AS a journalist I had to learn shorthand. For the uninitiated, shorthand is an abbreviated method of writing which uses symbols instead of letters.

The advantage, of course, is that shorthand allows the user to accurately record the words of an interviewee.

I have only been required to produce my shorthand notes once - but I was mighty glad that I’d paid attention during all those lessons and that shorthand is recognised as a verbatim transcript by the courts.

Students don’t have the same gifts but, arguably, they have an even greater need for a foolproof method of taking notes.

There are plenty of gadgets on the market that will record a lecture or a webinar. You can buy a solid-state dictaphone that will capture several hours of conversation for less than £20 these days.

I’ve used them myself but I always take a shorthand note as well. Why? Because an hour-long interview is a nightmare to transcribe if all you’ve got is a tape or a sound file.

Imagine the problem: you’ve got a vague recollection about that vital quote but you can’t remember if it came at the beginning, middle or end of the lecture. Effectively, you’ve no option but to listen to the entire discussion again until the quote crops up and then scramble about trying to write it down.

Sonocent Audio Notetaker is a remarkable piece of software that makes transcribing audio as simple as flicking through a notebook.

It works by adopting a visual approach to your audio files.

All you do is load your audio file into a PC (or you can record direct to a laptop using a microphone, or VoIP, if you wish) and wait as the software splits up the recording into key phrases and displays them on screen as a bar.

Once it is loaded up you play back your recording (you can speed it up or slow it down using the ctrl+ and ctrl- keys and jump to the next segment using the arrow keys) Bars can be colour-coded (you might want to pick out that important quote in red, for instance) and you can add written annotations next to them.

In fact, you can add pdfs, hyperlinks to websites, Power Point slides and photos to your recording. Your finalised notes can even be exported as an iTunes album.

This is where the software really comes into its own. By adding references, images and web information to a sound file you build up a far greater understanding of whatever it is you are listening to. The days of boring lectures, when you spent hours doodling aimlessly on the back of an exercise book or thinking about what to have for tea, are gone forever. Even the worse lecture can be enhanced thanks to this software.

It’s easy to pick out key pieces of audio to colour using the number keys. You can also break up chunks of audio into smaller bite-sized pieces or merge parts of a speech. There are ready-made templates for lectures and interviews but it’s easy enough to create your own.

It’s also important to take the time to learn the shortcut keys because they can really speed up your work.

There are other handy options, too, such as the ability to trim pregnant pauses and noise cancellation which makes speech easier to decipher (important if you’ve recorded an interview in a lecture theatre or a bustling room).

I used it to transcribe a long interview and was surprised by how easy and intuitive it was to turn a piece of audio into an audio-visual presentation. What’s more, I felt I knew more about my subject by adding notes and web research. Audio Notetaker made it possible to bring all the information together and made it easily accessible.

The software, which is developed by Sonocent, a Leeds-based company, costs £29.99 for a six month license or £95.99 for a lifetime license.

That pricing makes Audio Notetaker a substantial purchase but, if you’re a student, think of it as an investment in your future. Teachers, secretaries, market researchers and, yes, journalists would all find their working lives enhanced by this software.

I won’t be giving up my notepad and pen just yet (I'm too old-school and suspicious the batteries on my recorder will give out)  but, for longer interviews, I’ll definitely be using Audio Notetaker as a research tool.

* For more details click on sonocent.com