Speech to text program. Anything REALLY good?

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I am new to Mac. Got my Macbook within 2 yrs. now, and taking some classes where I could benefit using a speech to text software. I seen the Mac Speech Dictation software at Apple but not totally convinced that it really is all they made it out to be. Any one have any feed back pros/ cons on this one or any other?
Thanks,
Mark
 
S

SpinningCompass

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I hope that my response to your question is not too late to be useful.

MacSpeech in my opinion is excellent. My father, who suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome, recommended Dragon NaturallySpeaking to me. MacSpeech uses the Dragon engine and responds accurately and quickly to anything I have to say. :)

The Plantronics Calisto Pro headset is a blessing also. To use a Bluetooth headset with MacSpeech:-
1. Install Bluetooth device.
2. Use it as audio device when asked.
3. Start LineIn. Set LineIn(input)=Calisto PLT. Set LineOut to Soundflower (2ch). Push "Pass Thru".
4. Start SoundFlowerBed. Set input to Calisto PLT.
5. Start MacSpeech. "Make active".

(Please Google SoundFlowerBed and LineIn for the 'download' pages.)
 
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Hi,

i am not a computer genius so maybe this affects my view.

best for mac:
dictate

best for windows pc
dragon naturally speaking


I have tried them all, viavoice for mac (awful), ilisten (awful) and then with the intro of boot camp, i set aside initially an insufficient amount of space 20gb and had to redo the whole thing later with 30 gb from memory. I had to buy vista and download a free anti-virus, which was my welcome back to windows. then i installed and dragon 9 preferred worked a treat. it learns easily and gets better. i updated to 10 and had some problems but it worked.

then they introduced dictate so i got it and it just cannot learn some words so much so that i spent about 2 days trying to use it, i got onto utube watched the videos and no good. I fell behind in my output and went back to boot camp/vista/dns. maybe the headset is no go good, though it works fine with dns. i intend to revisit it and see if i can get to work any better.

now i have vmware fusion/vista/dns and it works but it works slow. that is, the words come up on the screeen about 5 seconds after you have spoken them.

if you have a look at the reviews in cnet for dns you will see some unhappy chappy's in there also but i think dns is the best and most intuitive if you had to toss up between dictate and dns.

now macspeach have just released "Scribe" which is interesting. i just cannot get my head around dictate not just being updated to include the features of scribe instead a whole new app has been created - i dont get it. i have emailed macspeach as the offer is $70 off retail for scribe and will post their answer when and if they get back to me.

having said all the above, spinningcompass is real satisfied with dictate. maybe i am doing something wrong. or maybe i would have been better if i never had to switch from dns to dictate. i dont like windows and i dont like having it on my computer so i really want dictate to work.
 
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Before you buy try doing a google search on, Macspeech dictate problems" and quite a bit will come up especially one forum where they savage the software. their main gripe is that the software works for some and not for others. In fact I can get it to work, kind of, there are so many mistakes, that it is faster to type, and i find the training to correct the mistaken word so tedious (as opposed to DNS which seems easier).

cheers
 

Slydude

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I have been using Dictate for a while now and like it. The process of correcting errors is a bit of a pain but getting better. I too have tried both Viavoice and iListen both of which are not in the same league IMHO.

I have recently been using it with a regular mic connected to a boom (Heil PR 40). I just checked some tests that I did a few months ago and find I am getting between 92% and 95% accuracy. I suspect I would get better accuracy with a headset mic but I hate wearing headsets most of the time.

I wonder if some of the problems people are having is due to not creating separate profiles for each mic they are using.
 
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I only use one mic, that being usb andrea NC7100 which is noise cancelling.

I have sent off emails to maspeach but as of this date no reply.

so sadly, it just sits on my computer.

cheers
 

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