As someone who does blog posts every single day I can share with some authority a blogging tool that has been indispensable to me in the months since I purchased it. My voice recognition software has transformed my daily writing ritual into something that does not stress me out physically anymore, and instead allows me to focus on the thoughts I’m trying to convey.
I have a level of typing ability that might be more properly referred to as typing inability, because I never really learned how to touch type. I’m fairly fast but the problem is that I have to look down at the keyboard constantly and this seems to tighten the muscles of my neck and shoulders. I know, I know: why don’t I just learned how to touch type? The stories I hear about repetitive stress injuries make me wonder about touch typing as a solution and I have always been ambivalent about it. Instead I’d remained curious about voice activated software for years, and I always had a feeling I’d buy it.
Still, as I say, discomfort in my neck seems to be increasing over the years, and I had always wondered about getting voice typing software. Finally I figured that at this rate the pain probably wasn’t going to get much better and maybe I could prevent a more serious ailment down the road if I spent the money now on the dictation software. I’m an active blogger, so I just saw it as a blog tool like my keyboard or my hosting plan.
On Mac your choices as to software for voice typing are relatively limited, and as I researched it I found that the software that came most highly recommended, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, was unavailable for Mac altogether. This actually put me off spending the money earlier because I had no interest in paying for an inferior product.
I stumbled across an article on voice recognition software that talked about the company that makes the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software for Windows having licensed the technology to a company called MacSpeech for their ‘Dictate’ voice typing software. That was enough for me and I plopped down $170, still a little skeptical.
I don’t intend for this article to turn into an advertisement for either of the companies I’ve mentioned. My point here is that as far as using voice typing software as a blogging tool, I could not be happier that I invested in it. It’s not just that I can lean back in my chair and not be hunched over as I hack away at the keyboard. I actually think that my writing flows better as I’m able to look in a relaxed way around the room or out the window. A little experimentation revealed that I don’t even have to use the included headset to dictate, that the software works fine with me just talking into the small microphone above the screen of my laptop.
I think the only downside was the price. Even for a tool I use every day it was fairly expensive, especially when you consider that I have a keyboard sitting right in front of me. But this is an expenditure for the long-term. I figure I’m almost certain to have avoided injury or least greater discomfort that might have occurred in the future. And if you prorate a cost of over many comfortable years, I suppose that as blog tools go, voice recognition software is one of the best investments one could make.
