Writer struggling with Mac 'dictation'...

Literature & Writing Writer's Block
1

I have Dragon Pro Individual on PC, been using it for 6 or 7 years. Before that, it was Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Nuance stopped making products for Mac, but my old work-horse PC laptop is getting long in the tooth and MicroSloth did something to WinBlows that stops the processor boosting properly, so it struggles now.

Ideally, I’d like a MacBook, BUT I dictate a lot when I am wrangling ideas, thinking through stories, trying to tie up loose ends, so I need good dictation software, and the Mac now seems to be lacking that.

I have an M1 Mac Mini and the dictation is pretty horrible, even with an external, noise-cancelling microphone. Far too many errors in the ‘voice control’ setup, and only twenty seconds of dictation if you use the more accurate ‘online’ method.

I really don’t want another WinBlows laptop, but do need dictation that just works. (Trying to switch to all Mac, since I use Vellum to produce the PDF/ebook anyway…)

Has anyone found a suitable solution for Mac that doesn’t involve paying a tenner a month to Nuance for Dragon Anywhere and still having to dictate on the iPad/iPhone, then transfer the text? :mrgreen:

2

A number of journalists I know use Otter to transcribe interviews. I haven’t personally used it, so I can’t say how well it would work (or if it would work at all) for what you need. otter.ai/login

Katherine

3

Thanks.

Similar to Dragon Anywhere on the low priced plan. If a system needs the net to work, that limits you to working when you have good Wi-Fi. Not always true for me when I’m out in the sticks.

Dragon Pro is on the HD only, everything stored locally and as far as I’ve seen, once it’s installed and registered, never looks at the net again.

I can keep my plot-wrangling to Windows if necessary. I’m guessing Nuance weren’t making enough money off Mac users to make it worth developing further. I found articles saying they ditched Mac in 2018. :cry:

At least Scrivener doesn’t care where I run it :mrgreen: