speech recognition on Mac?

[roshi]

is anyone using speech recognition and happy with it?
MacSpeech for Intel Macs has SOME positive reviews. But when I talk to people, they always frown and say they tried it and found it did not QUITE work.

[DaviDC.]

The Mac has always failed miserably at this.

[mikebw]

I used the built-in speech recognition back with system 8. It was just a novelty back then, and I don't think things are much better today but that it just my uninformed opinion.

[Ken Sp.]

I have been using MacSpeech Dictate for awhile, and I find it quite good.

I will dictate your question-and not do any corrections---we will see.

Start

Is anyone using speech recognition am happy with?
MacSpeech for Intel Macs had some positive reviews. But when I talk to people, they always frown and say that they try it and found it did not quite work.

I continue still using dictation.

The initial learn your speech cycle in the beginning is actually not very long. It seemed to learn my voice quite well. Right now, I am dictating 2 feet away from my aluminum iMac using the regular small microphone that is embedded in the frame.

I have also used this with my Mac book Pro and have had similar results.

My typing speed is, just okay, but I tend to make a lot of typos. This is demonstrably faster than typing for me.

I have heard that they use the same dragon naturally speaking speech engine that is used on the PC. I don't know, but it works for me.

The thing I can't wait for is speech recognition typing for the iPhone.

The only time this seems to make mistakes is when I get lazy and do not even see eight properly. Well there is a good example I meant to say, when I get lazy and do not enunciate properly.

[tahoedrew]

MacSpeech is pretty good and very robust these days. I wish I used it more but it worked great when I did. they even have a new 1.5 version out that's an upgrade.

~A

[roshi]

What would be a good setup for MacSpeech? do I need a MacPro tower? A Macbook? How much RAM?

[fromish]

I use iDictate 1.3 (the version prior to the current 1.51 paid upgrade) and find it functional, strong and more than adequate for my needs. Training works for proper nouns and acronyms, and when there is a problem it is nearly always my fatigue manifesting itself in sloppy speech. You do need a good microphone and quiet room; the built in mic on the iMac kind of works but introduces too many errors. The various noise suppression mics, including the one that comes with the program, work well. You need Leopard and an Intel for best results.

The program is great, the company less so. MacSpeech tends to be defensive in their reactions, spotty in their support, and undercapitalized so that they charge for what should be free upgrades.

[dk62]

The only thing I can say about the above example of dictation is that random typos have a bigger chance of being caught by a spell checker than correctly spelled misinterpretations of the speech recognition engine. In the end, the usability depends on the number of things, including your typing skills and editing meticulousness.

[D-Rod]

My brother used speech recognition on his computer when it first came out. He had good results at night using a jaba ear mike. During the day with a regular mike it would pick up the tv, radio or kids talking. He said the mike made all the difference.

[jonny]

I use Dictate 1.5 on a iMac Core 2 Duo with 2 GB ram. Works great.