Nuance has quickly forged their authority on the Dictate brand of voice recognition software for Mac and with their first release Dragon Dictate 2.0 they have done an excellent job. But what now for the Legal and Medical edition still stuck at MacSpeech Dictate version 1.5 and the fairly new offshoot product MacSpeech Scribe currently at version 1.1, all of which are using the older Dragon speech recognition engine and not the new one included with Dragon Dictate.

I have some theories for these products which may or may not be correct so please don’t hold me to them. These are my best guesses and have not been confirmed or denied by Nuance, just my two cents worth.

MacSpeech Scribe in my view can go in ne of two directions. It can either be discontinued and the voice to text functionality built into a later Dragon Dictate update, much like Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium or Professional for Windows. Or Nuance will embrace this as a separate product and continue to push it as a stand alone offering for transcribing only recorded audio. I have always been torn on MacSpeech Scribe, I have never understood why you would create a separate product for transcription of digitally recorded audio but that maybe because I have been so used to the functionality from the Windows side of the fence. As MacSpeech Scribe is still fairly new I have a feeling Nuance will continue with it and we will likely see a Dragon Scribe product appear in the very near future.

So what about the Medical and Legal version of MacSpeech Dictate, are we going to see an equivalent in Dragon Dictate? My personal view is that we are likely to see a Legal version for Dragon Dictate but maybe not the Medical version. From my understanding the Legal dictionary of terms is fairly standard and so can be quite easily built into a speech recognition dictionary. Wheres Medical with its large number of specialised area of understanding would be an unwieldily dictionary to maintain and build. For the Medical side of things I think we will see a third party put their hand up and claim an exclusive partnership with Nuance to provide and support that medical crowd.

So when can we see what I have theorised about above. Dragon Scribe I would think would be very close, if it is coming, and we would likely see this before the end of the year. Dragon Dictate Legal I would also see on the same time line, especially as we now have Dragon Dictate in the wild adding a more comprehensive legal dictionary can’t be that far behind.

Of course as soon as we get wind of any new voice recognition products from Nuance for the Mac or Windows we will post the info.

MacSpeech Dictate Medical v1.5 available from Dictate Australia

The medical version of MacSpeech Dictate has not yet landed in Australia but is expected any day ready for shipping nationally within the next week or so. Here at Dictate Australia we have already sold the first Australian copy of MacSpeech Dictate Medical to a doctor in Victoria.

The MacSpeech Dictate Medical packages that will be available in Australia are:

• MacSpeech Dictate Medical bundled with Parrott VXI TalkPro – RRP $849 incl. GST
• MacSpeech Dictate Medical bundled with Revolabs xTag Wireless – RRP $1,099 incl. GST

So, the choice is the excellent quality Parrott VXI TalkPro headset and mic (this is the headset I use and love it) or the very ugly (in my opinion, beauty is in the eye of the beholders though) Revolabs xTag wireless mic. Cable or no cable, that is essentially your choice for microphones.

There are also upgrade options for those early medical adopters of MacSpeech Dictate who have either stanadard version 1.3 or 1.5 – these upgrades will not be available through MacSpeech resellers or the Apple stores but only from the Australian MacSpeech distributor, MacSense in Sydney. Here is the upgrade pricing:

• MacSpeech Dictate Medical Upgrade from v1.3 – RRP $549 incl. GST
• MacSpeech Dictate Medical Upgrade from v1.5 – RRP $499 incl. GST

Any questions on MacSpeech Medical, upgrades to version 1.5 or just general MacSpeech questions please feel free to comment and we will get back to you with answers. You can also follow us on twitter @dictates or follow the official @macspeech twitter.

MacSpeech Dictate Medical Version

Based on the very new 1.5 version (so the latest greatest Dragon voice recognition engine from Nuance), MacSpeech Dictate Medical version will be available as a stand alone product or if you have MacSpeech Dictate already a reduced price cross grade will be available. We have no info on avialability or pricing for Australia as yet, as soon as we do we will post.

The MacSpeech Dictate Medical version has a specialised medical terminology directory, they have targeted  fifty four key medical disciplines and specialities and tailored the dictionary around those, so whether you are a midwife or a colon or rectal surgeon there will be something in there for you to talk about. The loooong list of disciplines and specialities covered are: