Voice typing?

[Luka Datas]

It's probably a better idea to learn to type if you can't afford a professional audio typist unless you are disabled.

Not disabled just mentally inept.

I can type pretty well really even with my left hand while using two or three fingers. I used to be able to type at about thirty words a minute now I'd probably be closer to 15 but I really hate typing out the things I've already handwritten... I come out in hives and I resent the fact that I can't just palm this thankless task off on someone else... everyone I know who can type has refused to help me out and I'll never forgive them for their selfishness... but aside from holding a grudge against them for the rest of their lives... my options are a bit limited...

Gotta ask though... "have you tried google docs?" or "are you just a fellow contrarian?"

The bold type following is something I spoke into google docs voice typing... it's not perfect but it's pretty good... I tried using Windows speech to text but all I ended up with was gibberish. absolute gibberish. I don't think it could have done worse if windows employed actual monkeys on keyboards.

the next bold type is window's speech recognition trying to transcribe the exact same sentences... 0.1 using windows speech to sex one or nor although you could have done worse this with windows and Maureen ensure monkey's all the more.

BIT OF A DIFFERENCE?

 

[Windshadow]

I had a godmother who was a typist that transcribed doctors dictaphone case notes and I recall her telling me it took about 6 months for her to train a new doctor in the art of dictation. This was back in the mid 1960s though and she died at 50 due to a 3 pack a day habit (lucky strike struck her down). I wonder how someone trained in the art of dictation fairs with modern speech to text computer systems against a neophyte doing the same sort of task (doctors notes)

 

[Ray McCarthy]

. "have you tried google docs?"

I used to HAVE to use Google Docs. I'd never willingly use it ever again. ONLY use such cloud products for TEMPORARY collaboration. There are plenty of better free, local, secure editing & WP packages. Don't feed abusive companies like Google.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Windows speech to text

Which version of Windows? The win7 is a final SP to fix vista. The Win 8 is designed for mobile. Win10 is junk. Vista was a pig with eye candy.
The Speech to Text on XP is fine once it's trained for a speaker.
I stopped using Microsoft for everyday use just over a year ago. I still have a win98/Win2K laptop, XP laptop, Win7 + Win 10 desktops and a Win 10 tablet/Keyboard thing.
Main laptop, my 3 netboks and server all run Linux Mint + Mate desktop. I have an Android tablet, three eInk eReaders, and LCD eReader, Android smart phone and Archos PMP.
I'm not a Luddite. I also designed & built a proof of concept Linux based 4G "phone" same time as original iPhone (which had no 3G nor copy/paste).

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I wonder how someone trained in the art of dictation fairs with modern speech to text computer systems against a neophyte

Computer systems only do TRANSCRIPTION. As you say, proper voice dictation NEEDS an expert audio typist and TRAINING for the person doing dictation.
So it's like trying to compare a user of a self driving car with a top rally driver. Sort of. Or using an iphone to write a novel rather than a laptop. Possible, but not the most productive method.
I tried touch, BT wireless keyboard and USB keyboard on my phone. The small 9" USB keyboard worked for writing (phone in landscape), the others didn't.

 

[Luka Datas]

I used to HAVE to use Google Docs. I'd never willingly use it ever again. ONLY use such cloud products for TEMPORARY collaboration. There are plenty of better free, local, secure editing & WP packages. Don't feed abusive companies like Google.

Google may be abusive and all that but when was the last time Microsoft or Apple started a life extension research company like Calico?

They could invade Poland and I'd still think they had their good qualities.

 

[Luka Datas]

Which version of Windows? The win7 is a final SP to fix vista. The Win 8 is designed for mobile. Win10 is junk. Vista was a pig with eye candy.
The Speech to Text on XP is fine once it's trained for a speaker.
I stopped using Microsoft for everyday use just over a year ago. I still have a win98/Win2K laptop, XP laptop, Win7 + Win 10 desktops and a Win 10 tablet/Keyboard thing.
Main laptop, my 3 netboks and server all run Linux Mint + Mate desktop. I have an Android tablet, three eInk eReaders, and LCD eReader, Android smart phone and Archos PMP.
I'm not a Luddite. I also designed & built a proof of concept Linux based 4G "phone" same time as original iPhone (which had no 3G nor copy/paste).

I am the closest thing you might find to a computer illiterate... so which one are you saying is the best..?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

when was the last time Microsoft or Apple started a life extension research company

It's not to extend life. Also like rich people getting blood transfusions from young people it's elitist. That's real, there is a company and also some rich people do it directly.
Like most of Alphabet's investments it's a speculative way to improve advertising by getting more personal information. Like the illegal misuse of NHS records. Or WiFi snooping during Street View photography (not needed now as Android & ChromeOS get this. Chrome Browser also tells Google too much.)
Bill Gates unlike Facebook & Google is funding genuine health issues from his personal wealth.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

so which one are you saying is the best

I'd not use any, crap compared to a human. XP is no longer an option and training it is tedious.
I think the Win 10 might be using Cortana, thus so called "Cloud" and an internet connection. I'm not sure. I only use the W10 for some testing.
I've not tried any of the options on Linux Mint. Nor have I tried the Mac options. I've only done a little maintenance and installing on MacOS9 and Mac OSX. Overpriced.
I'd not understand why anyone able to work fingers with a decent keyboard and wordprocessor would want ANY Voice to text.
But then I've been using wordprocessing for nearly 40 years.

 

[Luka Datas]

It's not to extend life. Also like rich people getting blood transfusions from young people it's elitist. That's real, there is a company and also some rich people do it directly.
Like most of Alphabet's investments it's a speculative way to improve advertising by getting more personal information. Like the illegal misuse of NHS records. Or WiFi snooping during Street View photography (not needed now as Android & ChromeOS get this. Chrome Browser also tells Google too much.)
Bill Gates unlike Facebook & Google is funding genuine health issues from his personal wealth.

If you count westerners as rich and not worth saving just because we don't live in Africa or india then... I guess that's one opinion... But speaking of India and Africa - where the majority of people don't pay tax, live under a top down economic system and in areas with as many resources as any western country but don't trade them.. to build hospitals or even antivenin... as an example Nigeria is one of the most resource-rich countries in the entire world and yet still received more than 400 billion in ongoing aid since 1960. That Gates has thrown more billions at Africa doesn't exactly fill me with admiration for his genius.

 

[Luka Datas]

I'd not use any, crap compared to a human. XP is no longer an option and training it is tedious.
I think the Win 10 might be using Cortana, thus so called "Cloud" and an internet connection. I'm not sure. I only use the W10 for some testing.
I've not tried any of the options on Linux Mint. Nor have I tried the Mac options. I've only done a little maintenance and installing on MacOS9 and Mac OSX. Overpriced.
I'd not understand why anyone able to work fingers with a decent keyboard and wordprocessor would want ANY Voice to text.
But then I've been using wordprocessing for nearly 40 years.

Ok but imagine for a second that you live too far away from a professional typists office or you had the choice between buying dinner or paying a typist to type out your notes for you?

and you would never have employed a human typist under any circumstances unless it was to properly present a finished manuscript...

and you had the choice between software that works and requires no priming and software that takes hours to set up and still doesn't work...

would you try google docs voice typing then?

I mean obviously, you'd be allowed to wear your tin foil hat the whole time.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

would you try google docs voice typing then?

No. Not even if I had no fingers.
I'm sure I could do it on Linux. I have an old laptop (April 2002) with XP that doesn't need connected to Internet and has choice of Word 2003 (with docx addon) and a nearly up to date LibreOffice Writer (better for novels than Word 2007 to present version). The Voice to Text was trained on that years ago and does Transcription fine.

You obviously have a perfect broadband connection and are unconcerned about Google who are WORSE than facebook.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...er-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump
https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...ok-accused-of-misleading-mps-over-data-breach

There is another aspect. I have bad tinnitus in one ear. I write best with something on in the background. BBC R4, TSF Jazz, Radio Scotland, Clare FM etc depending on content and time of day. Incompatible with voice transcription. I only listen seriously to my music collection if doing nothing else.

I do have experience narrating books, so I will be narrating my own. A completely different unrelated activity that uses microphone feeding Audacity.

The sole reason for Google Docs is either collaboration with others (and keep .doc backups), or to give Google more information. Nothing Google does is free. It's just you are not charged money.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

That Gates has thrown more billions at Africa doesn't exactly fill me with admiration for his genius.

He's never claimed to be a genius.
Mortality from Malaria has halved.
People in Africa, India etc are JUST as important as people in California or New England. Google, Facebook etc, like Coca Cola, Tobacco companies, China and baby formula companies only see those as markets to exploit. India tries to stop it. The African governments have been "bought", as has USA government (Google, Cable Cos, Apple "patents", Silicon Valley, NRA, Big Oil, Pharma, GM crops, Chlorinated chicken, pig & beef feed additives banned for safety in EU, GM crops, Health care, Education).

 

[Luka Datas]

People in Africa, India etc are JUST as important as people in California or New England.

Maybe to you. But to me, the people I know personally are more important than people I don't know in AFRICA and India and California and New England. Pardon me for prioritizing my friends and family over total strangers. I know its inhumane and everything.

If only Africans felt the same way or had a little bit of nationalistic pride they might have invested in malaria eradication on their own... and Malaria isn't the first disease westerners have done battle with in Africa, on Africans' behalf, there's also Polio, Ebola, AIDS...

 

[Luka Datas]

No. Not even if I had no fingers.

I'd be the same if I had no tongue.

I'm sure I could do it on Linux. I have an old laptop (April 2002) with XP that doesn't need connected to Internet and has choice of Word 2003 (with docx addon) and a nearly up to date LibreOffice Writer (better for novels than Word 2007 to present version). The Voice to Text was trained on that years ago and does Transcription fine.

My brother gave me a laptop with Linux on it and I couldn't make head nor tails from it. He literally spent hours trying to teach me how to add software and even bought me the "Linux for dummies" book. BUT having used Windows exclusively for my entire computer career... I couldn't even understand the book's "dumbed down" introduction. I also had a similar problem using LibraOffice.

You obviously have a perfect broadband connection and are unconcerned about Google who are WORSE than facebook.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...er-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/18/cambridge-analytica-and-facebook-accused-of-misleading-mps-over-data-breach

I have wireless broadband and I usually buy a 10 dollar credit every two or three days... this gets me 500 megabytes... which is the equivalent of several dozen podcasts and a few hours on google docs.
I'm personally pleased that Trump won and that the UK is leaving the EU and that the people who share my perspective were prepared to go outside of the mainstream media to get their message across.
It doesn't take a rocket engineer to know that the MSMedia has a totalitarian/globalist lean... which explains why they are always bagging free speech on the internet social media platforms.

There is another aspect. I have bad tinnitus in one ear. I write best with something on in the background. BBC R4, TSF Jazz, Radio Scotland, Clare FM etc depending on content and time of day. Incompatible with voice transcription. I only listen seriously to my music collection if doing nothing else.

You could always use earphones.

I do have experience narrating books, so I will be narrating my own. A completely different unrelated activity that uses microphone feeding Audacity.

Kindle used to have a narrator function but apparently, publishers told them to lose it because the audiobook market might suffer... I, as I've mentioned, don't like listening to audiobooks though I understand that a lot of people do... but the way I see it, a lot of people like sailboats but you don't ban airlines for that reason.

Or if you had a way to travel to Los Angeles from NYC in three seconds would you ban it because it might put some bus drivers out of work?

The sole reason for Google Docs is either collaboration with others (and keep .doc backups), or to give Google more information. Nothing Google does is free. It's just you are not charged money.

Nothing is free on the internet, but in the sense that I don't have to flash Google Docs my debit card... it's the closest thing to free going.

I just do my voice typing burst and copy the text out and paste it into my writing in wordpad... (cause I'm too cheap even to use word) . So... in the worst case scenario where google docs was using my voice to create an audio doppelganger of me... I'm not that concerned. I speak so robotically into the voice typing that it would be a tough thing to pass off to someone who knew me... and if the person didn't know me... what's the point?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

My brother gave me a laptop with Linux on it and I couldn't make head nor tails from it.

There are many different kinds of Linux and many desktops. It's improved hugely in last 20 years. Your experience might have been typical 5 to 10 years ago, not now.
BTW most of the "Dummys" books are very poor and usually out of date.

worst case scenario where google docs was using my voice to create an audio doppelganger of me

That isn't what Google is doing. It's much worse. They are also subverting Governments and ignoring laws to their own ends. Google Docs is the most expensive Word-processor you can use. It also needs a decent Internet connection. Wordpad is barely better than Notepad. There are many good genuinely FREE text editors for Windows. Notepad++ and LibreOffice are a good combination.

Kindle used to have a narrator function but apparently, publishers told them to lose it because the audiobook market might suffer

Nonsense. They removed the earphone socket, speaker and DAC to save money. It was also is like 1985 text to speech.
Then they added Bluetooth for headsets / car. But it's not "Publishers" that Amazon listens to or fears. They own Audible, their own audiobook Publisher. Amazon's aim is to have a monopoly, or at least total dominance of Publishing and Retail. Finally they are rebranding CreateSpace.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Kindle used to have a narrator function

No-one is going to use that jogging, driving, gym, cycling or knitting. It was very poor compared with reading software at the time on Mac, Windows and Linux.
NO computer Text to Speech is any competition to human narrated audio books. They are for people with poor vision or blind. That's why the Kindles had it and it was only removed to save costs, because Amazon's DRM allows a publisher to specify Text to Speech is forbidden. Even when new Kindles had it.
So proper research rather than hearsay.

 

[Luka Datas]

No-one is going to use that jogging, driving, gym, cycling or knitting. It was very poor compared with reading software at the time on Mac, Windows and Linux.
NO computer Text to Speech is any competition to human narrated audio books. They are for people with poor vision or blind. That's why the Kindles had it and it was only removed to save costs, because Amazon's DRM allows a publisher to specify Text to Speech is forbidden. Even when new Kindles had it.
So proper research rather than hearsay.

that's why I said "apparently,"

I don't know and I really don't care that much but ask yourself this. Imagine you can sell an audio book on CD for 40 or 50 bucks or run the risk of losing the audiobook income to your author because your distributor has a free narrator built into their platform... what do you do?
If it was me I'd

1. get together with other book publishers and threaten to withhold the most popular authors in my stable from Kindle unless they ditched the narrator and,

2. Make Kindle sign a non-disclosure agreement when I signed my artists on with them.

Then Kindle has two choices... (now that it's completely lost all of it's appeal to audiobook listeners)

1. tell it's users their "experimental" text to speech option has been discontinued because of something they can't discuss, or,

2. tell it's users their narrator is gone due to costs...

Everyone knows if you mention costs you can do any dang thing.

Sometimes things are exactly what they seem to be. Other times exactly what they seem to be is too obvious to be believable. and while that's the case an alternate plot gets traction.

The really saleable thing about the Kindle in its own right would be that you don't have to turn over every time you turn the page when you're reading in bed. Only thing is that you turn over anyway because your ears are getting overheated on the pillow or your neck starts hurting. AND unlike regular books, YOU NEED TO KEEP PLUGGING THE DANG THING IN.

ALSO - I bought an old refurbished kindle with the narrator function and it's not as bad as you seem to think. It has two voices Male and female and I can plug it into my laptop and load text files into it to listen to them back. Once you get used to the fact that the voices can't say certain words and they'll stop speaking at the second to last word it's not so bad... another advantage it has is that I can pause or stop on any page whenever I want and restart when I want. I can also pause and leave specific notes in sections (or on words) that I think need changing...It's a freaking marvelous engine of creation..

 

[Ray McCarthy]

run the risk of losing the audiobook income to your author because your distributor has a free narrator built into their platform

You didn't read my post properly.
1) Such a risk NEVER existed because the publisher specifies if Text to Speech is allowed.
2) The Text to Speech is not competition to audio books. Obviously your threshold of satisfaction isn't typical. How many entire novels have you read this way?
3) Almost all commuters, joggers, gym, cyclists, knitters use real audio books. They are a comparable price to printed books. No comparison between human and computer narration.

Demise of the headphone jack and text to speech was nothing to do with Publishers. Kindles now support Audible brand Audio books via bluetooth. Audible is also an app.

it's not as bad as you seem to think

I've tried it out on many people. Not one wanted to use it. Not even the one with Macular degeneration. I and some other people I know do have the older kindles as well as newer ones and apps on phones/tablets. It was intended for partially sighted.

.It's a freaking marvelous engine of creation.

No, it's the sort of text to speech common in 1990s. Obsolete when released. Because Amazon has done little to the reader app, which they bought in, probably based on Mobireader. All text to speech sounded like that by 1994 and had all those features.
I do use the Kindle Text To Speech Narrator on my DXG to check made up names/words (SF&F). I aim that it pronounces them as I imagine, then they don't trip up the human readers.
They have concentrated on DRM, advert integration and so called Cloud. My old Sony PRS350 has better software overall than new Kindles, any app on Android or new Kobos. Only the Kobo I have is good for annotation with export. Any Kindle is rubbish to export annotation from. The Sony PRS touch series failing is an awkward interface to start annotating.

 

[Luka Datas]

You didn't read my post properly.
1) Such a risk NEVER existed because the publisher specifies if Text to Speech is allowed.
2) The Text to Speech is not competition to audio books. Obviously your threshold of satisfaction isn't typical. How many entire novels have you read this way?
3) Almost all commuters, joggers, gym, cyclists, knitters use real audio books. They are a comparable price to printed books. No comparison between human and computer narration.

Demise of the headphone jack and text to speech was nothing to do with Publishers. Kindles now support Audible brand Audio books via bluetooth. Audible is also an app.


I've tried it out on many people. Not one wanted to use it. Not even the one with Macular degeneration. I and some other people I know do have the older kindles as well as newer ones and apps on phones/tablets. It was intended for partially sighted.

No, it's the sort of text to speech common in 1990s. Obsolete when released. Because Amazon has done little to the reader app, which they bought in, probably based on Mobireader. All text to speech sounded like that by 1994 and had all those features.
I do use the Kindle Text To Speech Narrator on my DXG to check made up names/words (SF&F). I aim that it pronounces them as I imagine, then they don't trip up the human readers.
They have concentrated on DRM, advert integration and so called Cloud. My old Sony PRS350 has better software overall than new Kindles, any app on Android or new Kobos. Only the Kobo I have is good for annotation with export. Any Kindle is rubbish to export annotation from. The Sony PRS touch series failing is an awkward interface to start annotating.

I don't know if I'm reading your post properly enough, but I 've gotta call kumquat when I see it.

1. why would I export annotations, when I can see them pop up on my screen?
2. It's not unusual to be in love with a kindle with an earphone jack.
3. does your friend with macular degeneration have a Kindle that offers braille? But I hear what you're saying. I have a paraplegic friend who won't ride in a wheelchair because she doesn't like the sound rubber wheels make on carpet.
4. It needs to be a good novel for me to finish it regardless of how it gets presented... and considering I only ever get books from project Guttenberg for my kindle... I'd say I've probably only listened to about 30 or 40 from start to finish.
5. Audiobook prices are double or triple the cost of your average e-book. ... It comes down to the studio costs, which the publishers call "cost per finished hour". Each audiobook is on average around 12 hours, which costs on average $300 to $400 an hour.