As someone who writes for a living, I have relied on\r\ndictation software for a number of years. Dictation software allows me to\r\ncomplete my work more quickly than would otherwise be possible, and it reduces\r\nthe potential for getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Today, a number of dictation apps\r\nare available for the PC. These applications vary widely in terms of price and\r\nfeatures. Let’s look at five possible options.
Note: This gallery is\r\nalso available as an article.
Dragon\r\nNaturallySpeaking 13 Premium is the speech recognition application I use\r\nfor my day-to-day work. Dragon has been around for many years, so it’s time to\r\nmature. When properly trained, Dragon version 13 makes very few dictation\r\nerrors.
Although Dragon’s accuracy is definitely its biggest selling\r\npoint, it also includes a number of nice features. For example, it allows you\r\nto link multiple sound hardware devices to a user’s profile, so you can switch\r\nto a different microphone without creating a brand new profile. Dragon lets you\r\ncreate a backup of your profile, too. This is an important option, because\r\nDragon learns over time and becomes more accurate as you dictate or perform\r\nadditional training. Without a backup option, a hard disk crash could mean retraining\r\nDragon from the beginning.
Dragon 13 Premium sells for $199.
Braina offers a Lite version of its software for free. The PRO\r\nversion can be licensed for either $29.00 per year or $59 for three years.
Once recorded, audio can be saved for later, archived, or sent\r\nto a transcriptionist. The software even supports HIPAA-compliant encryption of\r\naudio data.
Express Dictate sells for $79.99, but a free 14-day trial\r\nversion is available for download.
SpeakToText uses its own editor for dictation but contains\r\nmenu options for copying text to Word or to the clipboard. Clipboard text can\r\nalso be pasted into the editor.
SpeakToText sells for $39.95, but a free trial is available\r\nfor download.
The voice recognition engine contains options to create and\r\nmanage voice profiles and to start and stop dictation. The software also contains\r\na voice training function, and you can add words on an as needed basis, but the\r\nsoftware is not as advanced as Dragon. The built-in word processor is roughly\r\non par with Microsoft WordPad.
Dictation Pro sells for $29.95, but a free trial version is\r\navailable for download.
* 1988 - Started teaching myself about computers \ * 1992 - Mainframe programmer for an insurance company \ * 1993 - Network Administrator for a different insurance company \ * 1996 - Author for The Cobb Group \ * 1998 - Network Administrator for Fort Knox \ * 1999 - CIO for chain of hospitals \ * 2000 - Gave up the corporate rat race to work out of my home. I have been a full time technical author ever since. Visit my Web sites at http://www.brienposey.com and http://www.relevanttechnologies.com \
