In 2004, 90% of our transcripts were produced from analog (cassettes) tapes.
Now in 2011, 95% of our transcripts were produced from digital media. Along with the mega change from analog to digital technology came a mega change in our answers to questions that were asked of us regarding recording equipment. We just don't give advice on digital equipment anymore. However, we can provide 2 types of advice based on our experiences of the last 4 - 6 years. Of course this advice is directed only at those people who are still recording on "tape." For the other 90% just talk amongst yourselves.
Listed below is a simple chart comparing the use of analog vs. digital:
Factor |
Analog |
Digital |
| |
| Cost |
- Lower up-front costs
- No long term savings
|
- Higher up-costs
- Long term savings
|
| Market Life |
- Historically long
- Few new devices entering market
|
- Rapidly evolving
- New devices frequently enter market
|
| Useful Life |
- Historically Long
- Media may become less
|
- Software/firmware updates
|
| Learning Curve |
|
- Easy to learn with basic computer knowledge
|
| Ease of Use |
|
|
| Audio Quality |
- Can be good quality
- Depends on quality of tape
|
- High quality if uncompressed
|
| Recording Capacity |
- Recordings limited to length of tape (often 90 minutes for transcription)
|
- Typically can record longer durations than tapes
- Dependent on quality of recording and data storage
|
| Portability |
- Shorter battery life
- May be heavy
|
- Longer battery life
- May be very light
|
| Connectivity |
|
|
| Management of Content |
- Tedious Duplication of conversion
|
- Easy renaming
- Simple file copy
- Con be compressed for distribution (i.e. transcription)
|
| Content Use |
- Complex and time consuming
- Requires tape player for playback
- Tapes wear and can degrade with use over time
- Will have to be digitized for web, network, or playback on PC
- Will have to digitize for editing and timecoding
|
- Simplified and fast
- Easily played back on any computer and shared over a network
- Can be easily compressed for distribution
- Easily editing and timecoded
- Can be sent and stored on CD-ROM, hard drive, and networked file servers
|
The second piece of advice? Start asking your colleagues if they have a decent cassette player with a footpedal to transcribe an interview. Then you will understand why switching from analog to digital is not a choice - it is an actuarial imperative!
