LINGUIST List 14.193

Mon Jan 20 2003

Sum: Minidisc Use in the Field and Lab

Editor for this issue: Steve Moran <stevelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Lynne Murphy, Sum: Transcribing from MiniDisc

Thanks to the following for their responses to my query on
transcription machines/programs for use with minidiscs (Linguist
14.92):

Mark Jones, Eric Breck, Jeanette Ireland, Daniel Loehr, 
Alexandre Enkerli

I reproduce the most specific suggestions below:

-Eric Breck <ebreckCS.Cornell.EDU> wrote:

> If you can capture whatever audio you have to a digital format (.WAV,
> .MP3, etc.) then you can use my SoundScriber program
> (http://www.lsa.umich.edu/eli/micase/soundscriber.html) to do
> transcription. It's a Windows-based program, that's essentially like an
> enhanced version of Windows' Media Player (well, enhanced over the version
> that existed in mid-1998, anyway); it does overlapping playback so you can
> hear each chunk of audio several times.
>
> The MICASE project I worked for then, as well as a number of other
> linguistics projects around the world, have used this successfully.
>
> And it's free.


- Jeanette Ireland <jirelandsprint.ca> wrote:

> Olympus has an excellent transciption system with
> dual disc size capabilities. I've used it for more than fifteen years,
> the advantage of course being that minidiscs take a much smaller archival
> space.


- Daniel Loehr <loehrmitre.org> wrote:

> I haven't done
> this so can't verify it, but if you can easily get the digital sound file
> from the minidisc to a computer, then you could possibly use the
> VoiceWalker software, which is designed for the very purpose of easily
> transcribing digital audio files.
>
> http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/resources/computing/download/download.htm


- Alexandre Enkerli <alexandre.enkerliumontreal.ca> wrote:

> Sending the file to the computer can
> either be done via an optical out or through re-digitizing the signal.
> The analog route might sound like distorting the signal too much, but it
> seems to work for most methods of acoustic analysis, including those that
> need a lot of data such as pitch-tracking.


Thanks to everyone who responded. I'll be following up on their 
suggestions.

Lynne Murphy

Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics

School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9QH
>From UK: (01273) 678844 fax: (01273) 671320
Outside UK: +44-1273-678844 fax: +44-1273-671320