to your transcript to confirm the quality. You can also use this web-based editing tool to put the final touches on your transcript.

We’re basing our review of Scribie on the company’s site as well as our own tests. Please use this information to choose the best online transcription company for your needs.

Pricing and turnaround times

Two transcription options are available from Scribie: automated transcription and manual transcription. Automated transcription starts at just $0.10 a minute. However, the 30-minute turnaround time is surprisingly slow compared with other automatic transcription services.

Manual transcription starts at $0.80 a minute, which is an incredible value given the 99% accuracy guarantee and 36-hour turnaround.

Some options may increase the price of an order and are as follows:

• Audio time-coding = no additional fee
• Burnt-in time code (BITC) = $0.50 per minute
• Speaker tracking = no additional fee
• Spelling style (American, Australian, British, or Canadian) = no additional fee
• Start/end time (to transcribe part of a file) = fee unclear
• Strict verbatim = $0.50 per minute
• Subtitle file = $0.50 per minute
• Transcript template = unclear

With some hunting, we found that an additional $0.50 to $2.00 a minute may be charged for the following:

• Accented speakers
• Ambient noise
• Audio breaks
• Diction
• Distant speakers
• Distortion
• Disturbances
• Echo
• Muffled
• Noisy environment
• Quality
• Unclear speakers

Although you can decline extra charges before you submit your order, we wish this all of this pricing information were clearer on the front end.

Web interface / dashboard

As of this writing, when you visit Scribie.com, you’ll be welcomed by a chatbot. The chat window can be minimized if you don’t wish to use this feature.

The top of the homepage is attractive and simple. As you scroll down, you’ll find essential information on pricing and features.

We found the Service Options page to be long and tedious to navigate, although there’s an outline in the sidebar that you can use to navigate to the appropriate section.

Scribie does have an attractive and easy-to-use ordering platform. You can import files from YouTube, Dropbox, Google Drive, and more. You can also upload files and folders from your computer, or drag and drop them to the screen.

Once Scribie has detected your files, you’re prompted to place your order. We found this step a bit nerve-wracking, as we didn’t want to proceed with the order until we were sure of the pricing, which isn’t made clear at this step. Rest assured that you aren’t actually placing order by clicking the Order Transcript button here.

On the next screen, you’ll choose your options, see the price of your order, and complete the payment.

We uploaded a file with a run time of 14.63 minutes for manual transcription and specified no options that would potentially increase the base rate of $0.80 per minute. Our invoice came out to $11.71, as expected.

Accuracy

Scribie guarantees 99% accuracy on its manual transcription service. The company achieves this goal by repeating the proofreading and quality checks (steps 3 and 4 of the transcription process) until the desired accuracy is reached.

The automated transcription service promises 80% to 95% accuracy. The accuracy varies depending on the quality of your source file. A clean, clear audio file will likely come out at the top of that accuracy range. Speakers with non-American accents reduce the accuracy of automated transcription. Noisy or generally poor audio will drop the accuracy to 60% or less.

Conclusion

We think Scribie is a good basic transcription company, although some customers may wish for more from a language-processing company. You’d probably do better to choose the manual transcription option over the automated transcription option, as we’ve seen better pricing and faster turnaround on the latter.