SimulScribe - Great Productivity Tool
I have been waiting for a service called Spinvox to come to the U.S. for over a year. They have a great product - basically they transcribe your voicemails and text message them to you so you can read your messages instead of listening to them.
The idea is great - listening to, saving, deleting and managing voicemail is an annoying task - especially if you know some long winded people who leave important information to the end of the message. Those who know me, know they are lucky if I listen to more than the first 20 seconds of their message.
Spinvox has been operating in Europe for some time now, but hasn't made it to the U.S. until recently. Their service requires working with the mobile carrier to get the carrier to install software in their voicemail. They are taking beta users now, but I wasn't able to get into the trial.
SimulScribe, however, has been in the U.S. for some time now, but I only learned about them last week. Rather than going through the carriers, they show you how to redirect your callers to their voicemail system. It takes 10 minutes to setup and once it is done, the process is seamless to you and your callers.
I setup SimulScribe on Friday and have been having all of my voicemails transcribed and emailed to me all weekend. It is great - one of the biggest productivity boosting tools I have started using in a while.
95% come through perfectly. The transcriber couldn't deceipher a few of my heavily accepted callers (and a couple people who left inebriated messages) . The emails, however, include a WAV file of the original voicemail so I can listen to it right from my Pearl if I want - otherwise, I don't ever have to dial in to my voicemail.
A couple of caveats -
1. The system seems to be human powered - real people are listening to and typing up the messages - so warn your callers not to leave confidential information - a good practice anyway.
2. By default the system tacks on a "This message will be transcribed by SimulScribe. Please speak clearly" message to your outgoing recording. I initially deleted it, but added it back after I realized the transcription quality improved once people got the warning.
The cost is $10 per month for up to 40 messages, and $.25 a message above 40. I also am going to check out GotVoice and Spinvox (if I can get in the beta).
The idea is great - listening to, saving, deleting and managing voicemail is an annoying task - especially if you know some long winded people who leave important information to the end of the message. Those who know me, know they are lucky if I listen to more than the first 20 seconds of their message.
Spinvox has been operating in Europe for some time now, but hasn't made it to the U.S. until recently. Their service requires working with the mobile carrier to get the carrier to install software in their voicemail. They are taking beta users now, but I wasn't able to get into the trial.
SimulScribe, however, has been in the U.S. for some time now, but I only learned about them last week. Rather than going through the carriers, they show you how to redirect your callers to their voicemail system. It takes 10 minutes to setup and once it is done, the process is seamless to you and your callers.
I setup SimulScribe on Friday and have been having all of my voicemails transcribed and emailed to me all weekend. It is great - one of the biggest productivity boosting tools I have started using in a while.
95% come through perfectly. The transcriber couldn't deceipher a few of my heavily accepted callers (and a couple people who left inebriated messages) . The emails, however, include a WAV file of the original voicemail so I can listen to it right from my Pearl if I want - otherwise, I don't ever have to dial in to my voicemail.
A couple of caveats -
1. The system seems to be human powered - real people are listening to and typing up the messages - so warn your callers not to leave confidential information - a good practice anyway.
2. By default the system tacks on a "This message will be transcribed by SimulScribe. Please speak clearly" message to your outgoing recording. I initially deleted it, but added it back after I realized the transcription quality improved once people got the warning.
The cost is $10 per month for up to 40 messages, and $.25 a message above 40. I also am going to check out GotVoice and Spinvox (if I can get in the beta).
posted by Michael Stajer at 1:07 PM
2 Comments:
I currently use spinvox and couldnt be happier. I will be sticking with them because I really would have a hard time having someone else listen to my voicemail. As far as I know they are also the only ones operating worldwide with conversion in different languages. Great post and I enjoy reading the blog.
Simulscribe is such a scam!
First - I have been receiving blank calls from random numbers for a while. Presumably to get to my quota of calls as they can then charge me my monthly fee.
When I tried to cancel it - there is NO way to cancel it.
I am looking into legal options against simulscribe.
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