Customer Reviews

MacSpeech Dictate [Old Version]

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(59)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(55)

 

 

Version upgrade info: Here is info from 1.5 press release: Anyone who registered MacSpeech Dictate on or after April 1, 2009 is eligible to receive a free upgrade, and will be notified automatically via email. so you get version 1.5 if you buy this.

This is a review of version 1.5:
Okay here we go this is a review of MacSpeech 1.5 I will not be correcting any of the errors while I dictate this review. I have done all of the training as of now as to make its recognition the best possible.

One thing to note you cannot use an internal mic on a Mac computer with this version you need to use an external mic. Now I feel this is horrible and needs to be corrected as it makes it way more inconvenient to use. I feel you should at least be given the option. (note: While Speech Recognition software works "best" with a good mic, reading the mac speech forums you find many users were satisfied by the results of their internal mac mics. Now that it is dropped with out the option of using inter mics, leaves users high and dry)

Up to this point in the review I'm amazed at how perfect it has captured all of my speech. I have been using speech recognition for many years so I understand speaking in word clumps, which is essential for speech recognition software.

Now I haven't tried setting up custom words in their new editor, but will at some point if I come across a word that I use like LOL, wow it even got LOL if he doesn't understand something I go back and type it in by hand.

As you can tell the software is spot on!

Here I will repeat the Gettysburg address:
Four score and seven years ago our fore fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dictate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
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Pretty much spot on this program is 98% accurate by my accounts that is really awesome. E

my setup is a tabletop mike running to a mixing board that runs into my Mac. I'm sitting about 8 inches from the Mike and it's picking up perfect recognition I'm using a high-quality mic ( $70 XLR)

Enjoy!

Also send the company some e-mails requesting they add back the option of internal mics is the one serious flaw in this otherwise great program.

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-Version 1.1 to 1.4-
I have been a dragon date the user (DragonDictate user) on and off for years. And Dragon dictate was very good, and I think that MacSpeech picks up there. This review will be unedited so any words that are wrong or words that MacSpeech has gotten wrong.

I use a desktop microphone since I am disabled facing the hassle up putting on a headset is daunting. I think the principle reason many people fail with speech recognition is that you need to speak in Word clumps, and pronounce each word clearly.

With this in mind I sit about 6-8 inches away from my microphone and get almost perfect recognition. I also make it a habit to do all the training that is available, this way the program understands what I sound.

So as you can see from this review, MacSpeech did a rather well job of capturing everything that I want to say.

The only real complaint I have, is where is the health (help) section. Hopefully they improve this in future releases, not having a PDF manual to look at is kind of annoying. And also I have not found a way to train specific words as I save them (say them) this needs to be remedied ASAP.

Thanks for reading and I hope that this review helps you.

Charles Bittner
[...]

I am a disabled web developer. I was born without hands, and my arms are about 8 inches long. I have tried many different speech recognition programs over the past 15 years. In fact I was one of the first students in Michigan to have a wheelchair mounted voice-recognition laptop. It was horrible and recognize nothing. Then a few years later I tried a few other pieces of speech recognition software, nothing was very good at all. I kind of gave up on speech recognition until last year I tried a program called iListen even that wasn't really up to par, but a month ago I received MacSpeech Dictate as a gift and after installing and setting up my voice profile I was in love with how accurate this software is. I am not sure software can get more accurate than this.

I have seen some negative reviews on Amazon and I'm not sure how anyone could give this software a bad review. Like I said I have tested and use a lot of software in the past and nothing has compared to this. I recommend this software to anyone with a disability, or anyone that is a slow typer.

I even typed this review with MacSpeech Dictate and it only took a few seconds. Because it allows me to speak in my natural voice and at my natural pace.

I hate to echo the sentiments of other posts, but it is important to get the point across that this software IS NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME. As with other posts, when I got to the "establish a profile" area, the software crashes. I tried it on 2 other machines (all Intel Macs) with similar results. After multiple attempts at contacting product support (no returned e-mails and hour long waits on hold), I was able to speak to an unhelpful support person. He said that they were having "tons of problems with installation profiles" and that they still did not understand what was causing the crash. He then sent me an e-mail with various "logs" to be sent back to them.
Do not buy this product until they have released version 1.1 or 1.2 to fix these problems. Even then, I would seriously consider not purchasing from a company that does not release the fact that they are having an epidemic of problems with this software, does not return e-mails, and has excessive wait times for customer service.


Amended review:

I was finally able to obtain a new data disk from MacSpeech. Although their customer service was terrible, I must say that they are pretty good as far as their dictation software is concerned. Having used Dragon since version 7.0, MacSpeech Dictate is by far the best voice recognition software I've ever used. The recognition is well above 99% in my experience. Probably the best aspect of this software is the ability to import terminology and have it recognized without having to actually train the terms into the program.

MacSpeech certainly needs to improve their customer support (shorter wait times on hold, better communication with customers, and support forums), their product is certainly quite good and worth the wait (and the tremendous hassle to obtain a functional data disk).

I must amend my review from one star to four stars. The only reason I withhold a five star review is because of the aforementioned customer support issues.

*Please note that I have dictated his entire review using MacSpeech dictate.

Written Sept 2008:
I did my homework. I read the reviews. All of them... good, bad, here and all over the net. Then, I contacted the company to get their side. For every bad review you'll find the facts are simple... a bad line of disks were burned for production and put on the shelves early on this year. It was unfortunate but the problem was eventually fixed, new disks were produced and the product worked.

I am a writer, trying my best to get my story out as quickly as possible because my fingers can never type faster than this movie plays in my head and my constant self-editing prevents me from achieving my goals. With MacSpeech Dictate, I have found a new way to overcome my obstacles. It is, and does, all the company claims on their site. I was able to speak as I normally would with the exception of having to "say" the punctuation... something quickly learned using the 15 minute training. I didn't have to slow down except to pause before and after each punctuation, again, no big deal.

So, if you have the need, a MAC computer with Intel inside, using MAC OS 10.4.11 or newer, and 2gb of memory or more, than feel good knowing this software might be the answer to your prayers. I am giving it both thumbs straight up.

I am working on my final project for my Nurse Practitioner/MSN degree and bought this software to assist with transcribing dozens of recorded interviews into written text documents. While this is not the best program for transcription by any means, it was the least expensive route for me and could be used for many other applications (to write papers, case studies, emails etc.). I have never used any other program so I cannot compare it to Dragon or ilisten but here goes...

As of July 18th, Amazon was shipping the 1.3 version. This version works very well on it's own. I was hesitant to upgrade to the 1.5 after I familiarized myself with the 1.3. After I registered the program online, the newest version (which is now 1.5.2) was mailed to me within 2 days. It was not just an update disc that I received, but rather a full, sealed, brand new program that included everything the 1.3 contained except the headset. It was remarkably easy to upgrade and automatically transferred my "profile" from 1.3 to 1.5.2 so nothing was lost.

The KEY to using this software is to SPEND THE TIME READING THE MANUAL AND TRAINING THE SOFTWARE. If you want something that will work flawlessly right out of the box, this is not for you. It WILL work right away but not as well as it should. The program comes with a "Quick Start" 4 page pamphlet to get you started but the website offers a 156 page pdf of the full manual that is essential to running the program smoothly. (I applaud the company for trying to be a little green by not including it in the package) I must admit, I spent the better part of a weekend studying the manual and training the program, but I am not tech savvy by ANY means.

The included headset works perfectly. It is not the most comfortable and it feels a little cheesy but it does the job well. I wear it around my neck with the mic a few inches from my mouth and have no problems. Contrary to other reviewers claims, you CAN use the internal mic on your computer with this program if you download a free version LineIn from [...] This allows you to send your internal mic to soundflower and Dictate will take input from soundflower. Personally, I prefer the headset because it has a 10 foot cord and I can move around while I dictate (dusting, folding clothes, etc)

Here are a few helpful hints:

1) As stated above, YOU MUST THOROUGHLY READ THE ONLINE MANUAL AND SPEND TIME VOICE TRAINING THE PROGRAM

2) If you have a laptop like mine (early 2009 aluminum macbook) you must use the FRONT USB port for your headset/mic. Apparantly, the REAR USB port (the one closest to the screen) also powers the keyboard, track pad, bluetooth, isight camera, etc and is a "weaker" port. (That is a discussion for another day)

3) Every time you begin dictating--even if you were only away from it briefly-- you should go to tools --> microphone set-up and re-calibrate the mic. It takes about 45 seconds and makes a huge difference!

4) NEVER EVER type into a document when you are dictating! You must not use your hands to make corrections or the program will get confused and work very erratically!

5) If all else fails, DON"T PANIC! The best thing you can do is create a new user profile. This is like starting anew and saved me from throwing the computer out the window after my combination of speech and typing had disastrous effects on the recognition

This program has been a Godsend for me. It has saved me hours of typing and works nearly flawlessly with AMAZING accuracy and speed. I highly recommend it if you are able to put the time in to train it correctly:)

I'm puzzled by the negative reviews of this product. I've had the best possible experience with it. Previously I've used Dragon Naturally Speaking since version 6, and have watched the product gradually improve in accuracy, eventually reaching about 99%. Unfortunately, although that sounds good, it's wrong just enough to make an extremely careful scrutinizing of everything it does necessary. Since I teach online writing classes, I need to post hundreds of messages some days, and I really would like to rely on my speech recognition software for near perfection, as long as I dictate clearly.

As a recent convert to the Mac, I was delighted to hear about MacSpeech Dictate, and I pre-ordered it expecting it to be a lot like Naturally Speaking (since that's the engine it uses). Well, either they've improved it, or the Mac's superior hardware performance makes a huge difference, because after the initial five minute training, I could dictate rapid-fire speech with nearly 100% accuracy. MacSpeech Dictate's installation and performance have been completely flawless, and I find myself using it more every day. It's easily the biggest productivity leap of any software I've ever purchased.

For the record, I use a 2.4Ghz aluminum iMac with 2GB of RAM. I routinely dictate into Pages, Firefox and Notes, and am sure it works with everything else. I don't use it for command navigation, but that's just personal preference. I use the supplied USB microphone plugged into my keyboard. The mic seems a bit plasticky, but works great.

Because of the streamlined Mac interface, there aren't really many settings you can change on this program. The thing I miss is the ability to retrain an often misunderstood word. There's one specialized word I use a lot that it always gets wrong. Other than that, I have no complaints or wish list items, and would buy MacSpeech Dictate again in a heartbeat.

MacSpeech Dictate Product Review

Overall Rating - 3 Stars

People who give this product either five or one star are completely off base. This is neither an outstanding nor a terrible product. It is, in fact, a useful product that still needs work.

By way of background, I'm using MacSpeech Dictate version 1.3 on a Mac Pro 8-core running OS X 10.5.6. I am also very comfortable with the process of dictation having used a human assistant for the past 34 years to transcribe my documents ranging from one-page memos to 50 page proposals. In addition, I consider myself a Macintosh power user, having bought my first Mac in June of 1984. I have also tried dictation on the Mac twice in the past using different versions of IBM's Via Voice and found both versions completely unusable. MacSpeech is definitely far superior to Via Voice. The reason I'm using dictation software is that I have severe repetitive strain injuries in my hands, wrists and forearms. I have been using MacSpeech for about a month and find that I can eliminate close to 90% of the need to manipulate the keyboard. If present trends continue, in less than five years it should be possible to completely control a Mac via voice commands. But, for the time being, MacSpeech is a good product for a person in my situation (injured but not completely disabled). It is NOT suitable for a good typist who's looking for a productivity tool. At least 50% of the loss of productivity is attributable to bugs or limitations within the software.

Dictation Mode - 4 Stars

Speech recognition in Dictation Mode is, by far, the most powerful feature of this product. Training the software is easy. I found that after only a few minutes of speech training the software did a reasonably good job of transcribing my speech. Correcting erroneous transcriptions is easy and painless. Also, the software understands natural speech patterns as long as you don't mumble. I find the level of recognition to be nearly 100%. As a matter of fact, I'm using MacSpeech to produce this review using Apple's TextEdit. The process is definitely slower than typing (I can type 35 words per minute using 10 finger touch typing), but still acceptably fast (about 15 words per minute). My biggest issue and frustration with dictation mode is that certain commands, such as "train the words" and "select the words" just don't work, and often yield bizarre results which mess up my document completely. As another example, the software kept insisting on typing "move forward 20 words" instead of executing the the cursor movement. Also, a new command "Cache Document" yields unreliable results when I try to navigate within the cached document. An additional bug in the software is that the cursor sometimes randomly moves around within the document to select and delete previous correct dictation.

Spelling Mode - 3 Stars

Spelling Mode is used in situations where dictating complete words does not work well, such as foreign words, acronyms, uncommon proper names or jargon. It works reasonably well, especially if you use the Radio Alphabet. My problem with spelling mode is that MacSpeech sometimes becomes unresponsive to new commands after it has been in spelling mode. The problem is intermittent, and I have been able to find only two workarounds. The first thing I try is to show and then hide the available commands window. If that doesn't solve the problem, the only recourse is to quit and restart MacSpeech.

Command Mode - 3 Stars

MacSpeech allows you to control various aspects of your computer plus a number of applications. It comes with built-in command sets for TextEdit, Safari, Apple Mail plus the Finder. This is the weakest component of the software, for results are hit and miss. Commands are often ignored or slow to execute. The ignoring of commands is, in my opinion, definitely a problem with MacSpeech Dictate. The slowdowns, I believe, are related to the applications that are being controlled, especially Apple Mail. This can be extremely frustrating, especially because there is no user feedback explaining why a command failed to execute. If dictation is not recognized, the user at least understands what the program thought it heard. A good first step for correcting this problem would be for the program to display a reason why it's not responding to a command. One good thing about command mode is that the user is able to create new commands if they know AppleScript. I easily created two of my own commands by duplicating and modifying one of the built-in commands provided with MacSpeech.

Printed Documentation - 1 Star

The printed documentation for the software is absolutely abysmal. It is incomplete and only a fraction of what is required for a new user to learn the product. In order to learn the software I have had to resort to four different sources: the printed documentation, the online help system, command references that I've downloaded from the developer's website, plus documentation made available by other MacSpeech users through the user forums. One should not have to play detective in order to learn a product. In addition, there is no index entry for something as basic as how to display the Recognition Window. There is also no menu command for showing the Recognition Window although there are menu commands for showing the Status and Available Commands Windows. The quality of the documentation is amateurish and completely inexcusable.

Help System - 3 Stars

The help system is a good reference source for the available commands and is well organized. I only have two quibbles with it. First, it was not proofed carefully. For example, the Radio Alphabet is missing "Victory" and the newest command "Cancel Training" is not documented. I wonder what else has been left out. The second problem is that the pages in the help system are not printable. The reason that this is a problem is that the printed documentation is woefully incomplete. If the printed documentation were satisfactory, the lack of a printable help system would not be a problem.

Again, my conclusion is that this is a good product as long as you have the right expectations and understand the caveats given above.

I am dictating this review using MacSpeech Dictate. If I have to make a correction with my keyboard I will indicate the correction using brackets.

My wife knew I wanted this program so she bought [it] for me for Christmas. I had read many of the reviews and had decided I would wait until some of the bugs have [had] been worked out. So it was with some reticence that I loaded the program onto my computer Christmas day. From some of the reviews I thought it would blow my computer up. However, with some encouragement from my daughter I decided to install it. It was surprisingly easy. I did have two [to] download the patch from the MacSpeech website. But I was prompted to do so and everything went smoothly (I have a wireless Internet connection which made it easy).

It took me about 20 minutes to do the training. It went well. However, the first few times I tried to dictate it didn't go well. At first I feared it was a complete waste of money. After working with it for a while thing[s] started [to] work better until finally it seemed to work perfectly. I did do a few of the training exercises over again, just to be on the safe side. As you can see it's doing a pretty good job. Occasionally I use the recognition menu which allows you to verbally select from a list of options. This is especially good if there is a lot of background noise. I'm actually using it occasionally right now because I find it easier to dictate while I look at the screen. The manual tells you not to do that but for some reason for me it works better. I look at the screen while I type so it seems natural for me to look at the screen while I dictate.

So what initially seemed like a potential disaster turned out to be a lot of fun. I never let on to my wife that her gift initially terrorized me.

I don't really understand those who bash the program. Maybe they type a lot better than I do. In the final analysis I give MacSpeech Dictate high marks. Naturally it makes mistakes, and the mistakes can be hard to find because the program never misspell[s] anything. But all things considered it truly is amazing.


[I]incidentally, there is a great manual in the help menu. It has everything I needed to know about the program, plus some that [I] haven't gotten to yet but hope[d] to learn about soon (like using it to do commands in programs like Photoshop).

I dictated this review with only eight typos. That's a lot better than if I had typed everything.

MacSpeech voice recognition is pretty good. But it's not going to get everything. Sometimes we just use phrases the software is not going to get all the time. For example, in the title of this review, I used the word "interactively." MacSpeech Dictate tried "enter actively" and a few others, until I just typed in "interactively." In the body of this review, MacSpeech got "interactively" right every time.

If you don't expect perfection, but work with the software, i.e. making corrections by hand as you dictate, you can get good results. (Good results being defined as lots of written output, not 100% perfection from your dictation software.)

Another difficulty with dictation, is that you're using a different part of the brain to write. Written language and spoken language are not the same, nor does written language and spoken language follow the same path through the brain to the real world. It may be that some of the difficulties you have with writing with dictation software, is difficulty transitioning to dictation from typing. (This can also make it more difficult to proofread dictated text because you used the part of the brain to speak and not the part to write, therefore when you read what has been dictated its not as easy to read it as if you had typed it.) With practice, as YOUR dictation improves, your dictation software's accuracy will also improve.

Another difficulty you may find with dictation, is that it is physically much more work to talk for an hour than it is to type for an hour.

When you first train MacSpeech Dictate, you will be excited with your new software, you will read the training text with enthusiasm and great projection of voice. But as you use the software, you will tire. Your voice will flag. Then -- lo! -- accuracy has fallen. Do not wonder why. Take a break, relax your voice, and save some time to do additional training after dictating for 20 or 30 minutes, when you have a more representative manner of speaking than you did when you were excited about getting the software.

BUGS:
1. MacSpeech is not entirely punctuation aware, so you will have to clean up spacing and capitalization. it's no big deal for a few months when the software is new, but I expect this to be fixed in future updates.
2. MacSpeech does not seem to be multi-processor aware. hopefully in the future it will be and will thus be faster and more accurate.

Nuance has versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking tailored to different industries. I'd like to see MacSpeech do the same.

To all the reviewers of MacSpeech software here at Amazon, I'd like results from an experiment to be added to your reviews. Time yourself typing a full page of text for work or for school, and time yourself dictating a full page of text--Including corrections--for work or for school, and post the times. I wonder if dictating is actually faster than typing for a majority of users.

This review was typed by MacSpeech Dictate, with some help from me. I had to correct almost all of the capitalization, and spacing, at the beginning of sentences. And I also had to correct what I was writing, as in content, not because MacSpeech Dictate made any mistakes, but because writing is like that. Revise. Revise. Revise. It may be easier for you to mix and match typing and dictating than only one of the other. Be flexible. You don't have to write OR dictate. You can do both.

Hardware:
MacBook Pro / Core 2 Duo / 2GB RAM
MacSpeech included microphone

I also suggest that people interested in speeding up their writing try TypeIt4Me, which is very cheap, and very awesome, and never makes mistakes. When I worked as a medical transcriber, I used TypeIt4Me extensively. There is no way I could have gotten work done anywhere near as fast with dictation software.

Good luck and good writing.

I don't understand the other reviews. I received my copy of MacSpeech Dictate today, and I am very impressed. The program was easy to install and after the initial minimum voice training I was receiving surprisingly high accuracy.

I haven't done any extra training but as you can see the program is dictating very well (I am using it to write this review and I haven't touched the keyboard yet).

I am very excited to use this program since I experience RSI problems with my arms. I would highly recommend any Mac user who would like to cut down on the amount of typing they do to purchase this program and learn to use it.