If you’re planning on getting into the profession of trancription, you’re going to need the tools of the trade.

I’ll give you a quick run down of some of the gear you should plan to have.

I know that many transcriptionists work from home, so you may also want to check out my tips for setting up a home office.

Transcribers

You’re going to need something that can play back your recordings and, no, audio playback programs already (like iTunes or Windows Media Player) on your computer aren’t going to cut the mustard.

If you’re going to be dealing strictly with digital files, software like Gear Player or Quikscribe should suit your needs nicely.

If you’re going to be working with cassettes, then you’re going to need to get a separate machine to playback the various formats – standard cassette, micro cassette, mini cassette.

Philips, Dictaphone, and Sony all make excellent transcribers – and don’t be afraid to pick up used equipment on eBay – often times it has years of life left on it and can be purchased for up to 80% of what you’d spend getting brand new equipment.

Foot Pedal

Every transcriptionist finds that the foot pedal is often her best friend.  It allows you to keep your hands free to do the typing and to easily go back on a recording without your fingers ever leaving the keyboard.

Most cassette transcribers come with the foot pedal.  For digital transcription, make sure you get a USB foot pedal.

Headset

The key here is to get something that is going to be comfortable to wear a long time.  I’ve purchased headphones for as little as 99 cents in the past for listening to music and threw them away after a few minutes.

The headset I have now can be worn comfortably all day.

Other Transcription Equipment To Consider

• Line Counting Software
• File Moving / Encryption Software
• Spell Checkers (For legal, medical, and pharmaceutical transcription)
• Text Expanders

Dragon Naturally Speaking offers a transcription aid program that will do a lot of the transcription for you… automatically.  It can’t do all the transcribing for you, but you’ll be amazed how good voice recognition software is getting.

Mac Compatible Transcription Software

Many software suites are compatible with the Mac, just make sure you check first.  One that I know off the top of my head this will work on a mac is the Olympus AS-5000 Transcription Kit.