Taking dictation is nothing new and business executives have been doing this for decades either to office assistants or into tape recorders so that the documents could be transcribed at a later time. With the advent of better and better voice recognition technology, dictation software emerged as a viable alternative to getting it done faster and more accurately.
A History of Talking to Your Computer
In March of 1990 Dragon Systems released the first version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking which retailed for approximately $9000. As time passed and hardware became more powerful, the software became somewhat more affordable at $2000 and allowed for continuous dictation. While great in theory, the software didn’t work very well. Competing products appeared to grab a share of this innovation. As time passed, dictation software flourished for the PC but there was nothing available for the Mac.
Getting it Right for the Mac
After years of working with their iListen program, MacSpeech retired the software in order to bring out a new and improved version based on the DragonDictate program. This program took the heart and soul of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software and turned it into a fantastic program for the Mac. Just like the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software MacSpeech Dictate is incredibly easy to use and it is extremely accurate, recognizing 95% of the words spoken. In keeping with the Mac ethos, the people at MacSpeech integrate the program beautifully with OS 10.
Seamless Training
Once MacSpeech Dictate is installed it begins a short voice training session to help calibrate the software. The programmers of MacSpeech Dictate were very clever because the session has the user read how people hear and understand words versus a computer. It’s an interesting read and dictating it just makes it more interesting. It just a few minutes and once complete the software is ready. Anybody should be able to use this program within just a couple of minutes.
Not Just for Typing
Another great feature of MacSpeech Dictate is that it can also be used to control a Macintosh. The program has three modes: spelling, dictation, and command. Spelling mode allows you to spell out words that are not easily recognized while the command mode allows a person to dictate commands to the computer. It can open iTunes or change to different workspaces. The program comes with a list of commands and new ones can be added to customize the experience.
Overall, the program is great for taking full control of a computer just by speaking. MacSpeech Dictate can be found online were sold at Apple stores for $199.95. The program includes two CDs and a Plantronics headset microphone.
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