iDictate – Digital Voice Blog

We are not ones for blowing our own trumpet but this week we are feeling well and truly chuffed with ourselves. Dictate Australia have just become certified Gold Dragon NaturallySpeaking resellers, this gives us bragging rights to call ourselves experts in the leading speech recognition software for the Windows world. Having studied and passed our exams we can proudly display the Nuance Gold Certified reseller logo on our website, blog, e-mail signature and on our T-shirts, in fact I may even get it tattooed on my arm! You can throw at us any Dragon NaturallySpeaking question and we will be able to answer it (and if we can’t, we have the contacts in Nuance Australia who can).

So why do we also call ourselves experts in Mac voice recognition. Well, we have been supporters of MacSpeech Dictate since version 1.0 first appeared a couple of years ago. We have seen this product grow since version 1.0 into the advanced voice recognition product for Mac that it is nowadays. We are also beta testers for MacSpeech, so we are always up to date with what’s new and what is coming in the next version. This is very exciting for us and sometimes a little hard to keep quiet on some of the new features and functions as we see them during testing.

We often hear from people in the Dictate Australia office who say “yes but is voice recognition any good nowadays?”, this commonly comes from people who tried Dragon NaturallySpeaking in the version 6, 7 or 8 days. We too tried voice recognition in the early days and found it hard going. The reason we moved back into voice recognition software was because of MacSpeech Dictate, we could see the advances that have been made and we wanted to give it another try. Now that MacSpeech is owned by Nuance an already excellent product can only get better, and will get better very quickly.

This blog post has been written using MacSpeech Dictate.

One of the three words being used to describe the new Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 from Nuance is Smarter. By Smarter I take it to mean that the voice recognition engine can not only learn from its mistakes (DNS11 will now learn from corrections you make) but also be contextually aware. By contextually aware I mean smart enough to know the difference between to and two, or their and there and they’re, the types of basic grammar we take for granted having all been through years of schooling and listening intently in English class. I don’t recall sitting next to a Dragon speech recognition engine in class so the software really is geting smarter. In this very brief video demo from the US arm of Nuance we hear someone dictate a short sentence with plenty of contextual curve balls, as you will see the context is handled perfectly by Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.

Dragon Naturally Speaking 11 HOME, PREMIUM and PROFESSIONAL are available to buy online in Australia from Dictate Australia.

One of the improvements with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11, the premium voice recognition software for the Windows world, is multiple matches in text. This, in my opinion, is something I don’t know how we did without before. When correcting, formatting or editing words Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 will now highlight all relevant multiple matches. For example, if you say “underline Australia” while dictating a document, for each match of the word Australia a number will appear in a small green box. You can then “Choose” the number matching the entry you require to be underlined or you can select all.

Above is a screen shot of multiple word selection in Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11. The green boxes highlighting the number or each word matched have been slightly increased in size to make them easier to view in this blog post. Multiple match text during formatting and editing, one of the new features in version 11 of Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance. Below is a video example of multi text match in use, once we get a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 in the office we will produce and Australian video of this feature, until then we have to rely on our friends from the US

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 HOME, PREMIUM and PROFESSIONAL are available to buy online in Australia from Dictate Australia.

As we sit twiddling our thumbs waiting for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 to arrive in Australia we are keen for any information on the latest and greatest version from Nuance. Here are some screen shots of DNS11 to whet your appetite.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 HOME and PREMIUM editions can be pre-ordered from Dictate Australia, will be available in Australia early September 2010.

Barely a year goes by without a major release for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, not surprising with the huge advances in technology being made especially in the voice recognition world. The latest version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the leading speech recognition software in the Windows world has now ticked over from version 10.1 to version 11. With the new release comes the usual claim of faster, more accurate and easier to use: exactly what is expected of any major upgrade. Also thrown into the mix is support for Microsoft’s latest Office 2010 along with much needed improvements to the UI which has been kicking around in its existing look and feel for some time, the UI improvements should make DNS11 even easier to navigate and use.

The product names for the NaturallySpeaking family have also had a revamp, gone are the Standard, Preferred and Professional editions, now we have Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Home (was Standard), Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium (was Preferred) and Professional which remains as is. These new versions will appear in Australia towards the end of August or early September, pre-orders are being taken now by most certified Dragon resellers, including us, Dictate Australia.

I currently own an older version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, can I upgrade to Version 11?

This depends on the version of Dragon you currently own. If you currently run Dragon NaturallySpeaking Standard then you are out of luck. But, if you own version 9, 9.5, 10 or 10.1 Preferred or Professional then yes, you can get an upgrade package to version 11.

• You can upgrade from Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred version 9, 9.5, 10, 10.1 to Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium
• You can upgrade from Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional version 9, 9.5, 10, 10.1 to Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Professional
• You can upgrade from Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred version 9, 9.5, 10, 10.1 to Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Professional

What digital voice recorder comes with the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Mobile edition?

Packaged in the Premium Mobile edition is the Philips Digital Voice Tracer (DVT) 662. This is a good little recorder which is both Mac and Windows compatible. It records in either .mp3 or .wav (PCM) audio formats and has 2Gb of built in memory. The 2Gb gives you 23 hours of .mp3 recording in the highest quality recording mode and just over 6 hours of recording in the high quality PCM .wav recording mode. This recorder is excellent for recording your voice notes for Dragon NaturallySpeaking but will also be good for recording interviews and small meetings.

What is the bluetooth headset in with the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium Wireless edition?

The wireless edition comes with the Plantronics Calisto bluetooth headset. This is the over-the-ear typical bluetooth style headpiece and gives you freedom from wires whilst dictating to your PC. Plantronics are leaders in the headset world.

I use a couple of PCs, one in the office and one at home is there a multi install licence for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11?

Yes, with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium you have the choice of a standard single install licence, two install licence and five install licence packs.

How much does the new Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 cost?

To celebrate the launch of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 in Australia, Nuance have a promotion which lasts until the end of September. I will write a new post with the pricing post-September when the information becomes available. The initial pricing is as follows:

• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 HOME – $99.95 incl. GST
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 PREMIUM – $249.95 incl. GST
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 PREMIUM (2 install) – $299.00 incl. GST
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 PREMIUM (5 install) – $699.00 incl. GST
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 PREMIUM Wireless – $299.00 incl. GST
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 PREMIUM Mobile – $299.00 incl. GST
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 PROFESSIONAL – $649.00 incl. GST
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 PROFESSIONAL Wireless – $769.00 incl. GST

And the cost of the upgrade packages:

• Upgrade from DNS Preferred 9/9.5/10/10.1 to DNS11 PREMIUM – $99.00 incl. GST
• Upgrade from DNS Preferred 9/9.5/10/10.1 to DNS11 PROFESSIONAL – $369.00 incl. GST
• Upgrade from DNS Professional 9/9.5/10/10.1 to DNS11 PROFESSIONAL – $269.00 incl. GST

At Dictate Australia we plan to list all versions of Naturally Speaking version 11 as it becomes available in Australia.

Official Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 press release.

Want a good quality digital voice recorder for a budget price? Check out our new Dictate Australia eBay Store where we will be listing our ex-demo, surplus stock and discontinued voice recorders and accessories. Here in the office we have quite a few recorders that have only been used for evaluation and testing purposes and are as good as new, we will be listing these in the coming weeks. Digital voice recorders that have been discontinued which we still have in stock, will be listed at bargain prices.

To kick things off though we have listed a brand new Philips Digital Pocket Memo (DPM) 9600 digital dictaphone at a bargain starting price of just $590 incl. GST well below the RRP of $995 incl. GST. This unit comes with the standard Philips Australia 1 year warranty which can be upgraded for free to a Philips 2 year warranty by registering the purchase through the Philips Voice Australia website.

This month we have seen the demise of some digital notetakers from Olympus’ current range. Out go the Olympus WS-550M, VN-5500PC and VN-6800PC. The VN series recorders ends the line of super cheap discount recorders although some will still be available in the short term through national chains like Officeworks, no loss there I was never a fan of these.

The dropping of the WS-550M was a bit of a surprise, traditionally Olympus kept a range of two or three recorders in a series line up, with the loss of the WS-550M this just leaves the WS-450S and the WS-560M as the two remaining WS series recorders. These are fantastic little recorders with amazing audio pickup.

Not content with dropping recorders Olympus also have some new recorders in the pipeline for next month, we are just waiting for confirmation before announcing what they will be. You will be pleasantly surprised, some very cool recorders are coming.

Olympus have today announced that end of life has been declared for the three remaining analogue microcassette recorders in their Australian product range, they are the model numbers J500, J701 and J711. This will leave Olympus with a fully digital range of voice recorders and dictaphones.

Also joining the recorders in the dim and distant past will be the Olympus 1 pack and 3 pack 60 minute microcassettes. So even if you cling tightly to your old microcassette player thinking you will never let go and embrace digital, Olympus are turning the screw that little bit more by taking away the fuel for the old recorders engine, the tapes themselves. Sure, you can re-use your tapes … over and over and over and over … but one day you will have to admit that they are poor quality, a pain to store and even harder to find a recording.

Olympus are running out their remaining stocks which are already low and then that will be it. If you are nervous about moving to digital voice recorders don’t be, we are here to hold your hand and give you the advice you need. Just drop us a line at sales@dictate.com.au.