Customer Reviews

MacSpeech Dictate EDU [Old Version]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

I had pretty low expectations for this product based on past experience with speech recognition software. So far I have been pleasantly surprised how well MacSpeech works. I purchased this product to use for interview transcriptions and it has cut my transcription time by 30-40%. It is so easy to use that I have also started using it for email and writing papers.I bought the student version and feel it was well worth the money. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I feel even the best speech recognition software still needs work before it is a 5.

I write papers every day. I need to enlist every shortcut I can find. With the exception of a few errors from misinterpretation, I have been able to increase my workload efficiently.

At first I wrote a bad review, saying the mic wouldn't work. I then found in the box, which was crushed in shipping, an adaptor which converts the included mic to USB. It works great, and I am quite pleased.

(please note, other than this preamble this review is written using macspeech. I have been using the software approx. one week)
And maybe, just maybe it can get better. However like I said above is overwhelmingly disappointing. There are some words which the software simply cannot tell,. It has a tendency to insert definite and indefinite articles for no discernible reason. It use also underwhelming in its ability to work with different accents. I have a British accent, and certain words including "schedule" have to be pronounced in the American fashion in order to be understood, even after training.

However as you can see in a lot of contexts quite impressive. I should note that the above is not what I actually said, however it is close enough for an e-mail or similar informal communication. The problem comes when you're trying to write something else. If one has to be accurate, then this software can be extremely frustrating. Even worse, there appears to be a bug which causes it to crash three or more times the morning. Another frequent irritation is the way in which it starts to insert delete characters, apparently random. Sometimes a letter is also randomly inserted into the text, and has to be cleaned up afterwards.

To be absolutely fair, the software is improving my productivity considerably (whatever that is what it would have been had I hate typing with only one hand) but it is still nothing in comparison with ordinary typing. I could not honestly recommend anyone purchased this

Just to let you know. I had a stroke about three years ago, and totally paralyzed on the right side. It took me, two years, to be able to setup and begin to talk again. I just got this program about two months ago, and am very happy. I still am trying to tweak this program in and learn all the commands. I am now working on my memoirs, and we'll be able to finish up in a couple of years compared to six or seven years by typing with one hand. For those that have disabilities, or just normal, this is really a product that should be provided for all educational institutes. Sure handy to have.

I didnt realize when I bought this for my husband that it was not compatiable with his current lap top. So we ended up returning it.