Nuance Release Dragon Express - Voice Recognition For Poor Mac Users

If I had a dollar for every time I had been asked for a free or a trial version of Dragon Dictate, the leading voice recognition software on the Mac from Nuance Communications, I would have easily a couple of hundred dollars by now. Still, it is a good question and one worth asking. With Dragon Dictate coming in at a couple of hundred dollars plus it is quite an outlay for something you might want to try.

Step up Dragon Express [app store link] - a brand new app available on the Mac app store which goes one step closer to helping make people feel a little more warm and fuzzy about speech recognition without spending too much hard earned. The Dragon Express app is US$49.99 (AU$51.99) - so still a fairly significant amount but just enough if you are really keen to see what voice recognition on the Mac can do.

For more info on Dragon Express and how it differs from the fully fledged Mac app Dragon Dictate 2.5 head to our main blog for a peruse. Click the title link above to be hyperlinked there.

Express Scribe for Mac - Pro & Free Versions Available

NCH have just released the Pro version of their hugely popular Express Scribe transcription software for the Mac typists amongst us and yes there are plenty. There has been a free edition of Express Scribe for Mac for some time but NCH have re-jigged the Express Scribe brand attempting to cash in on what has been a hugely successful and popular free package over the years.

On Mac Express Scribe follows the same pattern now as Windows, a free edition with only a handful of popular audio formats supported. Perfect for those just getting into transcription typing to see how the software works and to train themselves with little (if you buy a footpedal) or no (if you just use hotkeys) expense.

The Pro version on the Mac supports just about every audio dictation format you can expect to receive except for the obvious ommision of the older Digital Speech Standard (.dss) files and .DVF audio files from Sony (these are supported in the Windows Pro version of Express Scribe).

For the full list of supported audio and video formats for both the free and Pro version of Express Scribe for Mac head to our main blog - click the title on this post above to be teleported there now.

Pro Olympus Voice Mac Users - DSS Player Plus v7 Upgrade For Lion

Mac Pro voice users who currently use the professional digital dictation range from Olympus - DS-5000, DS-5000iD & DS-3400 - a new upgrade is available to the DSS Player Plus V7 Software for Mac.

The upgrade will take your software to version 7.2.8 and makes DSS Player Plus v7 compatible with OS X 10.7 a.k.a. Lion.

Prior to this release new installs of DSS Player Plus v7 on Lion failed to recognise the digital dictaphone when docked.

Download link and more info on our main blog - just click the title of this post above to go there now.

NCH Finally Have A Paid Model For Express Scribe - Limits The Free Edition

NCH Software's move to finally make some money out of their hugely popular transcription software called Express Scribe is now just about complete as at version 5.40

Users of the free versions prior to this release certainly enjoyed some fantastic transcription software for nothing but an upgrade from older versions to 5.40 will see all that change.

NCH have limited the audio playback in the free edition to just .MP3, .WMA, .WAV, .AIF and .DCT audio file formats and all video formats have been removed totally from the free version of Express Scribe.

Buying the Pro version of Express Scribe will give you back all the audio and video formats that are commonly transcribed by transcription typists and at around AU$36 (US$32) you can't really grumble as at that price it is still a bit of a bargain.

Also, users of non Alto Edge USB foot pedals look out as support has also been removed for those devices in v5.40 Express Scribe free edition - if you have a Philips 2310 or 2320 it will no longer function until you buy the paid edition.

More details at our main blog including a full list of compatible video and audio formats and the Express Scribe version history - click the heading above to go straight there.