As someone who does a lot of typing, I’m always looking for ways to make it easier to get my thoughts out onto the screen. There are many methods to make this task easier, but the hallmark of all of these methods is often thought to be the use of dictation software. I spent some time using Nuance’s newly-updated Dragon Dictate 2.5 for the Mac ($200). Read on for my thoughts.
Overview
Dragon Dictate is an interesting tool, and it can take a while to “train” the program and get used to how it works. Once you’ve adjusted to the software, it can make basic tasks like typing a memo, posting to Twitter or FaceBook, or even commanding your Mac (you can tell Dragon Dictate to open programs for you, and perform a variety of system-wide tasks) a very pleasurable experience.
After I’d spent a few hours with Dragon Dictate, I found that it actually worked quite well when used for short periods of time (though less so when used for longer periods – more on this later.) It picked up on my speech patterns very quickly, and was able to accurately translate the vast amount of my speech into text.
Initial Thoughts
At first glance, Dragon Dictate seemed complicated and time-consuming to use. Fortunately, that impression, at least for me, only lasted through the setup process. After taking 15 minutes to train the software to both my voice and the included USB microphone, I found the software’s basic performance to be more or less up to par (at least at first).
One aspect of this software that continually bothered me was the fact that you have to speak to it differently than you’d normally speak to get it to work correctly. For instance, if I wanted to say “Hello, I am typing this sentence using Dragon Dictate for Mac, which seems to work well,” I’d actually have to say “Hello COMMA I am typing this sentence using Dragon Dictate for Mac COMMA which seems to work well PERIOD.”
Further, beginning a new paragraph or moving down one line space while dictating requires a specific verbal command. While this is understandable, it is sometimes difficult to remember to state all your punctuations, line breaks, and paragraphs. Further, unless you speak with a high degree of clarity, the program can easily misinterpret what you are saying, requiring you to manually correct its errors.
Design/Style
Dragon Dictate is designed with an interface that is simple, intuitive, and easy to use. While fairly basic, the interface is extremely effective, and is a breeze to navigate. The menus, buttons, and labels are all easy to identify and clearly marked.
Setting the software up, browsing the vocabulary list, or sifting through Dragon Dictate’s vast array of settings is a simple and straightforward affair that leaves little to be desired.
Functionality/Performance
While Dragon Dictate was able to successfully identify my voice and transcribe my words with an astonishingly high degree of accuracy (thanks to Nuance’s excellent voice recognition technology), there are a number of performance issues within the software that significantly affect its functionality.
First, after 20 or so minutes of straight dictating using the software, it began to get quite sluggish, taking longer and longer to transcribe my voice. The program began to make more mistakes after 20-30 minutes of usage as well. There is a sense in which it actually seemed to become confused to some degree after this period of use. Unfortunately the only solution that I could find for this was to completely exit Dragon Dictate and re-launch the program.
Using Dragon Dictate to control your Mac initially seems as though it would be convenient at first, allowing you to write a tweet or a FaceBook entry using only your voice. Unfortunately, not all of the commands worked well, and I found myself preferring to do things the old fashioned way more often than not.
Ease Of Use
While Dragon Dictate seemed easy enough at first, the deeper I delved into its features, the more complicated it became. Further, the software’s performance issues often made using the program much more difficult than it really needed to be.
If this software were stripped of its performance issues, and understood and processed everything you said correctly every time, it would be extremely easy to use. The design, layout, and feel of the software are extremely simple to wrap your mind around, although personally, I found that difficulties switching between the program’s modes, coupled with Dragon Dictate’s tendency to become confused and start lagging eliminated much of its convenience.
Although the initial setup of the program leads you to believe that it will be intuitive and easy to use, I found this to not always be the case. While users that only use the software for actual transcription in short sessions will find the software both easy to use and highly effective, users who need to dictate for longer periods of time, or users that delve into its powerful advanced features may quickly become disappointed.
Verdict
While Dragon Dictate might be convenient for some (mainly users that don’t have well-developed typing skills and mostly only create fairly short documents or entries), if you’re a fast typist or a power user, you’ll likely find that Dragon Dictate gets in your way more than it helps you.
Nevertheless, considering that Dragon Dictate is currently the only program of its kind (dictation software) for the Mac, and the fact that the actual speech recognition aspect of Dragon does work quite well, it does deserve a few nods for a job well done in this area.
In the end, I personally don’t find that I can recommend Dragon Dictate to most users – the limitations of the software quite nearly defeat the purpose for any but the most brief and basic of users.
Rating & Information
Rating: 2 out of 5
In considering Dragon Dictate’s features, limitations, and overall performance, I award Dragon Dictate a 2 out of 5. While it will work exceptionally well for a certain segment of users, this software does not feel finished to me. Further, the significant training period to set up the program, coupled with the fact that it doesn’t work well for long transcription sessions, and doesn’t perform all its functions up to expectations were a significant disappointment, especially considering the software’s $200 price tag.
Dragon Dictate comes in three versions: A digital download without a microphone for $180, a boxed download with a USB microphone for $200, and a boxed version with a wireless microphone for $300. For more information, or to purchase Dragon Dictate for Mac, visit Nuance’s product page on the web. Below is a list of the pros and cons I encountered while using Dragon Dictate:
Pros
- Good for basic transcription of shorter text passages.
- Easy to set up and get started with.
- Comes with everything you need to get started.
- Does an excellent job at actually recognizing your voice and speech patterns.
Cons
- Training process can feel cumbersome.
- Sometimes the program doesn’t work well, becomes confused, or begins to lag for no apparent reason.
- I often found that manually typing and controlling my Mac was faster and more efficient.
