Updated August 19th, 2015: Nuance has just announced the all new Dragon for Mac 5.0 (notice that it’s no longer called “Dragon Dictate”). It’s not yet shipping but is expected to be available for download by early September, 2015. This new version improves accuracy by 15% over version 4 and 35% over version 3, including enhanced accuracy when using your built-in microphone in your Macbook.  Upgrading to version 5.0 will set you back $200.00.

Updated July 30th, 2015: We here at Software Voucher are long-time fans of Dragon’s Dictate software. Not only did I use it throughout college to help me pump out essays a lot faster, but we all use it daily when updating the site. So we always pay close attention to the latest news and rumors coming from Nuance. Although it is early and we are some ways away from the next version (with still no word about the beta), as it now stands we don’t expect to see Dragon Dictate 5 coming out anytime before September 2015 (that’s about a year-and-a-half after version 4… that’s inline with the previous release dates). However, knowing how these releases work, it’s more likely that we’ll see it come out closer to the end of August or early September, 2015 (right in time for the holidays).

We base our predictions on both when the last version was released and on the rumors we see coming from the folks close to Nuance. Here is the full release date history of Dragon Dictate:

• Dictate 4.0: This is the current version. It was released on March 5, 2014.
• Dictate 3.0: Released on September 26, 2012.
• Dictate 2.0: Released on September 20, 2010.
• Dictate 1.0: Released in March 2008 (originally released as MacSpeech Dictate).

What did we see improved in version 4?

• Improved speed – It’s noticeably faster than version 3 on our Macbook Pro’s. Especially when using it with Safari, Apple Mail, and Gmail.
• Full integration with Apple Pages – Now all the commands that you used to have to control with your mouse can now be controlled by voice in Dictate. That includes text formatting and anything else that is found in the control Menu.
• New audio file transcription – I always wondered why Dragon couldn’t transcribe audio files. Well now it can! So regardless if you have a Podcast that needs to be transcribed or lecturer recordings to help you study for the next exam, Dictate 4 can not convert it all for you. Just note that it may have trouble if there are multiple speakers talking in the mp3. Processing is at 3x speeds so allow 10 minutes for every 30 minutes of audio time.

Features we would we like to see added in version 5.

Although version 4 is greatly improved over version 3, we would still love to see several things added in the next release. Here are those that top our wish list:

• Multi-user transcription abilities – To be able to transcribe an audio file with multiple speakers (i.e. during a conversion or interview).
• Common video file support – Dragon Dictate only supports .mp3, .m4a, .aif, .aiff, .wav, .mp4, and .m4v.
• Real time transcription speed – We still find that there are certain instances and phrases that get the software thinking which slows down the processing speeds.

What would you like to see improved in Dragon Dictate 5?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.