Transcripts

Transcripts allow you to add text transcripts of your episodes to your podcast. Transcripts will appear in embedded players as captions and on podcast websites.

This feature is available for customers with the Starter and Icebox plans. Transcription is currently available for podcasts in the following languages:

• English
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Dutch
• Finnish
• Polish
• Russian
• Turkish

Enabling transcripts

Transcripts are not enabled for podcasts by default. Visit the Settings > Transcripts tab on your podcast dashboard and check the box to enable transcription.

If transcription isn't enabled, no transcript data will be visible outside of your Pinecast dashboard.

Additionally, from this tab, you can enable transcriptions in podcast players (both the podcast playlist player and individual episode players). You can also enable automatic transcription of new episodes: episodes will be transcribed automatically after publish when this option is selected.

Player captions

Players will show episode transcriptions as captions. As the episode plays, captions will appear on the player interface.

Not all episode player themes support captions. Specifically, the "Slim" theme is too small to show captions.

Podcast website transcripts

If you're using a preset theme with a Pinecast podcast website, a dropdown with the episode transcript will appear under the player for your episode. This section is only visible when transcripts are enabled and the episode has been transcribed.

You can customize this in the Site Builder. In the Site builder, visit the Layout tab and switch to the Episode Pages view.

By default, the "Transcript (collapsed, if available)" module will be used to render transcripts. This collapses the transcript so it is hidden by default. You can drag the transcript module up and down to reorder it among the modules on an episode page, or remove it by clicking on the trash can icon.

You can also click "Add an item" and choose the "Transcript (if available)" module. This will always show the transcript (without the option to collapse it) if the transcript is available. There is no SEO benefit to using this module, but if you prefer to use transcripts instead of show notes, this is an attractive option.

Transcription credits

Transcription requires credits. Credits are used for metering transcription use.

When transcription occurs, credits are deducted on the account that owns the podcast whose episode is being transcribed.

Included credits

Starter customers receive four hours worth of credits in a rolling 30 day window. Customers with the Growth add-on receive eight hours of credits in a rolling 30 day window. Icebox customers do not receive transcription credits.

Included credits are per-account, not per-podcast.

Additional paid credits

One credit is equal to one minute of audio worth of transcription. Each transcription credit costs $0.03, and are sold in units of 60 (one hour, $1.80) with a minimum purchase of five hours worth of credits (300 credits, $9.00). When you attempt to transcribe an episode that you do not have enough credits for, you'll be prompted to purchase more credits. Up to 6000 credits (100 hours, $180.00) can be purchased at a time.

Billing for credits occurs immediately. Invoices and receipts can be found on the main account Settings > Payment tab of your dashboard along with the invoices for your paid subscription.

Transcribing episodes

Automatic transcription

If the "Automatically transcribe episodes" option is enabled on the Settings > Transcripts tab for a podcast, episodes will be transcribed automatically after they've been saved. If there are not enough credits available on your account to transcribe an episode, you will receive an email with a notice that the transcription failed along with a link to manually trigger transcription (which will prompt for payment).

Manual transcription

You can visit any episode in your podcast dashboard and choose the Transcript tab.

If the episode hasn't been transcribed, it'll offer to allow you to transcribe the episode. Clicking the Transcribe Now button will open a modal to start the transcription process.

Alternatively, you can upload a VTT, SRT, or SBV transcripts file. If you transcribe your episodes with another service or use a human transcription service, these files should be available to you. There is no cost to providing your own transcript files.

Kicking off transcription

If enough credits are available on the podcast owner's account, you'll be able to start transcription immediately.

Clicking "Transcribe" will reload the page to show a waiting message. It will automatically refresh with the transcript when transcription has completed.

Adding credits

If you do not have enough credits to transcribe an episode, you'll be able to purchase more transcription credits. Clicking the "Buy Credits" button will purchase the credits immediately.

Retranscription

If new episode audio is provided, an existing transcription will be cleared from the episode. Editing episode audio will not automatically trigger transcription of the new audio. Instead, you will need to visit the Transcript tab to manually trigger the retranscription process.

Managing transcripts

On the Transcript tab of a transcribed episode, you'll have the option to download an episode transcript as raw text or as a VTT file. VTT files are formatted for captioning and include the time codes for each chunk of spoken text.