[MV] MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.1 is out

[Joseph Senecal]

I'm up to version 1.5.2 now. Because I started having issues with my  
hands, I'm now using dictation more than ever. Fortunately, MacSpeech  
Dictate is now more capable than ever.

I can't say whether it is more or less accurate than the previous  
versions. I'm just not that sensitive to dictation accuracy. In  
addition, I routinely use dictation software in ways was never  
intended (at the expense of dictation accuracy). For example, about  
half the time I'm entering commands into Terminal, I am now dictating  
them instead of typing them. I'm doing this even though training does  
not work in the Terminal window due to the limitations of Terminal.

For me, the biggest thing that Version 1.5 added is the vocabulary  
window. In the past, there were some words that Dictate would never  
learn, because they are not pronounced as they are spelled. Now with  
the vocabulary editor, I can enter these words would separate entries  
for how the word is typed and how the word sounds, then intensely  
train the word for even better recognition. As a result, the proper  
names that were never recognized in the past are now recognized with  
high accuracy.

Another benefit of vocabulary editor is that you can use it to add  
punctuation variants. Simply by selecting entries for whether or not  
there is a space before or after the word, and how the capitalization  
of the next word is affected, you can go find your own punctuation.  
This allows me to use MacSpeech Dictate for more than just e-mail, I  
can (and often do) use Dictate to write program code. Doing so is  
somewhat problematic because I am not using well behaved toward  
processor programs, but again, this is not something that MacSpeech  
Dictate was ever intended to do.

Although I am not using MacSpeech Dictate all the time, I am using it  
on a daily basis. The first thing I do now when I arrived at the  
office is plug in my laptop, including the microphone headset cable.  
I'm also making fairly extensive use of MacSpeech Dictate's command  
capabilities, although those are not new in version 1.5.

My overall impression of MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 is indispensable. While  
your mileage may vary, I find MacSpeech Dictate to be a very helpful  
tool in composing text of any kind. I have been using dictation on the  
Macintosh for a very long time now. At one time or the other I have  
used every dictation product ever released for the Macintosh, and used  
each one extensively. Each product has had its strengths and  
weaknesses. Although Dictate doesn't yet have all the functionality of  
iListen, it is by far the easiest and most productive dictation  
program I have ever used.

I don't know if this is what you are looking for, or if it will help  
in your decision. I am not what one would call a typical user of  
dictation software :-) By the way, this message was composed entirely  
by voice without touching either keyboard or mouse using MacSpeech  
Dictate.

Joseph Senecal

On Jun 20, 2009, at 11:56 AM, revDAVE wrote:

> On 6/2/2009 11:16 AM, "revDAVE" <Cool at hosting4days.com> wrote:
>
>> Looks like MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.1 is out - Has anyone tried this  
>> yet?
>>
>> http://www.macspeech.com/
>
>
> Still curious - any reviews?
>
>
> --
> Thanks - RevDave
> Cool @ hosting4days . com
> [db-lists 09]
>
>
>
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