Years ago — and I’m speaking a long time ago — you could buy a software package called Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This was made by Nuance. The software got more and more expensive, and the hardware to run it — a microphone with a long cable, a docking station for the dictation recorder, and all the rest — eventually became out of reach. Only doctors, lawyers and perhaps some other professionals could justify the cost.
When I moved home, most of that equipment had to go. It was outdated anyway. Then I started using the speech-to-text app on the iPhone, which is Siri, but that was as bad as the first version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking — I think it was version four. Unfortunately, Siri has never really improved.
But there are now new apps and ways of doing dictation and transcription using AI, which I’ll come to in a moment.
Right now, the information I can find is that Nuance isn’t doing particularly well, although it is still around. Apparently, it was bought by Microsoft and has been charging even more outrageous rates for its software packages. So these dedicated transcription software packages are really only for the select few — not the ordinary professional who needs to do a lot of dictation.
But today you can use an app like Otter AI, or the one I’m using now, Google AI Edge, and get a pretty accurate transcription. If you’re a lawyer or a journalist who needs absolutely precise transcription, that might still require the old-fashioned human way, where a transcriptionist transcribes the recording for you. You would then need to go over it and check that everything is right, especially where legal matters are concerned.
If you have specialised professional dictation and transcription requirements, two companies I used to deal with are still around, so contact them for more information: Powerhouse Dictation and Martin Murdoch Dictation Technology.
For the desktop user, there are one or two amazing transcription programs now. One is Whisper AI. The other is a little app that you put on your laptop, and it will transcribe without being connected to the internet.
This app is as accurate as even the best Dragon NaturallySpeaking program I ever used. This program is called Handy.
Yes, markets change. Technology changes.
I was reading how even Mark Twain had some sort of cylinder that he could dictate to, although he didn’t really enjoy it. It could have been made by Edison.
Another person famous for dictation was Earl Stanley Gardner. Many other authors have used dictation for their written work, including, I think, Barbara Cartland as well.
Today, transcription from voice is available to everyone. You just need to go and look for software or an app that can do what you want it to do.
The market you’re stepping into in 2026 is huge and growing fast. The global cloud dictation solution market alone is now measured in billions of dollars and is growing at double-digit rates. Other estimates put the broader voice and transcription market even higher.
What is driving all this growth?
Remote and hybrid work. With so many people working from home, the need for efficient, voice-powered documentation has exploded.
AI is everywhere. Deep learning and large language models have made transcription more accurate, even with different accents and background noise. AI isn’t just transcribing anymore. It can summarise, remove filler words, identify speakers and increasingly automate entire workflows.
Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing areas of the market, which helps explain why Microsoft was prepared to pay billions for Nuance. The big opportunity is no longer simply selling dictation software. It is integrating voice recognition into professional workflows.
So where do all the apps I mentioned fit into this?
Nuance, now Microsoft. The old Dragon model is fading. The consumer version, Dragon Home, was discontinued, while the professional desktop version remains a substantial purchase and is Windows-only. Microsoft’s real focus is increasingly on the enterprise and healthcare market. Its Dragon Copilot combines dictation with AI to help doctors produce clinical notes. This is where Nuance’s future lies — not in selling you a boxed piece of software, but in selling high-value integrated services to hospitals and other large organisations.
Whisper AI. This is the new breed. It is powered by OpenAI technology and is accurate. It is an example of how AI has democratised high-quality transcription. What once required expensive specialist software and hardware can now be done with a relatively inexpensive app.
Handy. This is the little offline app I mentioned, and it is a perfect example of the privacy-focused, no-subscription model. It runs on your laptop, without sending your recordings to the cloud. For anyone worried about privacy, that is a big deal.
Otter AI. This is the meeting specialist. It is particularly good at transcribing conversations, meetings and calls. It uses a freemium model, with paid plans for people who need more capacity and features.
Google AI Edge. This is another fascinating development because it brings AI-powered transcription onto the device itself. It can work offline and, depending on the application, can even clean up speech by removing some of the verbal clutter that inevitably creeps into spoken language.
That brings us back to the ordinary user. It is no longer about expensive, one-time software purchases that require dedicated hardware. Instead, there is now a spectrum of choices: free or inexpensive offline tools for the casual user; powerful AI services for professionals; and specialised, expensive enterprise solutions for organisations such as hospitals.
But for the first time, you can get a transcription tool that fits your needs and your budget without having to be a lawyer or a doctor to afford it.
And why dictate in the first place?
You can speak at anything from 90 to 120 words a minute, which is faster than most people can type. You just have to be careful because the spoken word can become verbose. When you speak, it is very easy to keep going.
After practising dictation for a while, however, you start to become more careful about the number of words you use. And, of course, with modern word-processing software, you can simply cut out the words you don’t want.
