Listen N Write Free 1.11.0.4

Anyone who has ever had to produce a text document from an audio file knows what a hassle that can be. Listen N Write Free has been specifically developed to efficiently type out audio recordings while you listen.

The emphasis of Listen N Write is very much on functionality and not on appearance. In other words, the interface of this program is actually quite ugly, but we will always prefer an ugly yet functional interface that works over a beautiful interface of a program that doesn't quite do what we want. Listen N Write, on the other hand, does exactly what we want!

The interface is not much, but the program does exactly what we want.

The program consists of two windows, the window where you load and play the audio file and the window where you type. These two windows are part of the same interface, which is important because that way they both always stay on top (so that the audio window doesn't disappear from view when you start typing). The playback window has the ability to start, stop, and skip forward and back for a few seconds. More is not necessary. In addition, the makers have built in a smart function, namely the Smart Pause N Play. In this mode, the program plays for twelve seconds, then inserts a typing pause to make up for any delay. After five seconds of silence, the audio file will start playing again, but will be set back two seconds first. So you can keep typing without clicking start and stop yourself. What would have been nice is that we could have set that interval ourselves, although the predefined interval worked fine for us.

Listen N Write can't do very much, but what it's made for, it does a fantastic job. There is simply no easier way to type out recordings than with this program. There are still some small points for improvement (such as lack of autocorrect and spell check). Brilliant in its simplicity!