Machine Transcription

This is an interesting subject for me, I have always heard the ads on TV about get trained to enter the field of medical transcription, but I really did not understand what that was about. Have transcribed a few letter and had some of the ins and outs of it explained to me I understand the value of machine transcription.
Machine transcription requires a few basic materials:

• A Recording device
• A Playback device
• A means of controlling the play back (ie. a pedal)
• A device to enter the data on

Machine transcription works like this:

1. A person dictates what they want to have transcribed into the recording device
   
• They use keywords to indicate where new paragraphs begin such as "new paragraph" also names are spelled out so there is no confusion.
2. A person sits at a computer or typewriter and listens to the recorded dictation with a means of easily rewinding and fast-forwarding the recorded dictation. Then they type the letter (or other materials), fix grammar errors and other suitable changes to the material transcription is not verbatim.

After doing a few letters myself I was in the groove and ready to transcribe volumes.

Here is a link to a youtube video of an old transcription machine

I don't know that I am looking for a career in transcription but I am very glad to have this skill.
I think it is worth know, and not yet out-dated by technologies like speech recognition, maybe next year?