The past few weeks I’ve been busier than ever – partly because I’m trying some new opportunities on for size; partly because we’ve had three family birthdays within a week and part of the clan visiting from interstate.

All in all… it’s hard to get some of the writing done. I think most writers feel more natural WRITING rather than dictating, but I know that some writers have seen their productivity soar when they started to use a speech recognition program. Dragon Naturally Speaking seems to be the one that is streets ahead of anyone else (I tried the version that came with Vista and even after some ‘training’ of the software, the results were laughable.)

However, Dragon Naturally Speaking is supposed to work with a high degree of accuracy straight out of the box, and even better if you put in the recommended 20 minutes to train the software for your voice patterns. I have seen some disagreement over what kind of microphone is best to use.

In this case, I’d love some feedback from anyone who HAS used it (even better, is using it on a regular basis). Care to share the benefits and pitfalls, if any?

Marg

Tags: speech recognition software
Categories: Home Office & Organisation
4 Comments »