Computer software

<p>Is there a computer software that will record a lecture and type it on a word document?</p>

<p>I believe it's something anyone with a laptop is capable of doing.</p>

<p>Student hears.
Student types.
Student learns a lot.</p>

<p>Nuance</a> - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9</p>

<p>You'll need a fairly good mic too.</p>

<p>Can you not even take notes on your own?</p>

<p>Life is going to hit you HARD when you get to college.</p>

<p>Yes, I can take notes on my own... I tend to take really good notes. But, I would like to have that as a backup, so I can get more detailed notes... I plan on writing as the lecture is taking place and then looking at the info took with the software to double check myself.</p>

<p>How much will a good mic cost? I have a toshiba laptop if that matters.And you think this will work in a lecture hall?</p>

<p>Honestly (serious answer this time), a kid in my biology lecture freshman year had some program like what you're talking about. He sat next to me all semester but never said a word until the day before the first exam, instead played games while recording lecture. Anyway, the class before the first exam. He shows me his notes and asks if I could help him go over them after class or something like that. He lived in my building so I told him okay. I actually laughed at him that night--his documents certainly had the lecture written for him. It was also filled with so many random comments from people near us and it actually typed out some nonsense that I assumed was papers rustling around us, that the notes were impossible to comprehend. I left him in the lounge to ponder his notes on his own.</p>

<p>For the rest of the semester he took real notes. If the program can pick up sounds from a lecturer 30 feet away, you can be sure it will also pick up the noises 30 inches away. But hey, whatever floats your boat.</p>

<p>Oh, that sucks.</p>

<p>Well, I guess I will just bring a recorder then.</p>

<p>If your Toshiba laptop has Vista installed, Windows Speech Recognition software comes installed. Reviewers write that its accuracy is close to that of Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software.</p>

<p>See: Voice</a> Recognition Software, Best Voice Recognition Software Reviews</p>

<p>Voice to text software is primarily designed for dictation where the user is in a controlled environment. The software was never designed to capture a distant speaker in a classroom. This explains why the classroom results were so poor. The software requires some training by speaking into a microphone (built-in or detached). </p>

<p>A better alternative is Microsoft’s OneNote which has both a video and audio recording feature. OneNote allows you to start a recording session using your built-in laptop mic or better yet, a directional external mic. OneNote is a note-taking program which can be used with a regular Windows laptop or better yet, a Tablet PC. The program allows you to type or write your notes and to add a timestamp icon to any part of your notes and play back what was said at that portion of the recording. If your instructor mentions something that you want to hear again after the lecture, simply paste a time-stamp icon next to your note. This works better on a Tablet PC where you can use your stylus to tap the time-stamp icon from the tool bar and attach it to your written note. You can do the same thing with a regular Windows laptop with your touchpad.</p>

<p>The nice thing about OneNote’s audio recording feature is that each spoken word is indexed. You can actually search the audio for a particular word or phrase in a search box. This is much better than recording a lecture using a digital recorder. If you are listening for a particular portion of the lecture, you have to start at the beginning and jump around until you find what you want to hear. If you want to find all references to “George Washington”, all you have to do is search for “Washington” and the OneNote software will compile those references and you can play them back.</p>

<p>Okay, I bought the NaturallySpeaking9 on ebay for $54.</p>

<p>I cannot wait to get it to start learning the software. I think it will make notes (After I write them in class, I want to type them), outlines, and essays, as well as lab reports go a lot easier.</p>

<p>From what I read I believe its a one time software, right? So I bought one, and my sister bought one...</p>