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Pros and Cons of Recording or Taking Notes

Rohim Ghulam559 04-Sep-2019

In most fields, information collection remains as crucial aspects. Whether in journalism, schools such as universities, medical practice such psychologist, and so on, they need to write down what the persons they listening to is saying. There are two main ways that you can collect information from an interviewee- taking notes and recording. Both have their pros and cons, and that is what we are going to look out for.        

1. Pros and cons of Taking Notes   
Taking notes is the oldest form of collecting information from the interviewees. The technique has been around for centuries and many advantages that kept it relevant to date. We also have shortcomings that come with it.         

 I. Main Pros Of Taking Notes
a) Cost-effective: To collect information using the taking notes techniques does not require a lot of investment. What you need is just a pen and a notebook which are extremely cheap.   

b) Better Portability: It is easy to carry your tools (pen and notebook) if you are using taking notes for the interview. That is why this technique has the best portability features.     

c) Fewer Obstructions: If you are going to interview someone that has never for the first time, then cameras and recording gadget may distract them. On the other hand, taking notes keeps the interviewee at ease.     

d) More Reliable: One of the biggest problems with the recording is a dead battery and gadget faults. So might be at the middle of an interview and the battery dies. For note-taking, it has better reliability. You don't have to worry about anything as long as the pen is writing.         

II. Cons Of Taking Notes       
a) Left Out Details: Unlike the recorder that collects everything from what the interviewee says, taking notes does not. In most cases, they just write down the highlights of the story, and that's how some of the details are left out.      

b) Time Consuming: You will need to write a comprehensive report from the highlights that you have collected. That means more time is required to finish the story.    

 c) Accuracy Problems: Because taking the highlights of the interview, the accuracy of the information can be a challenge. Some of the information might not be correct as the writer fill in the meat to the story.        

2. Pros And Cons Of Recording   
Recording interviews is one of the tech advances in information collection. In journalism, recorders have become critical tools of work. It's rare to see journalist taking notes during interviews today.        

I. main pros of recording.     

a) You Get The Whole Story: These gadgets record word by word as said by the interviewee.

b) More accurate information: Unlike taking notes where take highlights, a recorder gives everything. So you have everything you need for an accurate story.  

  c) Great for technical Interviews: Technical interviews are always a challenge due to jargons that used. So with a recorder, you can note these jargons more accurately, unlike when taking notes.   

 d) Eye Contact: Since you are not taking notes, you can have all concentration towards the interviewee hence making the interview more conversational.      

        II. Cons of recording    
a) Nervousness: Due to the presence of gadgets such as cameras and recorders, the interviewee might get nervous.      

b) Faulty Gadgets: Your recorder might get faulty hence making it difficult to do the interview.     

c) External Noises: If you rely on recorders, external noises such as people, passing cars, winds and so on might affect the quality of the recording.   

 3. Why recording is better   
As the latest technology, the recording is far much better than taking notes. Recording information comes many advantages that make work easier. Besides, recording enables to transcribe audio to text automatically. So once you have recorded the interview, the work is as good as done. You just upload the audio file on software such as Audext, and it's automatically converted to text form.      

 4. Audext Service For Recording     
Audext is an audio to text converters that transcribes audio files to text automatically. The soft is available online, and thus, everyone looking to convert audio file to text can easily access it if they have access to the internet.    

Unlike some of the audio to text converter online, converting audio to text with Audext.com supports several audio file formats including WAV, MP3 and WMV. After conversion to text, the site provides an editor where you can edit the text to make the final draft. If you had multiple interviewees, the software has got voice recognition features. However, it essential to point out that Audext is not generator hence will not transcribe audio files with background noises. Last but not least, this app does not transcribe videos.       

So if you are a journalist, lecturer, student, or a medical specialist such as a psychologist, you need a recorder and Audext app to ease your work. The app can also do well for voice memos, press conference, podcasts, voice recording, and so on for the conversion of audio files to text.


I am Rahim, a passionate blogger always wishing to create my unique contents which focuses on hot discussions trending daily. I have not limited myself to a particular genre, willing to peak into all topics as writing drives me. I have contributed on many top leading magazines and people seemed to like my writing style, hoping to deliver the best all time.

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