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I'm writing this review with MacSpeech.

MacSpeech is my first voice recognition program, and in my opinion, voice recognition's going to be the next frontier in operating systems and such.

The program is amazing, and it really does do the job, but there are a lot of hitches that still need to be resolved.

For example, I'm writing my master's thesis, and was shocked to learn that underlining, italics, and bold had to be added to the global commands to work in Pages: that seems silly, no beyond silly.

It's important to learn some of the major features upfront or you'll be completely frustrated, and there are a lot of commands which you will need to have at your fingertips. But the trade-off is worth it if you spend a bit of time learning how the program thinks.

Some surprise features included:

-- foreign-language diacriticals, so you don't have to go hunting around for font commands, which I never seem to be able to find.

-- the ability to add commands and programs to the voice recognition interface. However, the process for this is very tedious and will have to be refined with time.

-- the speed and elegance of the program, and its relative accuracy, including a recognition box which gives multiple choices of what you may have said so you can select if the first time around wasn't accurate.

-- it gets smarter with time, but I have had issues with homophones and personal pronouns, etc. though it seems to be catching on quickly. (The last clause was wrong the first time, but the correct version came up in the recognition box as one of the options. By using the recognition box for correction, the program seems to get smarter.)

-- a lifesaver if you suffer from back, shoulder, or wrist issues, and you don't have to hunch over the computer. Since I'm on the computer writing and doing 1 million things more than eight hours a day usually, I can't tell you how pleased I am to have found this program.



I only give it four stars because it still seems a "young" program. Also I purchased a training session for additional $50 or so from the MacSpeech site, and a lot of the major quirks I wouldn't have known about without that session.

That seems kind of odd to me, but at least it's available.

Suggest getting a Bluetooth headset for this as well, so if the phone rings you don't have to take your headset off. I can be pretty cheap, but I actually ordered a Bluetooth after working with the program for a while. Worth the money.

40 of 41 people found this useful

you cannot train words - big bad feature!
it won't recognize certain words - even when i repeat!
i still have way too much typing to save me time!
sometimes capitalizes at a pause in dictation - sometimes no caps at beginning of sentence!

the good news is that it is good on speech recognition - 90% correct; but still not time saver like the 'dragon speak' for windows...

19 of 37 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate is such an awesome item!

I'm a college student and I have so many papers to write each week that I have very little free time, but that was before I discovered MacSpeech. A paper that used to take me three or four hours to type up now takes me less than 30 minutes, which frees up so much of my time to do other things.

I'm using MacSpeech right now, it makes very few mistakes but it can be annoying, there are certain words that simply does not understand and you may have to manually type them in, I usually wait until I proofread my paper and correct it. I highly recommend MacSpeech to anyone who has a lot of writing to do. It will save you a lot of time. Even though it is not perfect, it is close enough!

86 of 88 people found this useful

I cannot explain this any other way is just amazing it just works I'm running snow leopard and is running great I'm actually doing this review with it I've tried others this is the best

51 of 73 people found this useful

It was a so so program that I paid a bunch of money for. But I ended up saying "scratch that" so much it was annoying. And now it doesn't work with snow leopard. FML

82 of 97 people found this useful

HAS A LONG WAY TO GO! 6 REASONS WHY...

I have been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking since version 3, and bought a Mac and began to use the latest version of MacSpeech. (I use a VXI Talk Pro microphone and repeatedly train my voice) Here's my analysis:

1.WHEN DICTATING CONTINUOUSLY: it is good, but still not up to the level of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. (However, when first starting to dictate, it usually takes 3-5 verbal entries for MacSpeech to start up.)

2.WHEN CORRECTING WORDS: MacSpeech corrections system is in the dark ages. Absolutely terrible! MacSpeech also makes a lot of capitalization errors (when I had a word in the middle of a sentence, it is capitalized, or beginning a sentence that is not capitalized, something that Dragon NaturallySpeaking does not do).

3.WHEN ADDING ONE'S OWN VOCABULARY: another terrible rating! This function is so easy to use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

4.WHEN ADDING PERSONAL GLOBAL COMMANDS: for example, training "my address" and the computer prints my entire name and address... another terrible rating.

5: OVERALL EASE-OF-USE: A TERRIBLE TERRIBLE RATING! I have two computers: one with MacSpeech, and another with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. There is an unbelievable difference in my comfort level when using Dragon NaturallySpeaking compared to MacSpeech. With MacSpeech I am always making corrections, or adjusting to its inability to "flow smoothly" as I dictate.

6: MACSPEECH COMPANY PUBLIC RELATIONS: given the needed problems and upgrades necessary to make this dictation software work correctly, MacSpeech folks created a lot of bad press when they charged $55 for an upgrade that is ATTEMPTING to correct needed problems. This is an indication of their closemindedness regarding their commitment to improve an inferior product. With all of the problems they need to correct, they are now launching a legal and a medical version. It appears this company is out to make money rather than develop a superior product.

OVERALL ADVICE: keep the pressure on this company to improve their product, or get out of to business of voice dictation. And don't believe the positive "professional ratings" that you'll read regarding this product! It is the ratings of end users that have used both Dragon NaturallySpeaking and MacSpeech that really count. If you have a choice, use Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

225 of 247 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate is certainly significantly better than its predecessor iListen but not equal to the Nuance NaturallySpeaking for Windows. I am now dictating this comment using version 1.3 and the accuracy is close to that I get when using Vista Speech Recognition software on my PC computer.

I believe if potential customers peruse reviews and forums including they MacSpeech forums you will see a great deal of frustration with with MacSpeech customer support and more recently their insistence that those of us who purchased MacSpeech Dictate shell out $60 plus shipping to upgrade to the latest version 1.5. MacSpeech ended up closing comments on the upgrade approximately 2 weeks into the overwhelming negative responses posted on their forum.

MacSpeech Dictate continues to have issues with mixed keyboard and voice editing. It is extremely disturbing to see your text scrambled or simply disappear after a few simple keyboard edits have been made. Additionally, I have experienced more crashes using Dictate and any other software for my Mac. One very unsettling observation has been that when MacSpeech dictate 1.3 crashes it launches my e-mail client and attempts to send detailed information detailing all that I have been doing prior to the crash including the document I am working on.

The first time this happened, I instinctively hit the send button forwarding this data to MacSpeech. Fortunately, I was not working on a sensitive document for my accountant, attorney or client. This option could prove devastating to professionals such as physicians and needs to be eliminated particularly given that MacSpeech is now making a version specifically for medical professionals.

104 of 106 people found this useful

If you are looking to quickly dictate your computer long documents and letters just in a few minutes, this is not it, dont buy this piece of software. It is horrible!!!!! It will take you hours to clean up the "dictation" mess up. That is only if you dont have any trouble installing the USB microphone that comes with the software. I will rather keep typing until my hands bleed. Good luck and please let me know if you find something good in terms of mac speech recognition.

54 of 83 people found this useful

Wish I didn't have to say this, but, here goes, 'the windows version is better'!!!!! I purchased both MacSpeech Dictate (for the MAC) for me and Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 (for Windows) for the good lady. I firstly installed Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 and was simply blown away by what it can do, especially with the controlling of the programs. When testing it in Word (windows), I was able to use my voice to type things and then edit the document seamlessly e.g. if I made an error and said 'undo' the undo command will work, I could make specific words bold, in italics and even underline them using my voice, then when I'm ready I say 'close' and the dialog box will pop up and ask me whether I'd like to save it or not, I simply said 'save' and it will save it for me in the name I say and in the location I specify, with no problems at all, USING MY VOICE ONLY!!!!

When I installed MacSpeech Dictate and tested it on Microsoft Word for MAC, the results where disappointingly different. Having the program type what I say is fine but when it comes to controlling the program it just doesn't do the trick. If I say 'undo' it will type undo rather that use the undo command to correct any errors and for closing the program well,that was just problems, I said 'close','Quit', 'close window', 'Quit Microsoft Word' and the list goes on, and guess what the program is still open. It does Open the programs fine but for controlling and closing them, it needs alot of help!!!

Or mybe I do.

41 of 42 people found this useful

The product is excellent. When I goof, it goofs. If I speak carefully and distinctly, it responds accordingly. I have one problem. I am hard of hearing. I wish there was a better earphone and microphone product which would return a louder signal. That would be a great help.

26 of 32 people found this useful