MacSpeech rolls out MacSpeech Dictate
I’m not too sure why nearly every single software or hardware that has to do with Apple normally comes with the ‘i’ prefix, but hey, if it works just fine, there isn’t much to complain about as this would be but a minor gripe. MacSpeech has taken the opportunity to introduce its MacSpeech Dictate software for the Mac that utilizes Nuance’s speech processing engine to create one of the (claimed) most accurate commercial speech dictating software ever, even more so than iListen that was released way back in 2000 (and having seen a fair number of revisions since then).
Before you get too excited and start looking for a website where you can order or download this program, be prepared to be disappointed as MacSpeech Dictate is not shipping just yet since the software is still in beta. Those at the Macworld showfloor were not given the green light to spend some time with it – instead, a demo was shown to interested parties. Unfortunately, we all know that demos can be rather misleading at times so it remains to be seen whether performance in actual real life usage will actually pan out to be as claimed. Apparently, the demo showed that “training” the software to recognize your voice takes approximately 10 minutes (I wonder what happens when you get a sore throat?). You get a 95% accuracy rate with that, and from that point onwards, the software is smart and dynamic enough to learn based on your speech.
You get voice commands that enable you to correct errors should they appear, while there are also other commands which allow one to open, close, switch, and even control different Mac applications. Should your Mac be used by more than a single person who is interested in Dictate, the software is capable of storing a few profiles for individual voice. Those who do not speak in an American English accent will be pleased to note that Dictate has made allowances for other accents such as Australian English.
Source: Ars Technica
Join 3 reviews or comments
SVRichard Says: February 6, 2008 at 10:40 am
Oh man finally a great speech recognition software for Mac’s.
From macspeech.com;
“At the core of MacSpeech Dictate is the world-renowned speech recognition engine, Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It’s the brains and brawn behind MacSpeech Dictate’s phenomenal accuracy capabilities.”
I currently own Dragon’s Naturally Speaking 9 (for windows) and it’s as amazing as they say it. So finally I’ll be able to use it on my Mac. I just regret upgrading to DNS9 before Christmas… oh well!
Jack Trimpey Says: February 19, 2008 at 1:45 pm
MacSpeech seems to be going to great lengths to reward their “founding members,” and they are also rewarding people who bought the defunct iListen during ‘08, but I’m an iListen owner (got iListen in ‘07) who will have to wait to purchase just as long as a new customer, six weeks or longer. They forget that loyalty is a two-way street. iListen was lame, but I’ll gladly throw new money at at any product that promises to bring efficient voice recognition to the Mac. So, here I stand in line again to pay full freight. — Jack Trimpey
Chuck Rogers Says: January 20, 2008 at 11:56 am
Some of the information above was incorrect. We were presenting the software live in a theatre and on several stations in our booth. The training only takes 5 minutes (not 10), and anyone who came up to one of our stations and asked to try it was allowed to do so.
Also, in several of our demos, we asked for a volunteer from the audience to come up and try it by reading some text from that day’s USA Today newspaper. Each time, the volunteer got nearly 100% accuracy.
Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.