[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: MacSpeech Dictate 1.2.1 here

[Speed_Racer]

This app has been released for nearly a year now and they still haven't fixed those editing problems? Awful. Not being able to fix words by typing them in is exactly why I gave up on it. There are words and phrases that it simply can't understand no matter how many times I try, and it's easier for me to just type them in rather than try ten times. Especially proper names. Other than that, the accuracy is impressive. Still, if they license Dragon technology, why can't they license Dragon's vocabulary packs?

[Hanseat]

I guess a key question for me is whether it would be better to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Parallels, VMWare etc., or to use Dictate. In my case, I don't need to voice control my computer. I'm just looking for some relief from typing. What do the experts say?

[bonesb]

I'm with Speed_Racer - these guys have had too much time to get basic needs fulfilled, especially editing. Nuance will get my cash directly - from a purchase of one of their Windows applications. For the cost of a few billable hours, I can install a virtualization application or use my Boot Camp partition, Windows XP, Word, and a Nuance application - and be done with it.

After a couple of guys told me it's as hard to use as ViaVoice was (I own a copy and used it - it's in a box in an attic, where it's been for about six years...) - these guys need to move on and go to work for someone else, like Burger King.

[rumplestiltskin]

I think the "editing mode" does need a bit or work. However, my clients who are using this app are writing books with it. Their method is to simply dictate and let the app do its thing. Any proper names that are misspelled they catch in a separate editing/proofreading session at their keyboards; they simply don't bother with the "live editing" capabilities (or lack thereof) of Dictate. I hope I'm not giving the impression that they don't like the app; on the contrary, they do and are quite happy with it. It gives them the relief from typing during the writing process.

You must speak clearly and distinctly (which is how you should be talking anyway, right?). Mumblers need not apply.

[kirkmc]

The problem with running Naturally Speaking in, say, VMware, is that you can only dictate into an application that will store long texts; it's a hassle to dictate there, then switch to Mail or iChat, if you want to use voice recognition for those programs. However, if you are writing articles or books, and don't want to use voice recognition for anything else, it's a possibility. For me, it's too complicated, because I'm constantly shifting from one app to another when I'm writing, and most of those apps (outliners, browsers, etc.) are Mac apps.
As for editing at the keyboard, it's probably the best current solution. If you have a lot of proper names, though, it can be a headache. As I said in the review, if you can already type quickly, you won't be working much faster with Dictate, because of the editing, but it is a heck of a lot more relaxing.

[kirkmc]

BTW, absolutely no comparison with the disaster known as Via Voice. Dictate is relatively easy to use, and, as I pointed out, the accuracy out of the box - for basic words and phrases - is excellent. As Rumple said, and as I pointed out in the review, you do need to speak clearly, but Dictate is far more efficient when your speech is not perfect. To truly get these programs to work well, you need to train them with your voice, which is what you do when you "correct" them - MacSpeech prefers the term "phrase training". This tells the program to remember your pronunciation for a specific word or phrase. And to get the best level of recognition, you need to use it for a long time, training it as you go on.

[dexterbarsinister]

I've used Dragon Naturally Speaking on the PC for many years. MacSpeech Dictate cannot compare. Running Dragon in Parallels, which I've tried, is not great. For one thing, Parallels can't properly detect my USB microphone. Aside from some of the obvious shortcomings of Dictate, it also freezes up and loses what you have entered, which is beyond frustrating. Speech-to-text remains an application that requires a PC for decent performance. It's one of the things that has prevented me from switching wholly to Mac.

[jadco]

I’ve used MacSpeech Dictate for two months. It’s a disappointment - it’s really not market ready, it simply has too many glitches. Too many times I have to interrupt my train of thought to try to get some feature or other to work correctly.
The interface can use some work. I should not have to memorize what are in effect a long list of mnemonic commands in order to use the software productively - someone will invent a better way to do this sooner or later.
On the other hand, its accuracy is excellent for routine non-stop dictation. That’s why it will be useful in its current form for any non-typist writing an essay or a book.

[kirkmc]

I remember seeing some tricks on the Parallels forum about getting mics recognized. It wasn't simple, but many users said that it worked for them. I'm just saying...

[bigcloits]

I look forward to every Dictate review, so that I have another opportunity to let people know what a hilariously bad experience I have had with Dictate and MacSpeech over the last year. I had been a not-particularly-satisfied iListen user for years, and then optimistically started with Dictate shortly it was announced after MacWorld Expo last year, and it’s been a comedy of tech support and customer service errors ever since.
I literally cannot use the software since v1.2. It suffers from a Canadian localization bug that is a full-on crasher (not for all Canadians, apparently, but for some). It’s been months now, and the company is not only unable to fix it, but seems disinterested. When I finally gave up and tried to get a refund, I won’t say that they actually refused, but they were so slow and made it so difficult that they might as well have.
But the Canadian-crasher bug was not my only issue ... just the most recent and worst issue. What Kirk calls “quirks” in this review I would call deal-breakers.
Even when I could still launch Dictate, I didn’t look forward to it!

[hbissell]

I've been trying to get my mom, who has Parkinson's up and running with this software. It's been extremely frustrating. As has been said, it's okay for dictating long blocks of text (actually - excellent really), but has serious issues when trying to edit (in our case, there are random letters that just get carried along and can't be edited, the selected text jumps around, and often ends up deleting the entire block of text), and it crashes if you dictate a phrase that is longer than 15 or so words.
A lot of potential visible when it's working correctly, but the implementation needs work. The company really needs to get the ball rolling on support for this software. Don't buy until 2.0 comes out.

[Harknail]

Depends what you mean by "Editing". The original version allowed you to edit by voice. In the last year they've added training (called correction by other programs) which shows you a list of possibilities. Training not only changes the text, but teaches the program. This usually works, but some words do seem resistant to training.

[kirkmc]

What I meant by editing was the process of moving around in a text and selecting words to change, capitalizing words, adding punctuation, etc. This is somewhat flawed, as the program will select different words from what you ask for, at times, or will select text outside the boundaries of the words you want. Also, it tends to get confused after a while and if you want to move back, say, eight words, it doesn't always send the cursor to the correct place.