A question about speech-to-text programs...anyone have experience or insight?

[Drum]

Where do things stand now in the evolution of this? I have a very large amount of handwritten text that I want to convert typed-text in my computer (for editing) and the task of transcribing it all manually seems completely overwhelming. Scanning hundreds of pages and applying a text-recognition program is also totally impractical for me.

So it got me wondering...whether reading the pages into a mic and having the computer do the work might be an option. I know that there are always issues with pronunciation and one's own voice, things must be tweaked or corrected, but perhaps a V-to-T program could do the lion's share of this transcription process....

So what say you, diverse and experienced peeps? Does anyone know about this stuff? Is there a natural choice of program for this sort of thing...any recommendations? Naturally a freeware/beta/shareware would be nice, but if there's also a really dependable solution then the project is important enough to me to justify buying the software.

Any comments or suggestions?

(Will also cross-post this query in other DU fora and groups.)

Thanks for any and all assistance

[Why Syzygy]

1. Microsoft Word 2000

has voice recognition software built in. I tried it back then and found it frustratingly inaccurate. There are better programs on the market and later versions of Word may be an improvement.

With all those pages to transcribe, it would still be worthwhile to use one I would think.

[HamdenRice]

2. I once tried it. It was awful. There are benefits to typing also.

Worse than the slowness and innaccuracy, however, was that the program acted like a virus and hijacked Word whenever I tried to use it.

That was a few years ago. I'm sure they've improved, but the experience was so horrible that it put me off voice recognition for good.

You might consider the benefits of typing, however. The best advice I ever got about writing/revising -- one that helped me out of a particular bad set of habits/roadblocks -- was to completely retype a text that I am revising and NOT always edit using a word processor.

The problem with editing on paper and then typing in the edits is that you get locked into a text, even if it isn't working.

If you have your text on paper and are completely retyping it, you will be willing to completely re-write and rethink what you are writing. You have no "investment" in what's already in the computer.

So taking this mass of handwritten stuff and typing it a little at a time may be your best (most creative) way of revising.