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. Dragon Dictate 2.0 Mac
Review for Dragon Dictate 2.0.
All of this review will be written using DragonDictate 2.0:
I've been using Dragon Dictate 2.0 for little over two weeks, I never used MacSpeech Dictate, however, I did use Dragon Naturally Speaking nine, for Windows.
I am using a Plantronics 400 USB headset: I bought the program because I've had some pain in my wrists, and because I do a lot of writing, and need a hands-free way of typing. I write fiction, blogs, e-mails, nonfiction, and school assignments with this program, I even use it for Skype.
So far, the program has worked exceptionally well. There was one issue that I wasn't really pleased with, however, an update came out a few days ago, which mostly fixed the issue. The issue was, I wanted to be able to train the program to learn new words. I noticed, some words it could learn, but other words it refused to learn. With the update, I've been able to train the program to learn all the words I've been trying to train it prior to the update, however, I have still found a few words it has had trouble learning. But overall, I'm pleased.
Also, the program has unexpectedly quit on me a few times, not so much that I'm losing writing, but enough to irritate me. I think with the update, they have fixed the crashing issue. I hope so.
The program has this wonderful recognition window; whenever you say anything, the program writes down 10 different outcomes the program thinks she may have said. Usually, one of the 10 is correct, so it is as easy as saying pick five, or pick eight... But usually, the first one is the correct one, meaning you don't have to say anything more than what you are speaking. However, if there is a chance that none of the options are correct, you can pick the most correct one, and just by saying edit five it will open up the writing for editing. You can either use your voice, such as select that, and then fix it, or you can use your keyboard and type the word in; and then say pick five. And it will automatically change the writing in your document from the writing you edited in the recognition window.
I usually like to write in Word document, but it's a little bit sluggish and slower, so I just write in the Dragon Dictate window, and then copy everything and paste into my word document. A probably could just write my Word document, but it's faster in the Dragon window. I like faster.
I've been very pleased with the accuracy of this program; so far, I've only had to edit a few times, completely using my voice. I'm pretty sure that I might have missed a few things because I wrote this review very quickly. But, I think seeing some of the errors for yourself will allow you to see the results of this program, the results I get.
So I don't have any thick accents, but I'm pretty sure that I slur some of my words, only slightly; I'm sure others will have better success than I. Using this program has been fantastic, I thought it would distract from my train of thought, but not as much as you would think.
Anyway, if you're looking for a program to enhance your time efficiency when it comes to writing... Depending on what you're using this program for, I would say it could improve your productivity. And, if you're looking for a hands-free device to write with, this program is awesome!
One last very important thing, when I bought this program, I was hoping to put on my desktop and my laptop, however, my laptop did not have enough RAM, and my desktop did not have snow leopard. I could not even download it without snow leopard, but don't let that stop you, just by Snow Leopard, it's cheap and runs well on my computer. After that, installation was easy.
Enjoy my friends, and I hope this review was helpful for you.
one more thing, I was speaking quite quickly, without any sharp dictation, so if you concentrate with your articulation you can achieve better accuracy. However, sometimes I like to just speak as natural as I can, and then edit it after. Because, there is nothing worse than messing with your train of thought while you're trying to write. Peace, take care. also, if you form what you're going to say in your mind before you say it, it comes out clearer! Which I didn't do for this review. - Dictation - Voice To Text - Voice Recognition - Macspeech'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
