dictate
Latest
Mountain Lion's dictate software compared to Dragon Dictation
Macworld has done an interesting comparison of two different dictation offerings available on your Mac: They've looked at the core dictation service available in the latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, and compared it to Nuance's classic Dragon Dictation service, comparing the two in terms of ease of use and accuracy. And the results are basically what you might expect: Mountain Lion's dictation offering isn't bad, but if you really want to try depending on dictation for longer and more regular tasks, it's probably worth buying into Nuance's dedicated solution. Mountain Lion's dictation is fairly easy to try: Just hit the Function key (Fn) on your keyboard twice and start talking. As Macworld notes, it will work with your Mac's built-in mic, but if you really want to use it accurately, it's probably worth investing in a close-up mic that will pick up your voice more clearly and catch certain speech inflections. Unfortunately, the core dictation functionality will only work for about 30 seconds, so it's probably better to grab Dragon if you want to pull off longer texts. Though the sample size is relatively small, Macworld found that Dragon had fewer misses in accuracy, and was more able to pick up on special pronunciations and words than the core Mountain Lion software. Which makes sense -- Nuance has been doing this for years, and the Dragon software is designed to follow this focus. Plus, the Mountain Lion dictation app is built-in for free, and the Dragon software starts out at $149. You can pick it up on the company's website.
Review: Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac delivers reliable dictation
I was anxious to test the updated Dragon Dictate, now at version 3, as I had been a steady user of the Dragon products over the years and watched them improve. The new version offers performance boosts for legacy users, along with some attractive new features that might entice customers. Dragon Dictate (formerly MacSpeech Dictate) is a Mac application that turns your spoken words into text, in real time. You can dictate into just about any program that allows text entry, like Pages, Word, Mail or even Safari. You speak commands for formatting, like "new line" or "new paragraph" or "tab key" and your cursor will move. You can also issue more complex commands, like "search Google for NASA." With email you can say "new message" and a message will be prepared. Tab down, by voice command, and fill in a name, subject, then start dictating. Then say "Send Message" and off it goes. You can even say "Send a message to XXX XXXXX" and that works too. As my install was an upgrade from version 2.5, I wondered if my old voice training files would work. They didn't; I had to read about a 10-minute story so Dragon Dictate could learn my voice, and match it to the microphone I use. Although the software comes with a headset mic, I hate wearing them. Instead I use an excellent Blue USB desk mic, which works perfectly, even though I am about eight inches away from it. Dragon claims the speech recognition is faster in v3, and it seems to be, but it's not a dramatic difference. As you dictate, your words appear on screen just a couple of seconds after you say them. One thing that is definitely improved is accuracy. Although I was always impressed with the program's ability to understand words I did not expect it to get right, accuracy has been improved. I'm doing a lot fewer edits of spoken text, although that can be done by voice too. You don't need to use your mouse. This latest version also supports wideband Bluetooth, so if you have a supported wireless headset, you're going to get good quality and recognition that way. The help files are excellent. It's easy to find a command if you get stuck, and there are interactive tutorials as well. One of the newest and most intriguing features of Dragon Dictate 3 is the ability to transcribe an audio file. I was quite skeptical that this would work, so I tried an old MP3 file that was an interview I did for a book I wrote. At the time, I had to pay someone to transcribe all my interviews and it wasn't cheap. It turns out Dragon doesn't want MP3 files, but does support AIFF, MP4 and WAV, so I converted the MP3 file in iTunes to WAV. You select transcription from the Dragon menu and point to the file. The software takes in about 20 seconds of audio and shows you the results. You can confirm the text or make corrections. The transcript was really quite solid, just needing some formatting for paragraphs and fixing a few misinterpreted words. That was very surprising. I recorded the interview with the subject several feet away from my digital recorder. It really is an astounding result, and if I had this software back when I was writing the book it would have saved me hundreds of dollars in transcription fees. Another clever feature is that you can use the free Dragon Recorder app for iOS in the field, then send those files from your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch to your Mac where Dragon Dictate will obligingly transcribe them for you. If you want to use your iPhone as a live mic, the Dragon Microphone app (free) will do that for you. Dragon Dictate 3 is a solid and impressive update. In fact, I used it to dictate this review. It sells for US$174.99, which is an introductory special. If you have Dragon Dictate 2.5 it is a $149.99 upgrade. Current owners have been offered a lower price of $99.00 by email. You'll need an Intel based Mac, with 4 GB of disk space, 2 GB of RAM and an internet connection to register the software. Dragon Dictate comes from Nuance, which seems to pretty much own the speech recognition business. Apple's Siri is based on it, as is the new dictation feature built into Mountain Lion. Of course, those services require an internet connection, and simply don't have the depth of features and power that dedicated software has. If you haven't tried dictation and computer voice control, Dragon Dictate is an excellent, reliable solution. No dictation technology is perfect, and you still will have to make some corrections, but Dragon Dictate 3 is certainly the state of the art. I think the new features and recognition improvements make it a worthwhile upgrade. I've seen scattered reports that version 2.5 does not work too well in Mountain Lion, so upgrading may be mandatory for users in that situation. You can see some of the various functions and set-up screens in the gallery below. %Gallery-167033%
Air Dictate app brings Siri's voice control to Macs, makes you feel just a little more important
Well, this was probably inevitable. Given that we've already seen Siri respond to custom commands, replace your remote and adjust the temperature in your house, it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone, somewhere has figured out how to make her control Macs. That's what's going on with Air Dictate by Avatron, a new app that allows you to dictate memos and other Very Important Business so that it appears in your text editor, without you having to type it yourself. Once you download the $1 app, you'll need to visit Avatron's website, download the Air Dictate Receiver software for your Mac and make sure the two devices are connected to the same WiFi network. So far as we can tell, it should work with any application that accepts text input, though for now it's only compatible with Macs and the iPhone 4S (sorry, jailbreakers).
TUAW Holiday Giveaway-tacular Part Five: the power blogger
If you're looking to start a podcast or blog (or both) in 2009, this will get you started. The Snowflake mic is an awesome and portable audio tool, and MacSpeech Dictate is the "gold standard" of Mac transcription apps. Win both in this giveaway courtesy our friends at Dr. Bott.Don't forget the rest of our Holiday Giveaway-tacular posts and all the loot you can win there as well: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Everything ends at the end of December 31, so get to clickin' and good luck! Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment telling us what would be the subject of your podcast, if you had one. The comment must be left before December 31, 11:59PM Eastern Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: Snowball Microphone ($69.95), MacSpeech Dictate ($199) Click Here for complete Official Rules.
MacSpeech releases Dictate, wins Best of Show
For some time now speech recognition on the Mac has lagged behind Windows, particularly Dragon Naturally Speaking. Well, no more, as MacSpeech, developer of iListen for the Mac, has managed to license the Dragon engine from maker Nuance for the new MacSpeech Dictate announced at Macworld.In addition to standard speech recognition and transcription into various applications like Word and Pages, Dictate also allows you to control your Mac by voice including support for Automator and AppleScript. According to our man on the show floor, it's impressive enough that it has won a Best of Show award.MacSpeech Dictate will be available on February 15 for Intel Macs starting at $199, and registered users of iListen will be able to crossgrade for $99 unless purchased in 2008, in which case it will be $29 (iListen has been discontinued).Update: A press release has been issued with more specifics on pricing. The crossgrade price for iListen users is actually $99; the $29 crossgrade is only available until April 15 to people who purchased iListen in 2008.
