I've emailed MacSpeech, but I'm sure to no avail after having read these posts. I was able to create a disk image of my data disk in toast, but using this to reload the data files does not solve the problem.

I'm not suggesting that anyone violate a license agreement, etc. But based on what I've read, I sincerely believe that if some kind soul with a working data disk would post a disk image for others to download, it would probably save this poor company from bankruptcy.

Amazing. I got my DVD via UPS 48 hours after bitching at them. I am truly shocked.

It's unbelievable what I got my new disc today. There was no explanation of how to reinstall a data disk. Just a note saying here are your disks, we apologize for the inconvenience, and a thank you at the bottom. It was not all in company stationary and nobody signed. Anyway, I deleted my old data file. I put my new data disk in. And I started MacSpeech Dictate. It worked! I can't believe that it was just a bad disk. On the first page of their website MacSpeech should have a big banner that says "if your program will not create a profile you need new discs." This would have been very simple. I hope they are reading this and take my advice. I have actually using Dictate for this right now. It is working great. Thank you to everyone in this forum for helping me out. It probably would have taken MacSpeech and a lot longer to figure this out if you wonderful people had not been keeping their feet to the fire. Good luck everybody. This seems to be working great! Caveman

Cool Guys! Glad its working for ya.

More people getting fixed up! I can't be far behind... except that I have never even heard back from them. : ) Still, every person with a working version of Dictate puts me one step closer to getting my replacement.

Even though I have yet to receive any reply to my requests for assistance, and have not received a replacement data disk from MacSpeech, I can now add to the list of legitimate, paying customers who can state, with absolute certainty, that bad data disks are the issue and the only issue. I'm sure that MacSpeech are receiving a TORRENT of angry emails, kwim?

Should you not wish to go the TORRENT route, all I can say is happy waiting. Perhaps demanding a refund will expedite better customer service.

My copy of MacSpeech Dictate arrived yesterday. I’m one of those people who has been trying to support MacSpeech since it was in version 1. But like most other people really never got it to work. So I’ve been waiting eagerly for this product to come out.

The MacSpeech disks arrived by mail here in Canada. The discs worked perfectly although I understand a few discs were not working and people had to return them.

I installed the discs on a Mac book 1.83 MHz running Mac OS 10.4.11. Installing the two discs is a little confusing but they did work. The discs come only with a small glossy brochure and there seems to be no help menu of any significance. So if people who want to try MacSpeech Dictate had had no previous experience with iListen they would probably be very confused.

I did not have any problem with setting up the profile. The amount of training required to get right into dictation was about 10 minutes or less. In iListen one had to read pages and pages of dialogue in the hope that the computer would learn your voice. Somehow it never did that very reliably.

Having never used Dragon speak I’m not sure how MacSpeech Dictate compares, but the speech recognition of MacSpeech Dictate is quite amazing.

On the second day of having this program I’m dictating this message with only a few errors which are easily erased and then dictated again with the command “scratch that”.

What is missing currently, and it’s a big omission, is a way of editing while you dictate. The best you can do for now is to save your text in a text editing program and then go back and edit it by hand.

Although MacSpeech Dictate does an amazing job with recording dates such as March 26, 2008 (I just spoke this date and it was recorded), and numerals such as 12345, this program does not have a spelling mode like the old iListen which allowed you to spell words that it didn’t recognize.

While it is easy for an able-bodied person to go back and edit the text by hand, a person with a disability may not have the option of including a name that the computer doesn’t recognize. For instance that person might be writing to a friend named Ilia and the name might come out in some of the following ways — India, Italy a — some of the outcomes can be quite amusing.

Videos on using Dictate are starting to show up on UTube.

With some Mac computers there is no need for a headset or microphone. Although I have one of the recommended headsets I am dictating this just directly to my computer and it picks up my speech even when there are some noises in the background.

My conclusion is that MacSpeech Dictate is an exciting new development that I’ve been waiting around for since 2001 when I bought the first iListen. I do think that MacSpeech, the company, has shown exceedingly poor roll-out organization and customer service.

What I’m surprised about is that there isn’t more discussion on the Internet about this product. Is it that not enough copies have been shipped yet? I admit that I pestered MacSpeech quite a bit about getting my cross grade copy. I’m wondering if full new copies are not out in the marketplace yet. I am hoping that iListen’s reputation hasn’t killed the marketplace for them.

I am also concerned but the lack of help menus and list of all dictation commands will deter people from trying this program. If MacSpeech doesn’t get busy and provide tutorials or instructions, I guess it will be up to discussion groups like this to pass on the knowledge we gained from iListen. Quite a few of the commands from iListen seem to work but aren’t even listed.

I am also concerned about what happens when one needs to move the program from one computer to another. I didn't see or didn't notice a reference to a Licence Key vs Registration Code when I registered the product.

I’m looking forward to hearing from other people when they get their copy.

Frangelica (I can’t dictate my own name, I had to edit it by hand)

Proof of bad install disks and corrupt data

I purchased two copies of Dictate. Copy one for work (and as a trial to see if the program worked well enough to be helpful) and copy two a few days later for home. Copy one at work worked flawlessly (on an iMac running 10.4.11). Copy two at home (MacBook running 10.5) installed and then crashed every time I tried to make a profile (as described by many people above). I tried a number of solutions including an erase and reinstall of the system but nothing prevented a crash when the program was run. Then after reading this forum, I brought my copy one Dictate disks home, deleted the MacSpeech data file as described above and reinstalled the data from the copy one disks. At this point Dictate works perfectly on the MacBook. My conclusion is that I got one good set and one bad set of disks. If you are having trouble with Dictate, contact MacSpeech and get a new copy of the install disk.

Final comments.
The program works as advertised once installed properly. It is easy to use and effective. (I found it helpful within 10 minutes of installation at work.) It is much better than iListen.

The MacSpeech technical support has not been that helpful. (I have called and emailed them several times trying to get my program working.) This thread is much more helpful.

Good luck all

Frangelica,

I agree with much of what you say. Now that I have the program running (no thanks to MacSpeech), its accuracy is quite good.

There is quite a bit of discussion on the internet about this product, but it's mostly negative because most people can't get it to run due to defective data disks.

As far as missing features go, the paltry documentation suggests that these will be added in subsequent updates.

Bottom line- This is really a late beta version that was rushed to market without documentation or a full feature set. To add insult to injury, many data disks are defective. The data appears to load, but the program quits while creating a profile. The final straw- rather than promptly admitting to and addressing this by sending replacement disks, they are jerking us around with tech support nonsense.

My advice- if you don't own this yet, don't buy it. Wait for a real version 1.0 with non-defective data disks. If you do own it and can't get it to work, tell your credit card company not to pay and they'll work on your behalf to resolve this mess.

I seem to have a completely different problem than what I've read so far in this forum (At least it seems so). On my iMac, which is one of the newer ones, the program crashes upon launch -- I can't even get to the profiles part. I deleted the data file and reinstalled it two or three times, but still no solution. I don't think it's the data disk, because I did successfully install Dictate on my MacBook laptop, which is running the same OS as my iMac (10.4.11). So I'm absolutely stumped! I've been in touch with tech support at MacSpeech multiple times, but so far to no avail. I received boilerplate e-mails about setting preferences regarding speech recognition etc. in my control panel, which I've checked and double checked.

Has anyone had this problem? Any thoughts about why it wouldn't work on my iMac but it will on my laptop?

Fingers crossed,
Amy

New data DVD. No crash. Dictating away (including this post).