audien.to

audien.to is a straightforward audio-to-text tool that does more than just transcribe. Upload a recording — a podcast episode, a lecture, a meeting, or a voice memo — and you can choose from nine different output formats. Want a clean transcript with speakers labeled? A one-paragraph summary with bullet points? Show notes with timestamps and pull quotes? Meeting minutes with action items and owners? An email recap ready to send? It's all there, plus a custom option where you describe what you need in a sentence. The free tier gives you 90 minutes of processing per day with no signup required, which is enough for most people's occasional use.

The process is simple: drop a file (MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, MOV), paste a link, or record directly in the browser. audien.to handles files up to two hours long. Behind the scenes, it splits the audio, runs it through a best-in-class speech recognition model (auto-selected for your language and topic), then passes the transcript through an LLM (GPT-4o or Claude-3.5) to generate your chosen output. The whole thing usually finishes faster than the audio's playback time — a 10-minute file takes about two minutes. You can edit the result or download it as .txt, .srt, .vtt, .docx, or .md.

This tool is ideal for podcasters who need show notes fast, students who want study notes from lectures, and professionals who sit through meetings and need clear minutes or action items. It's also handy for journalists or researchers doing interviews. The free tier is generous enough to test it out, and the Pro plan ($20/month or $120/year) unlocks 10,000 minutes per month, larger files, and batch processing. No learning curve, no account needed to start — just drop audio and get what you need.