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How do I get my program to you? Overnight or Courier That depends on how time-critical the work is. Do you need quick turnaround? If so, then overnight service is the best way. We recommend FedEx. Because of their delivery schedule in our area, FedEx Priority Overnight gets to us around 9:30 AM weekdays and by noon on Saturdays, while others deliver later in the day (as late as 4:30 PM on Saturdays). If it's really hot and you're within a couple hours driving time, a courier service can probably get your program to us the same day. If time is not a factor, then 2nd day delivery or even standard first class mail will work. Live Recording We can also record your program live via telephone patch. This gets the program to us as it happens. Of course, this method is more expensive and, if a toll-free number is not available to us, results in billing for telephone services as well. Our redundant recording systems ensure we record every word . No more "sorry we missed part of the program, we had to turn the tape over" that you might get from other transcription services. Via the Web We can record your webcast directly from the web (same rates as telephone recording), or you can ship the webcast audio to us. If your program is in the form of media files (see below) you can transfer your files electronically to our FTP server. This eliminates the time and/or expense in overnight shipping or live recording. Check out our FTP site. Back to TopYou can send us your program on any of the following:
*material received on tape media or streamed over the Web must be dubbed into our transcription interface, which incurs an additional charge. There is no dubbing charge for downloadable Web media. Back to TopWhat factors affect a transcript's cost? The final cost of a transcript depends on several factors. Because of the number of variables, we bill for our services based on the length of time it takes to do the transcription, as opposed to a price per line or per page (in the age of computers, how long is a line or a page anyway?). The unit of billing we use is the transcription hour, which equates to an hour of a transcriber's time (we actually bill to the nearest quarter-hour). How much of the program a transcriber can complete in an hour depends primarily upon the following:
As a rule of thumb, it takes 4 to 5 hours to produce a "cleaned-up" transcript of a 1-hour program of good audio quality with 1 or 2 speakers. Back to TopWhy does it take 4 to 5 hours to transcribe an hour-long program if it's only 1 hour? A person speaks about 200-250
words per minute, while a transcriptionist can type about 50 words per minute, depending
upon the quality of the program. So a transcriptionist's typing takes 4 to 5 times the
length of time it takes the speaker to speak (divide 200 or 250 by 50). Back to TopWhat is transcript refinement? At Shadow, we use the guidelines below in transcribing your program. You tell us how refined you want the transcript to be as follows:
These are intended only as guidelines to indicate the level of refinement we can apply to your transcript. Of course, we will transcribe the program to any level of refinement in between as you request. Back to TopCan you include timestamps in the transcript? Yes, many of our customers request this service. We can time code your transcript based upon any of the following:
Back to TopCan you include PowerPoint slides in the transcript? Absolutely! Just send us the slides and we'll insert them along with the text that references them. If the PowerPoint file is large, you won't be able to e-mail it to us. In that case, you can transfer the file via FTP to our server. When the transcript is completed, we'll put the transcript file on the server and let you know it's there so you can pick it up. Back to TopHow do you get the transcript back to me? How would you like it? Our most commonly-used method is e-mail in which your transcript is sent as an attachment to an e-mail message. Our transcription rates include sending the transcript via e-mail to as many recipients as you wish. If the transcript file is too large to e-mail, we will place it on our FTP server for you to pick up. For an additional charge, we can mail your transcript to you in hardcopy or CD. Back to TopIf I choose an electronic medium, what format do you use? Our most popular document format is Microsoft Word for Windows (97/2000/XP/2003). However, we can also produce transcripts in Word for Macintosh format, Rich Text Format (RTF), ACSII text, a variety of WordPerfect formats as well as Wordstar. If there's a special format you need, we'll do our best to accommodate you. What forms of payment do you accept? We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards, PayPal online payments, and checks as payment. An invoice is issued at the completion of the job and terms are net 30 days. For first-time customers, we may request credit card payment information (card number, expiration date, cardholder name) in advance of the job. Once payment history has been established, you may continue to pay by credit card in the future, or use one of the other payment options. Send mail to
webmaster@shadowsys.com with questions or comments about this web
site. Revised: October 11, 2009 |
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