With Dragon Professional Individual for Mac (which has replaced Dragon Dictate and MacSpeech Dictate) you can accomplish more on your Mac than you ever thought possible. Dragon for Mac is powered by the latest version of the Dragon speech recognition engine, and was built from the ground up for Mac OS.
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- Dragon Dictate 4 For Mac Reviews
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- Alternatives to Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Windows, Web, Mac, Linux, Android and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 25+ apps similar to Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
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Speech Software Reviews
Speech recognition software programs are not just for people who can not type. They actually are much more accurate than tying and can be used much faster than pointing, clicking and typing. Speech recognition software isn’t just for writing documents either, you can operate virtually anything on your computer or through the web with commands. Some software provides additional options and may only work on specific operating systems so we reviewed the type versions and highlighted them for you below.
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Most Popular Speech Software
Dragon Premium
This speech recognition software helps your productivity level get boosted by allowing you to use your voice to interact with your computer applications. When you speak the words performs those actions or get typed in documents. Typing with your own fingers is slower than this fast application and also it is 99 percent accurate so writing and editing documents, presentations and eMails can be accomplished efficiently. You can control programs and websites and perform all necessary windows commands with your voice.
- Volume control
- Transcribe the recorded files into text on your PC
- Editing and correction options
- Fast output, Smart formatting Rules
- Uses natural sounding speech to text controls
– Anthony Dawson
Best Overall Speech Software
Dragon Mac
Dragon Software For Mac Download
You can work accurately with no typing. Dragon Mac help your productivity. This version is made for the Mac and it allows you to create or manipulate documents by using your voice. Voice activate your application, surf the web, send eMails and do everything else you need to do on your computer with voice programed or custom voice commands. The neat thing about this version is that you can also use your iPod of iPhone as a microphone.
- Improved Accuracy
- Fast, Advanced Correction
- Control of More Applications
- Transcription of Speech Recordings
- For MAC
– Anthony Dawson
Best Budget Speech Software
Dragon Home
Word 2015 mac autorecover file location. The newest version lets you turn talk to text with a new level of convenience and creativity. By interacting with your PC with your voice, the software recognizes your spoken words and follows your verbal commands. You can control your PC applications and create documents, surf the web, etc. It is very easy to use and is also fun. The software is accurate and surprising can be used faster than typing. If Dragon is installed on your computer that has 4gb ram or more it will use the appropriate model for your system and possible deliver better performance. It will also make corrections in your dictated work.
- Editing and correction options
- Fast output
- Smart formatting Rules
- Uses natural sounding speech to text controls
- Volume control
– Anthony Dawson
Speech Software Buying Guide
Factors to Consider
The mind could move faster than the body. It is for this reason that some people who are quick thinkers end up losing their thread of thoughts when they need to write or, in this case, type it down. The body, specifically the hands, cannot keep up with the thought process of the mind and could end up drawing a blank or forgetting how the end of the sentence would go. This is where speech software enters.
1. Understand First What the Program Is Capable Of and If It Is Really Needed
Users of speech software are required to speak in their normal voice at a moderate speed. The computer would then convert the sound waves they receive and turn these into texts. There is also a feature where users could make the software dictate the words it received; this is to make sure that what the person said and what the computer received are the same. Users could also edit the document and make the necessary corrections, all while using the speech software.
Just like in Excel, speech software also has macros, called voice macros. This is a feature where the user could create word associations or input information. He could then say, “insert” and follow it with a certain set of word information. For example, he needs to put his home address multiple times. He would first create macros with the topic home address and then input the complete information adjacent it. In using the macros, he would simple say “insert home address” and the program would type the called information.
The speech software is not limited to converting words into texts. It could also be used for system command. The user could use it to do trivial things such as open, create or delete files, search for documents, close running programs, and the likes.
2. Know How Accurate a Speech Program Could Capture the Sounds It Receives
The speech software compares the sounds it receives from the users with the acoustic profile in its memory file. When it has found a match, whether it is the correct word or a word that only closely resembles it, the program would then convert the sounds into text. More often than not, speech programs contain only the basic vocabulary and operating considerations that would permit it to accommodate a number of speech accents and styles.
In choosing a speech program, make sure that the vocabulary memory file of the software could be expanded to add new words. Some speech software adapt ovser the time they are used and become tuned with the way the user speaks and with the words he would regularly use. These types of software usually give an average of 95% hit accuracy. There are also those, which could scan existing files and documents, especially the professional sounding ones, and would include the words to the set of learned vocabulary.
3. Make Sure That There Is Compatibility With The Speech Software
Users should never buy speech software without checking first whether the program is compatible with the applications already installed and used for work. It is also good to note that compatibility of the program with the application does not necessarily translate to a high level of control. This level would often vary depending on the program.
For users who often do the same tasks over and over again, speech software would be a wise investment. The program could remember what is done often and could save the entire procedure for ease of the user; it could automatically perform the tasks upon recognition, thus saving a lot of time. An example of this is when a person has to type the same pieces of information in several forms.
The more complex the prior applications are, the harder it would be to employ the aid of the speech software. People whose work involve different non-repeating tasks would find that the speech software could be a source of problem. When using speech software, a person should keep in mind that complicated tasks would only consume too much time.
4. The Power of the Computer Being Used Also Affects Speech Programs.
Speech programs may sound like a simple application, but they have a rather strict set of minimum system requirements. The software may not work properly or not at all when it finds the system of the computer lacking. The user may even be forced to upgrade his system just so he could take advantage of all the features of continuous speech recognition offered.
5. Inspect Past Purchases First To See Whether A Speech Program Is Already Included
In the world of technology, almost everything comes in a package. No product now could fully function without an additional component, a booster, an aid, or even an entirely different product. Software accompanies other software, hardware, and other technologies. Hidden in the past purchases may be speech software the user is not aware. It would be a complete waste of time to buy speech software and realize that there is already an existing one included in the previous applications, just waiting to be used.
A lot of the personal computers being sold today have their own built-in speech recognition capabilities, making it unnecessary to purchases a separate package. There is also a number of software that have a compiled set up programs within them, a software that contains software. It would be a really wise move to know first whether a speech program is included in another program one plans on buying in the future.
6.Test-Drive The Software. Practical Is Better Than Theory at This Point.
Regardless of how well a software seems to be or how great the sales representative is in pitching the program, it would only be as good as it actually is when used. The buyer should therefore ask first whether he could try the program. Some speech programs may have a lot of features but these features could work only as an entry-level type. The user would therefore be better off purchasing the program with less but full functioning features than the program with a large range of entry level features.
I’ve been playing around with Dragon Dictate version 4 for a few weeks now so it’s probably time I did a review. This review is for people who had never used Dragon Dictate before.
Click here for a Review of the newer ‘Dragon for Mac’ (released September 2015.)
If you are thinking about whether it is worth upgrading from version 3 check out this article. If you want to see how it compares with the built-in speech recognition in OS X Mavericks , check out this article. Finally, for an interesting history of my use of Speech Recognition since the late 1990’s leading up to the Macintosh version of Dragon, click here!
Introduction
Dragon Dictate is the Macintosh version of Dragon Naturally Speaking, the famous PC voice recognition software. It allows you to speak into your computer, and it will convert that speech into text. It’s quite hard to get your head around exactly what this feels like unless you give it a go. I’ve been using speech recognition for over 10 years now and I could not do without it. It is probably the number one timesaving piece of software I have on my computer. I write lots of talks so Dragon also helps me to do that well.
The thinking process for speaking is different to the thinking process for writing. I find it a lot easier to ‘speak’ something that will be given as an oral talk rather than write it down. That said, I use Dragon Dictate for writing tasks as well. For example I am dictating this article. I also dictate email replies. I generally launch Dragon Dictate for any piece of typing that will take me more than about 30 seconds.
First Impressions – a winner.
As a piece of software, Dragon dictate is fantastic. The user interface looks the best it ever has. It’s relatively easy to use given the complexity of what it’s trying to achieve. And best of all, look at how well it performs – perfectly! Here is a video of me using Dragon Dictate 4. This is the first time I have used this version and I have done no training beyond the compulsory six minutes of training.
Accuracy
For the last 10 years speech recognition has been all about accuracy. Accuracy crept up from 80% to 90% to 95% to 97% and so on. What this means is that even though you would talk perfectly, the computer would still make mistakes. Generally the more training you did and the better the software got and the fewer mistakes the computer would make. Sometimes training could take half an hour or an hour.
Dragon Dictate has now reached the point where I find an accuracy rating is meaningless. In my opinion the software is basically 100% accurate. What I mean by that is that if I am speaking clearly, and I am not using obscure words, I am confident that it will make no mistakes. If it does make a ‘ mistake’ when I go and replay what I have said it is usually me who made the mistake, not the computer. There are of course some very obscure names or words that it would be nearly impossible for speech recognition software to work out without reading your mind. This is how communication works. Recognition is not even 100% accurate when a human is listening to another human being because the English language can be ambiguous.
I think the next needed step forward in Dictation technology is not improvements in accuracy but the ability to add punctuation automatically. When I have tried Dragon Dictate on people who have never used it before, the hardest thing to get used to is saying ‘Full-Stop’ at the end of each sentence, and ‘Comma’ when you need a comma, and all the other commands. (See below under ‘Learning Curve’).
New Users
Up until now Dragon Dictate has been a bit hit and miss when I’ve tried it out on other people. Some have loved it, for others it produced gobbledygook. I tried Dragon Dictate version 4 on my wife and my son for this review, and they were both very impressed. So between version 1, which was the last time I tried it on a friend, and version 4, it has improved dramatically.
Here is a video of my wife using Dragon Dictate for the very first time. Note there are some pauses where I am telling her to say things like “new line”.
Here is a video of my 15 year old son using Dragon Dictate for the very first time. We have left the mistakes in so you can see how it goes. Again there are some pauses when I am coaching him!
Learning curve
Dragon Dictate does have a learning curve. There is a pretty good tutorial that comes with it, but you do need to re-train yourself on how you speak. The main thing to learn is to say “full-stop” at the end of each sentence and “comma” where you want a comma.
The other commands that I find very handy are “Begin quote” and “End quote” to put quotation marks into a sentence.
Dragon Dictate 4 For Mac Reviews
“Correct that” is what you say when you want to correct something, “new line” is the equivalent of hitting the return key.
“Scratch that” will delete the last thing that you said. “Go to end” will go the the end of the document most of the time, although sometimes it gets a little confused.
Used mac desktops for sale. Those few commands will get you up and dictating reasonably quickly. Dragon have a’ quick reference sheet’ of commands, but it has so many commands that you won’t get your head around them all very quickly.
Another thing to keep in mind, is that Dragon Dictate will learn from you. It can be tempting to just leave all the mistakes and then go back and correct them later with your mouse. The problem with this is that Dragon Dictate will not learn from that. If however you say ‘correct that’ and go back and correct your mistakes using Dragon, it will learn from its mistakes and be more likely to recognise that word correctly in the future. Best external bluray drive for macbook pro.
Microphones
The download version does not come with a microphone. This might not sound so bad, but if you were someone like my wife, (not very computer savvy) and you didn’t have a spare microphone lying around, the software would arrive and you would not be able to use it. Of course the simple way around this is to buy the boxed version. There doesn’t seem to be much of an indication of this on the website when you order. There is an iPhone app called “Dragon Remote Microphone” that allows you to use your iPhone as a microphone. I gave it a try and it works reasonably well.
Do not be tempted to use it with a bad microphone, e.g. your laptop built-in microphone. Here is a video of me simulating a bad microphone by holding my microphone about 1 foot from my mouth. You will need to turn the volume of your computer up quite loud to be able to hear what I am saying.
I am amazed that Dragon Dictate can recognise anything at this poor quality. It does a good job given the circumstances. Nonetheless, if this was your experience of speech recognition it would be frustrating. I can’t stress this enough, get a good microphone.
Don’t be tempted to try and use the built-in microphone on your computer. At best you will get poor results, at worst you will get so frustrated that you will be turned off speech recognition for ever. The most important thing with speech recognition is to speak clearly and to get the speech into the computer clearly. So you want to have a good microphone. Nuance have a list of approved microphones for Dragon Dictate on their website here. I’d recommend heading on over to knowbrainer.com They have a better list of microphones. If you do want to get a good microphone, make sure you get one with a USB or bluetooth connection so you can plug it into your Macintosh.
Commands
As well as dictating text into an application, you can use Dragon Dictate to control your computer. I’m not one to read a user manual, but after trying a few commands and none of them working I decided I’d better read the help file. I tried a few of the suggested shortcuts. “Search Mac for …” was meant to open up spotlight and do a computer search but it opened Quicksilver. Then when I tried to search for something else it closed Quicksilver and got confused. “Search Google for ….” worked really well. But if I say “Google search for…” it will not search.
In other words it is looking for very specific commands. Maybe that’s because if the vocabulary was too big it would think you were trying to give a command when you were dictating. The problem is that I’m not very good at remembering the specific commands. If you want to use Dragon Dictate to control your computer it looks like it could be very powerful but it would take discipline and an investment of your time. You would have to sit down and learn the commands.
Transcribe
Dragon Dictate 4 boasts a transcribe function. I tested it and found it to be both fantastic and a complete dud. Firstly I grabbed a Tim Keller talk. Tim Keller is from New York. The recording was made with him speaking into a microphone so it was very clear. It looked promising. It trained itself on the first part of the recording, prompting me to go and edit any mistakes, then it transcribed the entire talk. What it produced was complete gobbledygook. There is not even enough content there to work out what it is trying to say.
Dragon Dictate’s attempt to transcribe a talk from the internet.Secondly, I used the iPhone Dragon Dictate transcribe app. I spoke into my iPhone directly as if I was speaking into Dragon Dictate. I did this in a relatively noisy environment. When I got home and transcribed the my speaking it did it almost perfectly.
Since then, I have used the Dragon iPhone app to record my thoughts when I’m out and about, and it does a great job of recognising them when I get home. It’s actually pretty handy and a nice addition to Dragon Dictate.
Trial version
Some pieces of software give you a trial version. Sadly, there is no trial version of Dragon Dictate. This is a shame because I think some people whose speech is not be clear may be ‘incompatible’ with speech recognition software.
Thankfully though, the Nuance online store offers a 30 day money back guarantee. So if it doesn’t work you are not stuck with it. The closest thing to ‘ trying before you buy’ would be to try the OS X Mavericks built in speech recognition as I describe in a separate article, but make sure you try it with a proper microphone.
Pro’s
Great software.
Great recognition.
Dictates into any application.
You can mix up dictating and typing.
It learns from its mistakes and improves with time.
30 day money back guarantee.
Con’s
No trial version.
The upgrades are $149.
Buying Advice
If you are a first-time user I would encourage you to purchase Dragon Dictate directly from Nuance so that you can get their 30 day money back guarantee. First time users are better off buying the boxed set so you get the microphone with it.
If you are after the full version with the Microphone for $199 click here to go to the official Nuance Site.
If you click here you can get the Download only version with 10% off. If you are a new user I would not recommend this. You are better off getting the boxed version with the microphone.
If you want to upgrade your microphone from the standard one, go to knowbrainer.com. They also have a 30 day money back guarantee on all their products but don’t buy Dragon from them as they exclude Dragon Dictate from their 30 day guarantee.
If you are a student in Australia www.voicerecognition.com.au offer a student-teacher edition for $99.
If you don’t need the 30 day money back guarantee I’ve seen versions of Dragon Dictate cheaper in Australia, for example here for as low as AU$169.
STOP PRESS: I found a very cheap download only version here. Not sure how long this will be available.
Other posts on Speech recognition:
- NEW: ‘Dragon for Mac’ (Dragon Dictate 5) Review
- Dragon Dictate Version 4 vs 3 – is it worth the upgrade?
- Dragon Naturally Speaking arrives on the Macintosh!
- How to buy Macspeech Dictate in Australia
- What Microphone is the best for Speech recognition?
Related posts:
Dragon Dictate Released!Macspeech dictate is renamed ‘Dragon Dictate’Dragon dictate 2.5 problemsDragon ExpressDragon Dictate version 4, is it worth the upgrade?Todd Estroffsays:June 19, 2014 at 7:43 pmI have to keep entering the serial number and password on a second Macintosh MacBook air. Do you know any way to stop this from happening also do I need to be connected to the Internet at all times when I’m dictating. This could be a major problem.
ReplyWaynesays:June 21, 2014 at 2:50 am You don’t need to be connected to internet while dictating with Dragon Dictate.
Replytodd estroffsays:June 21, 2014 at 9:52 am Dragon For Mac Free Trial
thanks that helps but how do i stop having reenter the serial number and pass word????
this is very annoying
ReplyWaynesays:September 14, 2014 at 5:17 am Not sure – I’d say give dragon technical support a call.
ReplyPhil Campbellsays:September 13, 2014 at 11:53 pm Hey Wayne, just bought this (for $99) on your recommendation. Hoping it works ;-)
Is the iPhone app you mentioned the same as the Dragon Dictation App? It seems to do all the text to speech work in the app itself (via Dragon’s servers). Sounds like the one you mention just records the audio to feed to your mac later? If so, I can’t spot that one in the app store.
Is the iPhone app you mentioned the same as the Dragon Dictation App? It seems to do all the text to speech work in the app itself (via Dragon’s servers). Sounds like the one you mention just records the audio to feed to your mac later? If so, I can’t spot that one in the app store.
Phil
ReplyWaynesays:September 14, 2014 at 5:12 am The dictation app is a separate App called “Dragon Recorder”. Yes it just records your speech then you wifi it to the mac to transcribe it. I hardly ever use it but it does work.
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/dragon-recorder/id464776856?mt=8
I think you’ll like it… but give it a good couple of weeks to train yourself on how to use it. I now dictate every talk I do.
I’m keen to hear how you go!
I use this mic:
http://www.amazon.com/Shure-WH20XLR-Dynamic-Microphone-Cardioid/dp/B0001DBZNM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=shure+headset+microphone
plugged into a usb audio interface, but of overkill probably. But make sure you use a good mic.
ReplyPhil Campbellsays:September 15, 2014 at 6:19 pm http://www.amazon.com/Shure-WH20XLR-Dynamic-Microphone-Cardioid/dp/B0001DBZNM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=shure+headset+microphone
plugged into a usb audio interface, but of overkill probably. But make sure you use a good mic.
Thanks Wayne. Just grabbed it.
ReplyLeo Lerichesays:December 20, 2014 at 5:18 pm Queston: Which version of Dragon Dictate works well with Mac 10.10 (Yosemite)?
ReplyWaynesays:December 21, 2014 at 2:34 am You need to have Dragon Dictate 4, then do the online update to bring it to the newest version which is 4.0.6 at the time of writing this reply.
ReplyjamesDragon Professional Individual For Mac V6 Reviews
says:June 5, 2015 at 12:01 amI read as many reviews as possible, and still decided to give Dragon Dictate 4.0.6 a try.
Dragon For Mac Free
I needed to transcribe a 2 person interview:
– audio quality was clear, no background noise, microphone used.
– I split the audio track into 2 files, one for the interviewer, the other the interviewee, using DD4 “Tools” (which I found very good)
– I created an ‘Interviewee’ profile and ‘trained’ DD4 using the Interviewee file only.
– I then had DD4 transcribe the entire Interviewee file.
– audio quality was clear, no background noise, microphone used.
– I split the audio track into 2 files, one for the interviewer, the other the interviewee, using DD4 “Tools” (which I found very good)
– I created an ‘Interviewee’ profile and ‘trained’ DD4 using the Interviewee file only.
– I then had DD4 transcribe the entire Interviewee file.
Result: Illegible. Useless.
It would be faster to transcribe manually that to correct all the errors from DD4
It would be faster to transcribe manually that to correct all the errors from DD4
I received a refund from Nuance/Digital River Ireland in about 48 hours
I ended up paying 87cents per audio minute on eLance (Debbie C, ID: corsonda359) who did an excellent, fast & accurate job.
* Note, I did not try the live voice transcription, just the transcribe from audio file.
ReplyWaynesays:June 7, 2015 at 4:43 pm Yes this was my experience exactly (see the section in the article called ‘Transcribe’).
ReplyCastoragsays:Dragon Naturally Speaking For Mac Reviews
July 29, 2015 at 12:33 pmSomewhere in this site there’s a number of criticisms of DD for Mac. I just left a long one and I would think this would be where it should show up– reviews.
ReplyWaynesays:August 1, 2015 at 5:40 am Yes most of the criticisms are of the earlier versions. I’ve left the older articles there. The newer versions are better.
ReplyPatricia Csays:August 16, 2015 at 8:51 am Thank you so much for the review, and the link to the sale page. I sat on the page for a few minutes deciding and got another 20% off. Paid $79 for Dragon for Mac.
I am trying this out for transcribing multiple 1-hour usability test interviews (video/audio files). This offer reduced the risk enough for me to make a purchase decision on the spot.
By the way, if anyone else is looking at Dragon for this purpose, you will have to use the “parrot” technique. Nuance describes this in helpfiles on their site. You still have to sit through all the interviews real time again, but it minimizes the typing aspect, at least, which can take 2-3x longer.
Many companies including Nuance are working on solving this problem. The best solution presently, if you don’t want to dictate the interviews to the computer, is a transcription service like Rev https://www.rev.com – they have good proprietary software and charge $1 a minute.
Another company to watch is Koemei https://koemei.com/product – they make video and audio files searchable with their transcription software. They provide APIs and at least one company has proven the tech can work for this purpose (via a mic array), unfortunately Koemi bought them and has shelved the product for now.
I hope this is useful to your readers.
ReplyGina Haydensays:September 14, 2015 at 11:08 pm Dragon Speak For Mac Reviews
Thanks for a great article – the most useful one I’ve read so far! It’s really thorough, helpful and has great links. Cheers. Pokemon games for mac.
Reply