How do I transcribe old family recordings? Digitise, upload, read.
Turn each recording into a file first (cassettes and MiniDiscs played into a computer, VHS captured with a USB device, DVDs converted, phone and camera files simply copied), then upload them one by one, each up to 10 hours or 5 GB. Transcription runs at about 2 minutes per audio hour with a free preview of the opening minutes, and a typical family collection of around 25 hours (1,500 minutes) fits the $18 pack of 3,000 minutes.
A family archive, step by step
From a box of mixed media to transcripts the family can read.
Make an inventory
List what you have: cassettes, video tapes, discs, old phones, a laptop folder of voice memos. Note the label, the medium and a guess at the length. It tells you what equipment you need and roughly how many minutes the whole collection is.
Digitise what is not a file
Tapes and discs have to be played into a computer and saved as MP3, WAV or MP4, which runs in real time. Phone and camera recordings are already files; copy them off. This page does not offer a digitising service, only the transcription after.
Name files so they sort
A name like 1987-12-grandparents-kitchen-tape1 sorts by date and tells you what it is before you open it. Keep the untouched originals as your archive and upload copies; large captures continue on the upload page.
Read, search, share
Each file returns timestamped text, chapters, a brief with the main stories and the names, places and dates mentioned. Relatives are named in the summary, key quotes and chapters wherever names are said aloud. Export DOCX to print or share with relatives.
Before and after
Voices in a box, or stories on paper.
✗ A box nobody opens
Mixed media, missing players and nobody sure what is on which tape.
- Cassettes, VHS and discs mixed
- No player for half of them
- Labels that say only a name
- Voices of people now gone
- One relative holding every copy
- Stories nobody wrote down
✓ An archive the family can read
Each recording digitised once and written down, ready to share.
- One file per tape or disc
- About 2 minutes per audio hour
- Chapters for each story
- Names, places and dates listed
- Speakers named in the summary
- DOCX for a printed family book
Sample output
A kitchen-table recording.
Illustrative lines invented for this page; no real family.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $4 (300 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$4/300 min
5 hours of audio — $0.80 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 300 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$18/3,000 min
50 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 3,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$32/6,000 min
100 hours of audio — $0.32 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 6,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Family recordings, answered.
How much does a whole collection cost?
Count the hours. Around 25 hours is 1,500 minutes and fits the $18 pack of 3,000 minutes; a larger archive of 60 hours, 3,600 minutes, goes on the $32 pack of 6,000 minutes. Packs start at $4 for 300 minutes. Credits never expire, so the digitising can take months.
Grandparents speak quietly or with a strong accent.
Clear, close speech transcribes best. Soft voices far from the microphone and people talking at once are where words are most likely to be missed, so read those parts with the audio playing, using the timestamps.
Some recordings are in another language.
99 languages are detected automatically, and a recording that switches language is detected on its main one. Old dialect words, nicknames and the names of small villages may need a check against the audio, and the family member who knows them best is the right person to read that part.
Should I ask family members before sharing?
It is kind and often wise to ask living relatives before passing transcripts of private conversations around, especially where a recording touches on illness, money or old quarrels. The recordings stay in your account until you share them.
A video is longer than 10 hours or over 5 GB.
Split it into two files, or keep only the audio, which is much smaller and holds every word. The line is 5 GB per file, with or without a pack on the account. A wedding video that runs all evening is the usual case.
Are family recordings kept private?
Family recordings are transcribed on our own servers and never used for training, and any of them can be deleted, transcript included, from your Library.
Related
Digitising and transcribing old media.
The voices in the box. Written down for the family.
Upload a recordingOperated by Neugence Technology Pvt. Ltd. · contact@whipscribe.com · Security · Privacy · Terms