IBM VIAVOICE for Mac OS X USB

by Nuance Communications, Inc.

Product Features

• Brings natural, continuous speech voice dictation to Mac OS X
• OS X/Aqua human interface look and feel
• Dictate, correct, edit, and format by voice text within SpeakPad
• Create customized voice commands in favorite Mac applications
• Noise-canceling USB headset microphone included

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000A58IY
• Item model number: H501A-G00-3.0
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 21, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,826 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #56 in Software > Business & Office > Communication > Voice Recognition
  • #79 in Software > Operating Systems > Macintosh

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

IBM ViaVoice for Mac OS X brings natural, continuous speech voice dictation to Apple's highly anticipated Mac OS X. Optimized to work with this cutting-edge UNIX-based operating system, IBM ViaVoice for Mac OS X brings a new level of accuracy and ease of use to voice recognition on the Apple Macintosh computer platform. All aspects of Mac OS X, including the new Command Center and re-designed Voice Center, use the Aqua OS X look and feel. Mac OS X Edition is also optimized for use with G4 and multiprocessors. Support is also available for specialized vocabularies such as legal and medical.

Users can dictate, correct, edit, and format text with their natural voice in the IBM ViaVoice speech-enabled word processor, SpeakPad. They can also take advantage of the new DSR technology, which enables direct dictation into text-fields of Mac applications, with correction and editing in SpeakPad.

Mac OS X Edition also provides voice command and control of the Internet, so users can move back and forth between Web sites. An enhanced Speech Recognition Engine takes advantage of Mac OS X audio features and provides for faster enrollment than previous IBM ViaVoice for Mac products.

Features:

• OS X/Aqua human interface look and feel
• Noise-canceling USB headset microphone included
• Dictation with correction: dictate, correct, edit, and format by voice text within SpeakPad
• Create customized voice commands in favorite Mac applications

Product Description

IBM ViaVoice for Mac OS X brings natural continuous speech voice dictation to Apple's highly anticipated Mac OS X. Optimized to work with this cutting-edge UNIX-based operating system IBM ViaVoice for Mac OS X brings a new level of accuracy and ease of use to voice recognition on the Apple Macintosh computer platform. All aspects of Mac OS X including the new Command Center and re-designed Voice Center use the Aqua OS X look and feel. Mac OS X Edition is also optimized for use with G4 and multiprocessors. Support is also available for specialized vocabularies such as legal and medical.Users can dictate correct edit and format text with their natural voice in the IBM ViaVoice speech-enabled word processor SpeakPad. They can also take advantage of the new DSR technology which enables direct dictation into text-fields of Mac applications with correction and editing in SpeakPad.Mac OS X Edition also provides voice command and control of the Internet so users can move back and forth between Web sites. An enhanced Speech Recognition Engine takes advantage of Mac OS X audio features and provides for faster enrollment than previous IBM ViaVoice for Mac products.System Requirements:Mac OS X version 10.1 300 MHz G3 processor or higher* 192 MB RAM (256 RAM recommended) 600 MB of available hard drive space USB port Audio output jack or USB speakers CD-ROM drive or DVD driveFormat: MAC 10.0 OR LATER Genre: PRODUCTIVITY Rating: NR UPC: 780420105355 Manufacturer No: H501A-G00-3.0

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money!, July 25, 2004

By 

DaktariEd "Bibliophile & MacAddict" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: IBM VIAVOICE for Mac OS X USB (CD-ROM)

I purchased ViaVoice for Mac Enhanced version and immediately had problems with it. Foolishly I upgraded to ViaVoice for Mac OS X, release 3, and thought the problems would be over. I was wrong. This software has very poor overall performance. It slows, hangs and freezes at the drop of a hat. There is no rhythme or reason to the freezes. I've tried stoping and restarting, reloading, various combinations, and it never seems to work properly. Being a Mac Addict since 1986 I think I know a thing or two about this system. It's not a user issue, it's a software issue!

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dying product, June 26, 2006

By 

Bruce Carlson (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: IBM VIAVOICE for Mac OS X USB (CD-ROM)

I find ViaVoice an important tools to save my arthritic fingers. Once trained, its dictation is reasonably accurate (even sorting out most homonyms), and the voice-directed correction (available only in SpeakPad) makes it useable. It learns as you correct it and can easily be taught specialized words in your business vocabulary or proper names.

Direct dictation into applications other than SpeakPad, such as MS Word or Safari, is less successful (interaction with Word's automatic formatting is particularly annoying) and not voice-correctable, so I only dictate to SpeakPad and then Copy&Paste to Word or the Browser. Using ViaVoice to control the Mac is messy, and I think you're better off using the Mac's Speech PrefPane to activate Speakable Items.

I started with ViaVoice Enhanced v2 under OS 9; and I was disappointed v3 for OS X couldn't import my OS9 voice model, meaning I had to train it all over again. Once trained and customized under OSX 10.1, it worked barely adequately on a 500MHz PPC Powerbook. Upgrading to a 1.25MHz eMac and adding a GB of RAM improved performance and recognition significantly, and I was happy with it until, starting with OS X 10.3 it became harder to make it work reliably. I've gotten it to work under 10.4.6, though it requires a bit of TLC (knock on wood.)

But, I must strongly advise readers not to jump into ViaViace now. IBM sold the product line (including the name "IBM ViaVoice") to Dragon Software, who have dumped it on Nuance. There hasn't been an update since OS X 10.2, and the Nuance website only lists 10.1-10.3 as supported OS. There's no sign ViaVoice for Mac will ever be upgraded; and now, with the arrival of Intel Macs, this is most likely a dead-end product.

I think you'd be better served considering iListen for Mac, or even using an Intel Mac to run both OS X and Windows and use Dragon Naturally Speaking on the latter instead.

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Has never worked well in OS X, March 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: IBM VIAVOICE for Mac OS X USB (CD-ROM)

Due to a spinal cord injury, my hands do not work. Obviously, typing is difficult, especially extended word processing. I use my computer 8-10 hours/day for work, email, etc., and frequently need to type more than a few lines. So, Viavoice seems to be the obvious choice for me. I have owned viavoice and each upgrade since the first version. Despite updates, this program has never worked well on OS X. On a few occasions I have gotten it to operate briefly, but usually it crashes, fails to open, does not respond, or dissappoints me in some other way.

Training the program is a long process, and the fact that I cannot use it now is ridiculous. I consider myself a mac expert, and use many programs. I have never been more frustrated with a program than I am with this one. Support is poor, and updaters are few-and don't help.

Save your money and more importantly your time-don't buy this program..