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MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

IT DOES WORK!!!

Written by AJ from Sacramento

Jun 15, 2008

I am a previous user of MacSpeech and I could never get it to work. However, with MacSpeech Dictate, I set it up as directed and then I set up my own voice account. Believe it or not, the program recognized my speech after about 15 minutes of my reading frames of text. I then went in to enter data (speaking data?) and it worked flawlessly! I am amazed at how well this program set up as well as how easy it is to use. They also have complete libraries of commands that you can speak in Mail, Pages and so on. I can't stop using it as typing is really a pain fo me. This is the best "productive" software that I have ever bought!! I highly recommend it.

527 of 580 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Product works but, the support does not

Written by BH from Oakville

Jun 5, 2008

Purchased this earlier this year. I rec'd one of the bad disks that had this product crashing everytime. After countless calls to the helpdesk finally had someone that said "you probably have the bad disk". Rec'd new disk in the mail a few days later. Works great after that.

Found that MacSpeech hid after the issues with the disk instead of coming out and admitting it. They took the support feature offline and did nothing to help their cause.

I have been using it for awhile now and really like the product. Had issues with my 14 year old on it until I noticed the "teen option".

Hope they learned from this issue and will improve the customer service.

458 of 521 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

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

Written by JS

Jul 5, 2009

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.

206 of 228 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

ALMOST 5 STARS

Written by JF from LOS ANGELES

Aug 5, 2008

It's not perfect, but pretty darn close. In fact, I'm writing this review with it. I find that the more naturally I speak, the better it does. The people who've written reviews totally trashing it must be doing something wrong. Teaching it new words is a pain in the nether regions, but if they improve that along with teaching it to recognize e-mail addresses and so on, it will be a five-star product. I'm very satisfied, and it's helping me through an arm injury more than I can tell you.

168 of 180 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Those Headphones and Accuracy?

Written by SG from St.Neots

Jan 8, 2009

Dear All,

I am writing this as a regular seasoned Dragon user on the Laptop for my job - and Love it by the way - but I am a true macbook pro lover and would rather use it instead of the windows Laptop. So when I saw that DNS was now the main driver behind MacSpeech I thought my prays had been answered - So I bought it!

I got it out of the box - and!! Well I could not believe those Headphones? and you have to plug them in to the USB gizzmo. It would appear that DNS have not given over ALL the Technology to MacSpeech.

I would like to say "Please get rid of the Headphones and allow us to plug straight into the mac"

Just one other thing - The accuracy is not that brilliant! DNS technology works far better on the PC at the moment I am afraid.

If you can make the changes and get the accuracy up I would be the first one to sing it's praises!!

112 of 126 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Finally, good dictation software.

Written by KS from DANVILLE

Aug 9, 2008

I have used dictation software from time-to-time, but always seemed it always seemed like it never got over the hump. Within the first day of using this, I was sliding down the other side of said hump. The training for it to learn your voice patterns takes no time. I find myself using it for email, taking quick notes, penning letters. I have not found a program that it does not work seamlessly in. Great program.

105 of 112 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Getting better but not there yet and now has a worrisome security issue

Written by SC from Shreveport

Jun 23, 2009

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.

97 of 98 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

See for yourself.....

Written by RR

Feb 10, 2009

Note: this was written with MacSpeech Dictate. I have done a considerable amount of voice training and I do not stutter, have an accent or lisp. Read for your self before you make the purchase..... Eter reading the reviews, I had to stop to see about my owner you. When I decided to do here, insert after point is to prove a point. if what I'm about to write is fully legible or lease clause then I will leave it up to you to decide whether or not this is an accurate program. When I first bought the program it seemed that everything worked perfectly. After using it for a little while I noticed that things started to do for. Anytime a win to write an e-mail, for whatever reason, it was impossible to get anything right. What I'm doing here is wearing out my 300 words or allotted for this review. To be completely honest with you, I am having a hard time with it right now. You links to help you-I said things- to help you like the recognition window and the available commands window. You will use them a lot. The available commands window is more effort than one it is worth concert after after. Insert after. When it comes to inserting after a word. It's easier to just do it manually. Ortiz the option, move backward/forward one -- 99 words. But you have to count the words. So it's best just to manually move your cursor. okay I had just hold it to insert after and he just went back and deleted half of what I had written. Of course I hit undo. Now for whatever reason, the latter he is constantly after my cursor. I'm going to try setting out again, I'm going to try to say that again. For whatever reason, the electorate he..... (I am typing this part manually. The letter E is constantly set after my cursor. When this happens, sometimes it's a C, then it really starts to type crazy things.) e now I just placed my cursor after the EE and we'll see what happens. No fee is back, he, E is back. I'm not sure if I have done my 300 words yet or not but this is pretty much a good example of the accuracy of this program. E. I would say I have a very good vocabulary. No list node list... nevermind. E Anyways makeup your own mind. I'm tired of hailing everybody talk about how great his program is es. I agree that's just people from the company putting in the reviews. I wish I never bought this time, thing. Now I have two ease. EE Oh and before I forget I have to point out the fact that tech support is Just ewful. E let me rephrase that. Tech support is just awful. You will wait and then get somebody soul and rude. But the moment cells is really... I give. E

140 of 186 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

This Product is NOT Good!

Written by TM

Dec 28, 2008

Whoever is writing these five-star reviews, they must work for the company-as someone said in another review. I have already had to manually correct the first sentence five times. Ten the little...? (times total!)
Originally an employee of mine bought this program. Being the fact that I'm the owner of a consumer advocate company, she gave it to me to try. Unless you do not have fingers that work relatively correctly, this program is more hassle than it is good. I do not believe under any circumstance that other than severely physically impaired users of this product are writing five-star reviews. It is that simple. And to be completely honest, some of the things this program types out makes me wonder if there is a wizard behind the curtain pulling the strings.
The reason this product was first purchase was because of physical limitations that the original owner has. I reimbursed her the money for it. If it made her job easier, to me it was worth the $200. She had to return the original headphones that came with the package and pay $55 for an upgrade. Along with the software update, the program works a little better. (It no longer types even after you quit talking.) But the moment it runs into one snag, it will continue to snag. It will erase entire paragraphs over and over again. It will decide to type over a sentence or delete a sentence somewhere in the middle of a paragraph, and for no apparent reason. You'll spend a lot of time using the undo option with this program. Only buy it if you truly have physical limitations that make it worth the effort. My employee has decided to just type through it.
I spoke to someone who purchased the Windows version for medical dictation. I can honestly tell you that this is one of the most laid-back individuals I have ever met. But I can also say that I heard anger in his voice and saw fire in his eyes when he spoke of having to use the words, "Scratch that... scratch that!" over and over again. And then I knew, I wasn't the only one. A lot of the time, the commands meant for correcting errors, do little if no good.
This review is the truth... It's what I do for a living. And the staple of my commitment to my job is, "Is it Fair?" Yes this is. When they do get this program to work well, what a wonderful thing it will be. It will sell like Elmo. And I will buy a new one... I hope it's a inexpensive upgrade. Note: By the end of this review, I have made 38 corrections.

111 of 128 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Spend more time making corrections.

Written by KE

Nov 5, 2008

The reason why I bought MacSpeech Dictate was because I had back surgery and typing creates a knot in the center of my back - not to mention that I have arthritis. I do use this program when I know I'm going to be typing more than 300 words or until I get fed up. I spend a great deal of time going over everything I write and doing corrections. MacSpeech Dictate has a very hard time knowing when to capitalize at the beginning of the sentence, When you are doing corrections, and at the beginning of a new paragraph. you have to be extremely careful using this program. (as last two sentences clearly show.) Getting a hold of tech support is very difficult. A new version came out with a free upgrade and I had hoped it would take care of the errors. It did not. Sometimes it works fabulously and other times I think I'm speaking in a different language. Regardless you have to be very careful using this program. If you're using it to save time... Don't. If you're using it because you have physical limitations, then it could be of help. I think all the four and five star reviews were placed by employees of MacSpeech Dictate. Because I'm telling you, it is a constant fight. if what you are writing is important, I hope you have a secretary to proofread or you're very good at proofreading yourself. I won't put my secretary through that. she's got a lot more important things to do. the only reason I fixed the spelling errors in this review was simply to make it legible and to make sense. I had to make a lot of corrections to this review. However, he did not fix capitalization. And at the beginning of that last sentence, I said, "I", not, "he".... Just an example.

105 of 119 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

I love this program

Written by RM from Soquel

Jul 18, 2008

Ever sense I finished with a 10 minute training exercise, it has made zero errors and I can complete school assignments in half the time with this program. I would recommend this program to anyone.

109 of 129 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Not for the lazy

Written by TM from Victoria

Feb 22, 2009

Great product if you take the time to talk slowly and prounicate words clearly. If you tend to mumble or talk fast in every day conversation, this product is for you, but you need to make some slight adjustments in how you talk. The important thing is to not get frustrated in the beginning. I found that the program was making many mistakes in the beginning, but when I recorded my voice and listened to it, I realized that I made the above mistakes. ie fast talking and mumbling. Since then I have made the appropriate adjustments and the program works like a gem.

81 of 87 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Excellent Product

Written by SB from Tigard

Feb 9, 2009

I have used speech recognition software before, and knew of its limitations. After having purchased MacSpeech Dictate I was pleasantly surprised with how well that it worked. In fact this review, was dictated entirely using the software. I found it extraordinarily accurate, and easy to use. In fact, it blew away my prior experience using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I was concerned at first because of some of the negative reviews on this website, but I believe now after using it, those particular users must have had problems with the software unique to their circumstances, most notably trying to use speech recognition software in a noisy workspace or with a person who has a more distinct voice or dialect. The software was awesome. I bought it because I had surgery and could not type for several weeks at my office, and as a practicing attorney, that is a problem. Nothing is perfect, but this came as close as I could ever expect in software. I used it with a Mac book Pro.

78 of 88 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

DOES NOT WORK WITH SNOW LEOPARD!!

Written by CF from Allentown

Sep 6, 2009

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

73 of 84 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Very Good!

Written by EL

Aug 18, 2008

Compared to previous versions of macspeech voice recognition programs this is very good and works well.This may very well be the best voice recognition program so far. It learned my voice in about 5 minutes in one training session, Its not 100% perfect buts its well up there. I would recommend this program to anyone who needs voice recognition software for whatever reason.

69 of 78 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

A must have!

Written by JM from Portland

Oct 24, 2009

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!

59 of 59 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

Outstanding Program (from previous Dragon user)!!

Written by TH from Fennville

Sep 9, 2008

To qualify myself here, I have been using the PC version of Dragon Naturally Speaking Medical for 7 years, doing all my work dictations with that software. Recently switching to Mac, I heard enough concerns about previous dictation software made for the Mac. Skeptical, I tried this one, and I writing my first review to inform others who may be in similar shoes that they DID get it right this time. Appropriate expectations of voice activated dictation are needed, but I will verify that this program seems outstanding!! The training is seriously NO BIG DEAL, unlike the misconceptions many people I talk to seem to have. I speak clearly, but not with "obnoxious clarity" when dictating, and at a pace equal to my conversational pace and this program transcribes with HIGH accuracy. It does truly work!

68 of 77 people found this useful

MacSpeech Dictate v1.5

The jury is still out. Stay tuned.

Written by MB from CALDWELL

Jul 3, 2009

Well, I have been playing with the MacSpeech for about an hour now. Over the next few weeks, my work will require me to produce about a 300 page document. I have been asked to put down on paper numerous sales presentations that up until now have only been in my head. The problem with typing out all of those presentations, is that as you type something you're used to saying so extemporaneously, there's a good chance you'll end up changing the presentation itself. In an effort to try to have all of my presentation's be recorded as accurately as possible I thought I would try this program. My sister is a court reporter. Originally what I thought was I could have her translate some audio tapes of me giving these presentations. But, she's too expensive, and wasn't going to give me a break.

Well, I just got through saying all this into the computer without looking at the screen, and from what I could see it appears it has worked out okay. Years ago I tried IBM's ViaVoice. I didn't like it. It sure didn't work like this. I think this is going to be just fine. I give it 4.2 stars.

P. S. This thing spells better than I do.

65 of 72 people found this useful