Your digitised tapes, transcribed as a collection.
Point the Google Drive import at the collection folder and every WAV, MP3 or FLAC transfer inside it, however deep, becomes its own timestamped transcript, filed in Library folders that mirror your series and boxes.
247,995 minutes transcribed across 6,324 recordings · packs from $6, any length · ~2 min per hour of audio · 99+ languages · private, never used for training
- 247,995 mintranscribed across 6,324 recordings since April 2026, every field
- ~2 minper hour of audio, measured on production
- 99+languages, auto-detected
At a glance
- Field
- Oral history in Google Drive
- Transcribed here
- 247,995 minutes across 6,324 recordings site-wide since April 2026 (measured 12 Oct 2026); this field is not tracked separately yet
- Turnaround
- About 2 minutes per hour of audio; most files finish in under a minute
- Input
- Files and whole folders from your Google Drive (Library → Add content → Google Drive), a public Google Drive file link, or any audio or video file; up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file
- Output
- A brief with chapters, the names, numbers and dates that were said, and the questions it answers; word timestamps and AI chat. Export TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX or JSON
- Languages
- 99+, with automatic detection
- Privacy
- Private servers, no third-party AI, never used for training, delete any time
- Price
- Packs from $6 for 500 minutes, credits never expire; the summary of any recording is free to read
- Support
- contact@whipscribe.com or the chat on every page
Quick answers
The five questions people ask before the first upload.
- What does WhipScribe do for oral history recordings?
- Point the Google Drive import at the collection folder and every WAV, MP3 or FLAC transfer inside it, however deep, becomes its own timestamped transcript, filed in Library folders that mirror your series and boxes.
- How much does it cost?
- The summary of any recording is free to read; a pack from $6 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. Credit packs: $6 = 500 min · $8 = 1,000 min · $12 = 2,000 min · $24 = 5,000 min; credits never expire and there is no seat fee. Workspace is $19 a month for unlimited transcription (300-hour fair-use mark; 100 GB of storage included, then $3 per extra 100 GB a month).
- How long does a transcript take?
- A one-hour recording is usually ready in about two minutes; most files finish in under a minute. Files up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file.
- Is it private?
- Yes. Transcribed on our own servers; audio is never sent to a third-party AI service. Never used to train, fine-tune or evaluate any model. Delete a recording and its transcript at any time; account deletion removes every record tied to the email.
- Which languages and files does it accept?
- 99+ languages, detected automatically; the transcript stays in the recording's language. Input: any audio or video file (MP3, MP4, M4A, WAV, FLAC, OGG, WEBM, MOV, GSM and more), a YouTube, podcast, RSS, Google Drive, Twitch or Kick link, or a microphone recording. Export: TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON.
Built for Oral history in Google Drive
What matters when transcribing oral history recordings?
The catalogue structure survives
Collection / Series 2 / Box 07 / Tape 017 side A.wav stays exactly that. Each picked Drive folder becomes a Library folder of the same name, subfolders keep their structure, and every recording keeps its own file name, so the transcript is findable by the same reference as the tape.
Old tape, long sides
Ninety-minute cassette sides, hiss, a recorder left running through a kettle boiling. Each side is one job with a timestamp on every line, so a cataloguer can jump straight to the moment a place name was said and listen, rather than trusting text alone. Chapters and a brief give each tape a first summary for the finding aid.
Preservation masters can be large
The size limit applies per file. A high-resolution WAV transfer of a long side can pass it, so point the import at an access-copy folder of MP3 or FLAC files and keep the masters where they are. Image scans, transfer logs and catalogue spreadsheets in the folder are skipped; only audio and video are imported.
Hand the transcripts to the next reader
Export to Google Drive… on the collection folder writes a new Drive folder with a TXT and an SRT for every finished tape, ready for a volunteer checker or a partner archive to open in Drive. For a single interview, use Share on that recording and send the link, so a reader can follow the text with the audio.
How it works
How do I transcribe an oral history recording?
Connect Google Drive
In the Library, Add content → Google Drive. Google asks you to allow read-only access to your Drive.
Pick files or folders
Tick single files or whole folders, subfolders included. Run it again later and the files already done are skipped.
Read, then send it back
Each file gets a transcript and the Intelligence brief. Save to Drive writes TXT and SRT into a new Drive folder.
Intelligence
What comes back from an oral history recording?
Tape 017, side A — working the mill, 1958–1971
Brief overview
A former spinner describes joining the mill at fifteen, the move to shift work in 1964, and the closure announcement she heard on the radio.
- She starts at the mill in 1958 aged fifteen and names the overlooker who trained her at 03:20.
- The 1964 move to three shifts is described at 18:45 as the change that broke up the street's routines.
- The closure in 1971 is heard on the radio first, at 39:10, before any letter from the company.
Questions this recording answers
- How did she learn the mill was closing?
- From a radio bulletin, at 39:10, before the company wrote to workers.
- What changed most in the 1960s?
- The move to three shifts in 1964, which she says ended shared mealtimes on the street.
Chapters
- Interviewer intro and consent
- Starting work at fifteen
- Shift work arrives
- The closure
Names, numbers and dates
Example output, written to show the shape. Your own recording produces its own brief, in the language it was recorded in.
Questions
What else do people ask about oral history transcription?
Can a collection with interviews in more than one language go in as one import?
Yes. Each import has one language setting and the default, auto, detects the language of each file, so a Welsh interview and an English one in the same series each come back in their own language. A tape that switches language mid-interview is worth spot-checking against the audio.
What if the collection is bigger than one import?
One in-app import takes up to 500 audio or video files. Run the same import again and it skips the files this account already transcribed from Drive, picking up the remainder. A Library folder holds up to 5,000 items.
Is the audio sent to an outside AI service?
No. Files stream from Drive through our server to our own transcriber, and your Drive credentials never reach the browser or the worker. Audio is never sent to a third-party AI service and never used to train any model.
Import the collection folder. Keep the catalogue.
Packs from $6 for 500 minutes, credits never expire; the summary of any recording is free to read.