InqScribe News Archives

Previewing InqScribe 1.1: Pitch Lock

InqScribe 1.1 development is underway, and much of the focus is on adding features that address ideas that were requested by our users. We’re going to start previewing these features here. This gives us a chance to give our users an advance peek at what’s coming.

First up is Pitch Lock. InqScribe has always allowed you to adjust the playback speed of your audio or video file. You might want to slow down playback because you’re having trouble figuring out what someone is saying. Or, if you need to review a 30 minute interview but you only have 25 minutes, you might speed up playback so you can get through the entire interview in less than real time.

The problem with both of these strategies has been that when you change the playback rate, you also change the pitch. Slowing down playback too much means that everyone starts to sound like kids pretending to run in slow motion, while speeding up playback means listening to The Chipmunks.

Pitch Lock solves this. With Pitch Lock turned on (it’s a user preference), InqScribe will preserve the original pitch of your media, even if you change the playback rate.

Pitch Lock requires QuickTime 7, which adds core audio support that makes it possible. One of the really cool things about this is that it means that any file you open in InqScribe can take advantage of Pitch Lock: MP3, MPEG, MOV, WAV, AAC… if QuickTime can open it, Pitch Lock will work.

Of course, if you miss the chipmunks, you can always turn Pitch Lock off in the preferences dialog.

posted October 31, 2005
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InqScribe and Foot Pedals

We’ve added a web page discussing InqScribe and Foot Pedals. It covers compatibility issues and how to get InqScribe to recognize foot pedals in Windows and Mac OS X. Have a look.

posted October 13, 2005
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InqScribe 1.0.2

We’ve released InqScribe 1.0.2. This free update greatly improves subtitling support for non-English transcripts and contains several minor fixes. You can download InqScribe 1.0.2 here.

posted August 29, 2005
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QuickTime 7 Public Preview 3

Apple has been releasing public previews for QuickTime 7 for Windows, and these previews have had the unfortunate side effect of making every other application that depends on QuickTime (including InqScribe) crash immediately. Needless to say, this has been awful for users who are interested in QT7, who often don’t realize the connection between installing the public preview and discovering that all these other applications stop working.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that Apple just released Public Preview 3, which — finally — fixes the problem (at least for InqScribe, which is obviously my main concern). Note, however, that Apple still includes this warning with the public preview:

Apple recommends that you use QuickTime 7 for Windows Public Preview only for testing purposes on non-essential systems. We do not recommend its use with other QuickTime-based applications, such as iTunes. The Public Preview is not supported by AppleCare.

My advice? Stick with QuickTime 6.5 unless there’s a compelling reason why you have to upgrade now. If you do need to use QT7, upgrade to Public Preview 3 right away.

posted August 17, 2005
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InqScribe 1.0.1

InqScribe 1.0.1 is out. This version fixes several minor bugs, and fixes a major incompatibility with Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar).

posted July 23, 2005
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InqScribe and OS X 10.2

A quick note for Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) users.

We’ve found a bug in InqScribe 1.0 that makes InqScribe unusable on OS X 10.2. This bug will be fixed in 1.0.1, which will be released very soon.

In the meantime, there is a workaround. If you open the Get Info dialog for InqScribe and check the “Open in the Classic environment” option, you can run InqScribe in “Classic Mode” (assuming you have Classic installed).

We apologize for the inconvenience.

posted July 15, 2005
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InqScribe 1.0

Inquirium today released InqScribe, a cross-platform solution for transcribing, annotating, and subtitling digital media files. Designed by and for researchers who work with extensive audio and video data, InqScribe features a flexible editing environment, customizable keyboard shortcuts for controlling media playback, and a range of import and export options. InqScribe transcripts contain embedded timecodes that allow instant access to arbitrary times within the media file. Extensive subtitling support make it easy to generate captioned media from transcript files. Available for Mac OS X, Mac Classic, and Windows, InqScribe is on sale for $49 through July 31, $69 thereafter.

posted July 01, 2005
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InqScribe 1.0b21 Posted

We’ve posted a new beta version, 1.0b21. This fixes several bugs and adds some cool new subtitling options. You’ll also need to download this version to get an updated beta evaluation license that will expire at the end of June.

posted May 07, 2005
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InqScribe 1.0b20 Posted

We’ve posted a new beta version, 1.0b20. This version prevents the beta from expiring prematurely when used with certain international date formats. There are no other changes.

posted April 07, 2005
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Web Site Launches, Beta 19 Posted

We’ve launched the beta version of the web site, and it’s open for public beta testing. We’ve also posted a new beta version, 1.0b19.

The web site is mostly done; there’s some tweaking we need to do to enable ordering and sales support (once we release 1.0) and there’s a new user forum available.

beta 19 fixes a number of small bugs and has a few interface tweaks. Get it on the download page. Perhaps its most important feature is that it doesn’t expire on March 31, like beta 18! This one’s good for a few more months, although we expect to release 1.0 well before beta 19 expires.

posted April 01, 2005
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InqScribe Public Beta Imminent

InqScribe, Inquirium’s digital media transcription and annotation software, is about to enter public beta testing. It has been in limited beta testing for a few months, and we’re just about ready to open things up. Check the InqScribe page for news.

posted February 03, 2005
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