MacSpeech Dictate EDU Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE CONSUMER VERSION NOT THE EDU VERSION. WORKS ON LEOPARD AND SNOW LEOPARD ONLY.
I purchased this software which is updated to run on my Mac Book with Snow Leopard. The install was easy and after about 15 minutes of "training" it to recognize my voice, it worked almost perfectly. My first email contained only a single-word error. Impressive results considering my experience with earlier versions of dictation software. It comes complete with a wired head-set microphone and connects easily via USB.
I'm very happy with this purchase and would recommend it to Mac users who need a hands-free solution for writing emails, letters and execute basic commands in many Mac applications.

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Welcome to MacSpeech Dictate, the premier speech-recognition software for the Macintosh. With MacSpeech Dictate, you're free to focus on what you have to say--just think it, speak it, and create it. Instead of typing, use your voice to input text; rather than clicking your mouse, just speak commands. MacSpeech Dictate executes it for you. What could be easier? Written from the ground up for the Mac, MacSpeech Dictate's accuracy and capabilities make it as fun, productive, and intuitive to use as the Mac itself.

Accurate
Amazing Accuracy MacSpeech Dictate will astound you with its accuracy rate--near perfection with up to 99% accuracy. You simply talk and leave the recognition to MacSpeech Dictate. MacSpeech Dictate never misspells a word--typos are a thing of the past.

Even Greater Recognition MacSpeech Dictate boasts robust Phrase Training capabilities, allowing it to learn as it goes based on your voice input. Even more, MacSpeech Dictate recognizes and understands 13 distinct English dialect variations, nine with U.S. spelling and four with U.K. spelling.

Minimal Training Required MacSpeech Dictate provides astounding accuracy and productivity. With just minutes of training, you'll be using MacSpeech Dictate's superior capabilities.

Powerful
Essential Command Capabilities Instead of using your mouse to select menu commands or your keyboard to type shortcuts, just speak a command. MacSpeech Dictate executes it for you. What's more, MacSpeech Dictate understands key commands. With the 'Press The Key' and 'Press The Key Combo' commands, you can enter specific keys and even keyboard modifiers like Command, Option, Shift, and Control. That makes you more productive and MacSpeech Dictate more intuitive. What could be better?

Document Freedom MacSpeech Dictate works great with most text documents, even those it didn't create. MacSpeech Dictate can read a document's contents, or a portion of it, that you can then navigate and edit.

Compatible
Works with the Apps You Already Have Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, QuarkXPress, and more. And MacSpeech Dictate works great with Apple's applications as well, including iChat, Mail, iPhoto, and Keynote, among others.

Make Your Move You don't need a keyboard or mouse to move around in your documents. MacSpeech Dictate lets you move your cursor forwards, backwards, and much more with just your voice. It helps make editing your documents a breeze.

Spelling a World of Words MacSpeech Dictate's spelling mode lets you easily spell words, names, and acronyms with either natural language or the International Radio Alphabet. You have complete control over every aspect of your speech recognition input.

No Hidden Costs MacSpeech Dictate includes everything you need to be instantly productive as soon as you start using it, including a high-quality headset microphone.

Built for Mac
Built Especially for the Mac Mac users expect only the best from the applications they use on their Macs. MacSpeech Dictate was built from the ground up to ensure the ultimate experience on Mac OS X.

Exceptional Online Help For those times when you need a little assistance, MacSpeech Dictate boasts a complete online, searchable help book. It's convenient to use, easy to understand, and all just a mouse click away.

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MacSpeech Dictate Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Version upgrade info: Here is info from 1.5 press release: Anyone who registered MacSpeech Dictate on or after April 1, 2009 is eligible to receive a free upgrade, and will be notified automatically via email. so you get version 1.5 if you buy this.
This is a review of version 1.5:
Okay here we go this is a review of MacSpeech 1.5 I will not be correcting any of the errors while I dictate this review. I have done all of the training as of now as to make its recognition the best possible.
One thing to note you cannot use an internal mic on a Mac computer with this version you need to use an external mic. Now I feel this is horrible and needs to be corrected as it makes it way more inconvenient to use. I feel you should at least be given the option. (note: While Speech Recognition software works "best" with a good mic, reading the mac speech forums you find many users were satisfied by the results of their internal mac mics. Now that it is dropped with out the option of using inter mics, leaves users high and dry)
Up to this point in the review I'm amazed at how perfect it has captured all of my speech. I have been using speech recognition for many years so I understand speaking in word clumps, which is essential for speech recognition software.
Now I haven't tried setting up custom words in their new editor, but will at some point if I come across a word that I use like LOL, wow it even got LOL if he doesn't understand something I go back and type it in by hand.
As you can tell the software is spot on!
Here I will repeat the Gettysburg address:
Four score and seven years ago our fore fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dictate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
-----------
Pretty much spot on this program is 98% accurate by my accounts that is really awesome. E
my setup is a tabletop mike running to a mixing board that runs into my Mac. I'm sitting about 8 inches from the Mike and it's picking up perfect recognition I'm using a high-quality mic ( $70 XLR)
Enjoy!
Also send the company some e-mails requesting they add back the option of internal mics is the one serious flaw in this otherwise great program.
---
-Version 1.1 to 1.4-
I have been a dragon date the user (DragonDictate user) on and off for years. And Dragon dictate was very good, and I think that MacSpeech picks up there. This review will be unedited so any words that are wrong or words that MacSpeech has gotten wrong.
I use a desktop microphone since I am disabled facing the hassle up putting on a headset is daunting. I think the principle reason many people fail with speech recognition is that you need to speak in Word clumps, and pronounce each word clearly.
With this in mind I sit about 6-8 inches away from my microphone and get almost perfect recognition. I also make it a habit to do all the training that is available, this way the program understands what I sound.
So as you can see from this review, MacSpeech did a rather well job of capturing everything that I want to say.
The only real complaint I have, is where is the health (help) section. Hopefully they improve this in future releases, not having a PDF manual to look at is kind of annoying. And also I have not found a way to train specific words as I save them (say them) this needs to be remedied ASAP.
Thanks for reading and I hope that this review helps you.
Charles Bittner
[...]

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Welcome to MacSpeech Dictate, the premier speech-recognition software for the Macintosh. With MacSpeech Dictate, you're free to focus on what you have to say--just think it, speak it, and create it. Instead of typing, use your voice to input text; rather than clicking your mouse, just speak commands. MacSpeech Dictate executes it for you. What could be easier? Written from the ground up for the Mac, MacSpeech Dictate's accuracy and capabilities make it as fun, productive, and intuitive to use as the Mac itself.

Accurate
Amazing Accuracy MacSpeech Dictate will astound you with its accuracy rate--near perfection with up to 99% accuracy. You simply talk and leave the recognition to MacSpeech Dictate. MacSpeech Dictate never misspells a word--typos are a thing of the past.

Even Greater Recognition MacSpeech Dictate boasts robust Phrase Training capabilities, allowing it to learn as it goes based on your voice input. Even more, MacSpeech Dictate recognizes and understands 13 distinct English dialect variations, nine with U.S. spelling and four with U.K. spelling.

Minimal Training Required MacSpeech Dictate provides astounding accuracy and productivity. With just minutes of training, you'll be using MacSpeech Dictate's superior capabilities.

Powerful
Essential Command Capabilities Instead of using your mouse to select menu commands or your keyboard to type shortcuts, just speak a command. MacSpeech Dictate executes it for you. What's more, MacSpeech Dictate understands key commands. With the 'Press The Key' and 'Press The Key Combo' commands, you can enter specific keys and even keyboard modifiers like Command, Option, Shift, and Control. That makes you more productive and MacSpeech Dictate more intuitive. What could be better?

Document Freedom MacSpeech Dictate works great with most text documents, even those it didn't create. MacSpeech Dictate can read a document's contents, or a portion of it, that you can then navigate and edit.

Compatible
Works with the Apps You Already Have Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, QuarkXPress, and more. And MacSpeech Dictate works great with Apple's applications as well, including iChat, Mail, iPhoto, and Keynote, among others.

Make Your Move You don't need a keyboard or mouse to move around in your documents. MacSpeech Dictate lets you move your cursor forwards, backwards, and much more with just your voice. It helps make editing your documents a breeze.

Spelling a World of Words MacSpeech Dictate's spelling mode lets you easily spell words, names, and acronyms with either natural language or the International Radio Alphabet. You have complete control over every aspect of your speech recognition input.

No Hidden Costs MacSpeech Dictate includes everything you need to be instantly productive as soon as you start using it, including a high-quality headset microphone.

Built for Mac
Built Especially for the Mac Mac users expect only the best from the applications they use on their Macs. MacSpeech Dictate was built from the ground up to ensure the ultimate experience on Mac OS X.

Exceptional Online Help For those times when you need a little assistance, MacSpeech Dictate boasts a complete online, searchable help book. It's convenient to use, easy to understand, and all just a mouse click away.

Click here for more information about MacSpeech Dictate

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Dragon Dictate 2.0 Bluetooth Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)(This whole review is done with Dragon I will not edit it at all)
THIS REVIEW FOCUSES ON THE SOFTWARE OF DRAGON NOT THE BLUETOOTH HEADSET
As a quadriplegic standup comedian (okay I'm the cant stand up comic) I spent a lot of time doing voice dictation. I have been using Dragon naturally speaking since 1995 and I must say it is truly an amazing product and Dragon dictate 2.0 for Mac is the same. I will be adding to this review as I dig down into Dragon 2.0 and some of the editing and correction features. But first I want to give a basic overview on voice dictation and being successful.
One other thing to note I do not use Dragon for mouse movements and commands as I had the ability to use a touchpad mouse so I will not delve into those features in my review. This will merely focus on how you can use voice dictation effectively to receive near 100% accuracy. And how Dragon dictate 2.0 does it almost perfectly every time.
One thing you need to think about when you get into voice dictation is speaking in word clumps. You have to think about what you want to have Dragon type for you then you have to say those sentences in chunks (I hope that makes sense) most people who complain about voice dictation don't take the time to realize this.
In the following example I did edit the text when errors were made for continuity of thought.
[Example]
if I wanted to say "Is that the wheelchair that goes upstairs?" "No it is not but it goes downstairs one time really fast!"
The way I attacked this sentence was "Is that the wheelchair -pause- that goes upstairs question mark -pause- no it is not -pause- but it goes downstairs -pause- one time really fast exclamation point
Here is another one "what is the worst thing that a handicapped person can hear? Is it a doctor telling you you'll never walk again? Or someone saying you can't go with us because you are disabled? No the worst thing we can hear is someone in a crowd yell "run for your lives" at that point I know I am boned.
Here is how I approached saying that joke out loud I will put in a - where I pause
what is the worst thing-that a handicapped person-can hear question mark - is it a doctor-telling you-you'll never walk again question mark - or someone saying-you can't go with us-because you are disabled-question mark - no-the worst thing that we can hear-is someone in a crowd-yell-open quote- run for your lives-end quote- at that point-I know I'm boned period
[End example]
I hope that helps you again understanding how to speak in clumps of words remember to keep your word count between pauses at about 7 to 10. If you do this you will be successful in using voice dictation. If you put a microphone near your mouth and learned to speak in word clumps I say you will have 99% accuracy every time.
Without speaking a word clumps and thinking about what you want to say is when voice dictation has problems, here is an example of a long sentence I will speak this without stopping and pausing at certain points.
What I said: I am not disabled I am just very lazy and really I'm only in this thing for the parking.
What Dictate heard: I am not disabled I am just very lazy and really I'm only in this thing for the parking.
There you go it got a perfect 19 word sentence correct but most of the time keeping your clumps lower helps the program not make mistakes that is just what I have found.
DO ALL THE TRAINING Is all I have to say! Sorry for yelling out better now. But really one thing I found super helpful in doing voice dictation is doing all of the training that you can. While you might not feel like reading a bunch of chapters from random books it really helps and should be done. I make a rule to do all the training the program provides so that it gets used my voice.
Now the microphone that comes with Dragon is decent and will get you almost 99% accuracy. Right now I'm using a tabletop microphone I'm sitting about 6-8 inches away from the microphone and still getting perfect accuracy! Truly amazing how far it's come in 15 years.
What I appreciate also about Dragon is its low resource usage. I mean as I use Dragon through the years it would talk a lot of resources i.e. CPU power and RAM space but now on even a low-cost computer will be fully capable of running this powerful program. I would happily recommend at least 2 GB of RAM though.
Till I Collapse by Eminem lyrics, this is unedited straight dictation. First line is dictation - (Second is the true verse to compare.)
--------------------
As soon as the verse starts I eat it at MC's heart - (Soon as a verse starts I eat it at MC's heart) * ERROR
what's he thinking? How not to go against me? Smart. - (what is he thinking? How not to go against me? Smart.) * PERFECT
And it's absurd how people hang on every word - (And its absurd how people hang on every word.) * PERFECT
I'll probably never get the props I feel I ever deserve - (I'll probably never get the props I feel I ever deserve) * PERFECT
but I'll never be served my spot is forever reserved - (But I'll never be served my spot is forever reserved) * PERFECT
if I ever leave Earth that would be the death of me first. - (If I ever leave earth that would be the death of me first.) * PERFECT
Visit my heart of hearts I know nothing could ever be worse. - (Cause in my heart of hearts I know nothing could ever be worse.) * ERROR
That's why I'm clever when I put together every verse - (That's why I'm clever when I put together every verse) * PERFECT
my thoughts are sporadic, I act like I'm inadequate - (My thoughts are sporadic, I act like I'm an addict) * ERROR
I rap like I'm addicted to smack like I'm Kim Mathers. - (I rap like I'm addicted to smack like I'm Kim Mathers.) * ERROR
the fact is I would rather sit back and bomb some rappers. - (The fact is I would rather sit back and bomb some rappers.) * PERFECT
So this is like a full-blown attack I'm launching Them - (So this is like a full blown attack I'm launching at them) * ERROR
the track is on some battling raps who wants some static - (The track is on some battling raps who want some static) * PERFECT
because I don't really think that the fact that I'm slim matters - (Cause I don't really think that the fact that I'm Slim matters) * ERROR
a plaque of platinum status is wack if I'm not the baddest. - (A plaque of platinum status is whack if I'm not the baddest.) * ERROR
--------------------
I would say that there were a few errors in that resuscitation of that rap but not bad, and good enough that it would save me about 30 minutes to type that okay maybe 15 but I do type one key at a time.
ONE BONUS OF VOICE DICTATION TO NOTE:
Is that voice dictation sometimes makes mistakes but those mistakes can really be great. So sometimes voice dictation will misunderstand what you say what the end result is better than or uses different words then you are going to ever use. For example the other day I went to use "definitely demonstrates" and Dragon burped out "deftly demonstrates" and in the context it's error was a better fit is so bonus when that happens! Keep that in mind voice dictation for the win!
So all in all I recommend Dragon to anyone with a disability for sure even if you are dyslexic Dragon can really help you I think you'll find that this program will free you from the keyboard when it comes to entering tax into e-mails or documents web forums and the like.
I am Chuck Bittner of AskACapper dot com and I approve this message LOL!

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Introducing Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0
The name has changed from MacSpeech Dictate...but that's just the beginning of what's new in Dragon Dictate 2.0. From improved accuracy and faster performance, to streamlined set-up and a revamped Mac user interface, plus new editing commands, Dragon Voice Shortcuts for Search, and MouseGrid, Dragon Dictate 2.0 has been redesigned to deliver Simply Smarter Speech Recognition for the Macintosh.

Powered by the state-of-the-art Dragon v11 speech-recognition engine from Nuance, Dragon Dictate 2.0's recognition of your speech is much more accurate out of the box. Dictate 2.0 "learns" better than any previous version via training in the Recognition window, as well as through the Vocabulary Training feature. Dictate 2.0 responds faster to spoken commands, streamlines the editing process, and supports Dragon Voice Shortcuts that give you more power and flexibility in controlling your Mac by voice.
Powered by the state-of-the-art Dragon speech-recognition engine from Nuance.

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Dragon Dictate 2.0 Mac Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I come to the Mac version of speech recognition after having used speech recognition software in Windows for 15 years. 1995 was when I first started using IBM Via Voice and you had to speak each word distinctly. Then Dragon came out with Windows 95 product, also called Dragon Dictate, and then they changed it to Dragon Naturally Speaking in 1997 and I have been using it ever since, faithfully upgrading to each new version. At that time when you called technical support you could even talk to Dr. Janet Baker, the inventor of the speech recognition and founder of Dragon. Each version of the Windows Dragon Naturally Speaking has improved the accuracy and it is almost 97% in Dragon 11.
Simplicity of using a Mac made me migrate from Windows to Mac side a few years ago. But I missed the speech recognition software on Mac and keep on using Dragon Naturally Speaking on Windows under Boot Camp. Mac has lacked a usable speech recognition software. MacSpeech Dictate was terrible and unusable. Now the owners of Dragon Naturally Speaking, Nuance have bought MacSpeech product and they have given it the original name Dragon Dictate. Thinking that now Dragon Dictate has the speech engine of Dragon Naturally Speaking and must be better, I purchased the product Dragon Dictate at special introductory price from Nuance. But I regret spending that money, total waste.
Dragon Dictate comes in two discs, Application Disc and Data and includes wired Plantronics headset but I set it up to use with PLANTRONIC Calisto Headset with USB Dongle. Even the built-in MacBook Pro microphone can be used but with worse recognition accuracy. The good thing is that you can configure for different accents and from my experience with Dragon Naturally Speaking, I know it improves the accuracy a lot. Voice training took only five minutes.
The speech recognition in Dragon Dictate 2.0 has improved and is far better than McSpeech but not even close to Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11; the product is still cooking. Particularly, it stumbles on closely sounding words like and & in; 2, to, two and too; of and off; for and of etc. The user interface is very unintuitive, not at like Mac programs. Windows Dragon Naturally speaking has a much more intuitive and easily customizable user interface.
Making corrections is very tedious compared to the Dragon Naturally Speaking 11. There is no easy way to bring up the correction menu and teaching the program what you spoke. Inability to make corrections easily makes this program unusable. Sometimes, if you move the cursor while dictating, you start getting gibberish. At times you cannot even access the menu for Dragon Dictate without closing TextEdit. I still have not figured out how to add my custom vocabulary or transcribe recorded speech. So far, it appears that it cannot be done.
By default, Dragon Dictate opens the TextEdit software where the dictation takes place. They claim that it can be used in Microsoft Word and other applications. I found that not be the case. Theoretically yes, but in practice it is unusably slow in Microsoft Word 2008. My MacBook Pro with 2.53 GHz processor and 4 Gb RAM system was crawling with spinning wheel on the screen for most of the time.
It comes with a two page Quickstart Guide with few basic commands but does not explain you how to correct misrecognitions. On that Quickstart Guide they give a link to get User Manual at Nuance website where you cannot find the manual or any support for Dragon Dictate. Nuance web site is so cluttered and disorganized that finding anything usable is very hard or impossible there. But on MacSpeech website, they have videos, which show you some basic stuff on using Dragon Dictate, and as of now, no video on how to make corrections. MacSpeech web site also has manuals, knowledge base and user forums. They have not merged MacSpeech site with Nuance web site, as of now.
Having used the Dragon Dictate for only a few days, my impression is that it is improved from the previous version of MacSpeech, but the product is nowhere close to Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Windows version. To give you an idea, this review was dictated on Dragon Dictate with 37 mistakes that needed correction. The user interface is not polished (a.k.a. Mac), there are a lot of bugs, the correction of misrecognized words is very tiresome, you cannot use it in Microsoft Word or from the recorded voice on a recorder.
If you use speech recognition for a lot of text input in your work, and you have Windows, then you're much better off using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 or better still, with Bluetooth headset on Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Bluetooth for Windows. With the Dragon Dictate, you can do the dictation in TextEdit but not in Microsoft Word, notwithstanding the company claims. The program is buggy and still a work in progress. And if you do not have the option of using it in Windows and still want to use it on a Mac, then you are better off buying it with a wireless Bluetooth PLANTRONIC Calisto Headset with USB Dongle which is included in Dragon Dictate 2.0 Bluetooth to get better accuracy. Built-in MacBook Pro microphone also works with somewhat less accuracy. You probably will not like the geeky wired Plantronics headset the basic Dragon Dictate 2.0 comes with.
Having used Dragon Naturally Speaking for Windows for years, I found this Dragon Dictate 2.0 for Mac to be practically as unusable as MacSpeech, for day to day transcription.

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Introducing Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0
The name has changed from MacSpeech Dictate...but that's just the beginning of what's new in Dragon Dictate 2.0. From improved accuracy and faster performance, to streamlined set-up and a revamped Mac user interface, plus new editing commands, Dragon Voice Shortcuts for Search, and MouseGrid, Dragon Dictate 2.0 has been redesigned to deliver Simply Smarter Speech Recognition for the Macintosh.

Powered by the state-of-the-art Dragon v11 speech-recognition engine from Nuance, Dragon Dictate 2.0's recognition of your speech is much more accurate out of the box. Dictate 2.0 "learns" better than any previous version via training in the Recognition window, as well as through the Vocabulary Training feature. Dictate 2.0 responds faster to spoken commands, streamlines the editing process, and supports Dragon Voice Shortcuts that give you more power and flexibility in controlling your Mac by voice.
Powered by the state-of-the-art Dragon speech-recognition engine from Nuance.In addition to under-the-hood changes, the Dragon Dictate 2.0 application includes a number of interface changes to accelerate set-up, improve training, streamline customization of vocabulary and voice commands, and simply make you more productive on your Mac. Improvements in Dictate 2.0 as a Mac OS X application help commands execute more rapidly, allow user profiles to load faster, and enable interaction with other Mac applications to be smoother than ever.

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