An hour of interview takes hours to type. Online transcription services are fast, but the recording leaves your computer – often to servers in another country. With sensitive interviews (sources, patients, research participants) that is a problem. Transcribing locally avoids it.
Why offline makes a difference
When an online service transcribes your recording, it processes personal data on your behalf. Under the GDPR that usually needs a data processing agreement (Art. 28), and depending on the provider, a transfer to a third country. When the transcription runs on your own PC, there is no service provider in that step – the recording never leaves your device.
The GDPR still applies to you: you are responsible for the data. That means informing the people you interview, having a legal basis (often consent), storing the files securely and deleting them when you no longer need them.
This is not legal advice. For research projects and editorial work, check with your data protection officer or ethics committee.
Step by step with Lautnote
- Record well. A quiet room and a microphone close to both people help more than any model. Ask for consent at the start and keep it on the recording.
- Add your words. Enter names, places and technical terms once as your own words – they will be spelled right.
- Drop the file in. MP3, M4A, WAV and others; choose “Accurate” (or “Fast” without a graphics card). German, Austrian and Swiss German and English are detected on their own.
- Check speakers. Name them (“Interviewer”, “Ms Berger”), merge or split if needed.
- Correct while listening. Click any word to hear it; 1.5× speeds up checking.
- Export. Word (DOCX) with speakers and timestamps is ideal for quoting; Markdown or TXT for further work.
- Clean up. Delete recordings you no longer need – in the app and in your backups.
Checklist
- Interviewee informed, consent recorded
- Recording and transcript only on your encrypted device (e.g. BitLocker)
- Names in the transcript pseudonymised if you share it
- Deletion date noted
What Lautnote does not do
Lautnote has no cloud and no account, so it does not sync between devices or share with colleagues. Backups are up to you. And automatic transcripts are drafts: for quotes, always listen to the passage once more.