Windows 2 Apples Episode 11
September 9th, 2007 — inetsynch(PDF) Full text page with PDF file allowing you to read or print.
As I look at the options available to me in the Mac world I’m constantly confronted with the reality that many of the applications and programs I have become dependent upon are simply not available or are in very early stages of development. Hopefully, the new-found popularity of the Apple brand in computers will help reduce this divide.
Case in point … Over the years I have experimented with voice recognition software and until the last year or so have always been frustrated by the very poor performance of speech to text products. Finally, when version 8 of Dragon Dictate was released for the Windows platform I felt I had finally found a product that was reliable enough to use on a daily basis. Version 9 is has proven to be in exceptional improvement over the previous versions and I have become dependent upon it it. Dragon not only saves me and others from my poor typing but also allows me to proof read using the built-in text to speech synthesizer.
When I purchased the iMac one of the first programs I looked for was an equivalent to Dragon Dictate. The only application that seemed to offer similar functionality was iListen marketed by MacSpeech. I have been spoiled by Dragon and find using iListen reminiscent of the early days struggling with Dragon Dictate as it evolved into a useful and reliable product. iListen is so inaccurate and poorly implemented it is almost useless. On top of that the headset is poorly constructed with the microphone constantly falling off the headset. For those of you considering iListen, I would recommend postponing your purchase until a product at least as good as Dragon Dictate becomes available for the Mac platform.
Too much of furry and rattling of chains for me not to make a few comments on last weeks unveiling of new iPods and the infamous iPhone devaluation!
When the iPhone was released I was more impressed by the iPod than cell phone features. I rarely need or use my cell phone. I have never sent or received text messages , never used it to bore my friends the latest photos of my beloved cat nor used it to play games. Perhaps you can understand why I found it hard to imagine paying $600 for a phone and many hundreds more over a two year contract with AT&T. However, I suspect I am not your typical cell phone customer.
The decision to drop the price makes excellent business sense but $200 did seem a bit much given it had only been in folks pockets two months and the unique historically rock solid price stability of other Apple products. iPods have traditionally maintained their introductory price much longer than products from competitors. I have never seen significant vendor to vendor discounts on iPods. In deed, the almost total lack of price differences between retailers has the look, smell and feel of good old fashion price fixing but I assume there is simply no incentive to discount iPods while they dominate and to a large extent define that market.
The day the new iPod Touch was introduced, I immediately placed an order assuming I could use it to test our video podcasts and get a feel for how they would play on iPhones as well as the new iPod. However, after the impressive and precipitous price drop in the iPhone I pulled my order … preferring to wait and see. In the mean time I will survey friends with iPhones and Touch iPods to get feedback on our video netcasts.
Standard Podcasts [14:18m]: 
September 10th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Greetings! Have you contacted our support team for support? I can tell you that iListen requires more training than Dragon, but it can be every bit as accurate. We have hundreds of customers who have switched and will tell you exactly that - it takes more effort to get there, but it will eventually be as accurate.
While we aren’t initially as accurate as Dragon, we make up for it by giving you control over the Mac that Dragon doesn’t approach until you reach its $900 product. You can also create Text Macros of up to 8 pages of text. iListen allows you to dictate and employee Correction while in any application. Finally, iListen is the only speech recognition product on the market that allows you to dictate into Mac and Windows applications simulataneously if you are running Parallels.
Regarding the broken headset, if it keeps coming apart, then it is defective. Our support team can get you a replacement. Please contact them by going to http://www.macspeech.com/support and click the “Submit Ticket” link.
Best Regards,
Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist MacSpeech, Inc.
Thank you for your comments. I based my review on years of working with various speech to text products. I have spent many hours “trying to train iListen” and as I said have found it too inaccurate to use as I do Dragon Dictate.
As noted in your own training text, one major challenge for software of this ilk is to be able to adjust to natural changes in a person’s voice though out the day and when affected by things such as colds. When I wake my voice is considerably deeper than at lunch time. While Dragon does a good job of recognizing my morning voice the accuracy of iListen drops dramatically, I lose patience with it and return to either Dragon or my keyboard.
As to the headset I will contact support as suggested, particularly since it is the only headset among many I have that is even recognized by iListen. Here to, Dragon seems to have an advantage over iListen. I long ago wore out my Dragon Dictate headset and have substituted another quality headset with no noticeable decrease in performance, This makes iListen seem a bit to fragile to trust … I am essentially out of business if the rather flimsy iListen headset dies on me.
I will continue to train iListen and file an update in a few weeks.
P.S. After posting my reply to your comment. I spent more time training iListen and compared results using the microphone shipped with iListen and Dragon Dictate using an inexpensive replacement headset. Dragon was 100% accurate … the text generated by iListen was unusable and would have taken far more time to edit and correct than my own poor keyboarding.
iListen in its current state is simply unusable and I have completed seven training sessions. I don’t think I completed more that 6 in the Dragon software. When I have the time I will try a few more training sessions with iListen but the remaining ones are rather lengthy and I have work to do.