I’m a big fan of Naturally Speaking. You can find older versions on Amazon, Craigslist, and eBay, but I went ahead an got the latest (version 10 – Standard) from Nuance.com. I have to say that overall I like it a great deal.
But it’s not perfect. For one thing it uses a lot of resources. It also requires a fair amount of training, and even then it’s not perfect.
That said, I can author longer texts about 4 times faster than I can type by using dictation.
One big tip I can offer is this: use the dictation pad that comes with the program instead of Microsoft Word or a text editor. I don’t understand why, and really I don’t care why, but for now at least, the accuracy is better in its native editor than in others.
The only other editor that comes close to giving me results as accurate is a relatively obscure program called TurboNote, which is another great tool, but that’s another story.
I’m not sure how version 10 stacks up against version 9 or earlier. You might check some of the review sites that are out there for that information. But it’s really worth checking out if you think that dictation might be a part of your productivity puzzle.
- Bal
