Transcribe a long RØDE NT-USB recording whatever app captured it.
The RØDE NT-USB is a desk microphone that records through your computer, so the long file is whatever your app saved, and WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4 and MKV all upload here. Transcription runs at about 2 minutes per audio hour, the first 20 minutes are free, and a ten-lecture series of 15 hours fits the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes.
The mic plugs in. The app makes the file.
Audacity, GarageBand, QuickTime or OBS: each saves a different file, and each one uploads.
Find the right file
Audacity exports WAV or MP3, GarageBand shares to M4A or MP3, QuickTime saves M4A for audio, and OBS writes MKV or MP4 video. Drop whichever you have on upload page; video files are read for their soundtrack.
Watch the project file
Audacity and GarageBand also keep a project file next to the export. That is the editor's workspace, not audio, so export a WAV or MP3 first and upload the export.
Long sessions at a desk
A recorded lecture or a podcast with a remote guest can run two or three hours. An hour of 48 kHz stereo WAV is about 1 GB, so a three-hour session saved as WAV passes the 2 GB pre-pack limit; an MP3 export stays far below it.
A course, priced
Ten lectures of 90 minutes are 900 minutes. That fits the $12 pack of 2,000 with 1,100 minutes spare, and a single episode of up to about eight hours fits the $6 pack of 500.
Long desk recordings, elsewhere
Recording three hours at a desk is easy. Finding one sentence in it afterwards is not.
✗ The usual tools
Built-in dictation and short-clip apps are not made for a recording that is already finished and hours long.
- Live dictation that cannot read a file
- An hour cap on free tiers
- OBS video files refused as audio-only uploads
- Project files mistaken for audio
- No chapters to find a topic
- Captions written by hand
✓ Upload the export
Audio or video, long or short, the file goes up once.
- WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4 and MKV
- About 2 minutes per hour of audio
- Chapters at each topic change
- A brief with the thesis and takeaways
- SRT and VTT for the video
- Packs from $6 with no plan to cancel
Sample
A long podcast recorded at a desk, as it comes back.
Illustrative: this sample was written for this page and is not from any real show. The file runs nearly three hours, and the timestamps follow it from the start.
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 $6 (500 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
$6/500 min
8 hours of audio — $0.72 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 500 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$12/2,000 min
33 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 2,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
RØDE NT-USB recordings, the common questions.
How long does a long NT-USB recording take?
About 2 minutes per hour of audio after upload: a 90-minute lecture in about three minutes, a three-hour podcast in about six.
What does a three-hour episode cost?
An episode that long is 180 minutes. The first 20 are free on your first recording, and the $6 pack of 500 minutes covers the rest with 320 to spare for the next episode.
My OBS recording is a large MKV. Will it upload?
Yes, MKV and MP4 are accepted and the audio is read from them. Before your first pack the limit is 2 GB; after it, 5 GB or 10 hours per file. A very large screen recording can be exported as audio only to save upload time.
Should I split a long desk recording before uploading?
Not unless it runs past 10 hours. Up to that length, one file gives one transcript with one set of timestamps that lines up with your edit.
Which languages are supported?
99 languages, detected automatically, including Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Swedish and Afrikaans. A show recorded in Spanish comes back in Spanish, with no language menu to set first.
What formats come back, and is my recording private?
The same run produces TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training, and you decide when a recording is deleted.
Related
Related long-recording guides
Export it, then send it. The opening 20 minutes are free.
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