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Computer microphone headset

post #1 of 10
5/22/08 at 6:21pm
Thread Starter 
So I got software for both Mac and PC that allows me to talk to the computer, which I will primarily use for dictating essays for school. What's a good and inexpensive microphone headset (wired is fine)? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jon.
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post #2 of 10
5/24/08 at 6:51am
I have used a cheapish Logitech headset with Dragon Naturally Speaking. I wasn't too thrilled by it. I got a Platronics one that worked a little better....I mainly use it for Skype and Yahoo Voice when I'm out of the country though. Truthfully, for me its more trouble than its worth except if you're already reading from a prepared script. Nowadays, I hire a dictation service but its a 24 hour turnaround. I have heard
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post #3 of 10
5/24/08 at 10:00pm
I have a USB Plantronics I use, it's a bit pricey because of the built-in sound card, but it's great quality input & output. I use it for gaming. I've had a bad experience overall with Logitech headsets. The last two I've had, the microphone stopped functioning properly. Part of it I believe is poor design; it feels flimsy. The main thing you probably want is comfort. If you're just going to use it for dictating, perhaps a mono headset is all you need. And as someone who worked as a scribe for a dictation service company, I feel for them That job made me want to rip my ears off and dip my head in acid. I'd say about 95% of the jobs were from financial advisors, and 80% of those were poorly, poorly dictated. You had people driving, eating, low-talkers, and some who just shouldn't be allowed to speak over a phone. Glad I got out of that hell hole
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post #4 of 10
5/24/08 at 10:32pm
In my experience, I'd say, dictation software is still a few years from being useful. There are still too many mistakes made in transcriptions, not enough consistency, plus, the user pretty much has to stay in "monotone" voice and enunciate each word as carefully as possible.
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post #5 of 10
5/25/08 at 1:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by imageWIS View Post
So I got software for both Mac and PC that allows me to talk to the computer, which I will primarily use for dictating essays for school. What's a good and inexpensive microphone headset (wired is fine)? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jon.

I recently picked up a headset at Staples to use with Skype. Got the cheapest available, around $20, and it works fine. No idea what the brand is.

Just curious, do you actually have someone transcribe your "essays for school"?
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post #6 of 10
5/25/08 at 1:46am
Plantronics has not worked out well for me in the past. The microphone tends to die after a while.

Sennheiser makes a basic model that has proved to be very reliable over the years.
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post #7 of 10
5/25/08 at 2:02am
Yeah, definite +1 on Sennheiser. Can't go wrong there. Their high-end models are beautiful too.
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post #8 of 10
5/25/08 at 5:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by somecallmebj View Post

And as someone who worked as a scribe for a dictation service company, I feel for them That job made me want to rip my ears off and dip my head in acid. I'd say about 95% of the jobs were from financial advisors, and 80% of those were poorly, poorly dictated. You had people driving, eating, low-talkers, and some who just shouldn't be allowed to speak over a phone. Glad I got out of that hell hole

haha, you should have heard the stuff I dictated on Friday afternoon. I feel sorry for whoever has to listen to my drivel and corrections. Its outsourced out of the country though.
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post #9 of 10
5/25/08 at 9:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by imageWIS View Post
So I got software for both Mac and PC that allows me to talk to the computer, which I will primarily use for dictating essays for school. What's a good and inexpensive microphone headset (wired is fine)? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jon.

Logitech headsets are cheap and of good quality. What software are you using? I haven't managed to find a one that's accurate enough.
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post #10 of 10
5/31/08 at 7:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by geepeeone View Post
In my experience, I'd say, dictation software is still a few years from being useful. There are still too many mistakes made in transcriptions, not enough consistency, plus, the user pretty much has to stay in "monotone" voice and enunciate each word as carefully as possible.
I disagree somewhat. I do think that it has a long way to go before it works perfectly but I just came from doing a Radiology rotation where they were using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to dictate the findings and it was working remarkably well; so well in fact that I downloaded a trial version to test and even though my microphone (shitty ass old mic I had from a cell phone; one of those where the mic hangs down by your throat) failed its audio calibration, it's still working very, very well. So well in fact that I just spent $60 to buy a USB headset. I expect the performance to be significantly better.
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