January 27, 2006

Downloading podcasts by voice

Category: Free & easy tools

I got an MP3 player for my birthday :-) and have since been happily cruising along listening to MP3's and podcasts.

To get podcasts from the Internet and on to my computer, I naturally needed podcatcher software.  And I didn't want to have to write a whole new set of macros for software if I didn't have to.  It took a little bit of experimentation with different podcatchers, but I am very happy with the result.

Here's what I found:

Most compatible with my DNS 8 setup
  • Juice (formerly ipodder) -- lovely, easy user interface and works with Dragon very smoothly.

Not at all compatible
  • iTunes -- couldn't access menu items by voice or keyboard shortcuts

  • @Podder (feed reader for the visually impaired) -- very surprisingly, I could not execute any of the keyboard shortcuts by voice, no matter what variant of e.g. "press alt delta" I used.

I tried a few other podcatchers of varying compatibility but none were as easy to use as Juice.

I have it set up to automatically check for and download my favourite podcasts and then I use Windows Media Player (version 9) to sync up with my MP3 player.

// posted by Melissa @ 5:03 pm
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You don't have to understand how Natlink/Vocola works to use any of the Vocola commands on this site or on speech wiki

Just follow this procedure to incorporate a Vocola command into your Dragon setup:

1. Install Natlink/Vocola.

2. Restart your computer.

3. If the command is for a particular application, open that application and say "edit VoiceCommands" OR If the command is global, say "edit global VoiceCommands".

A blank command file will display.

4. Copy the Vocola command that you want to use to the clipboard (from this site or from speech wiki).

5. Go back to the command file you just displayed, and paste the command on a new line anywhere in the file.

6. Say "refresh macros" to save the commands.

7. Close the command file window.

You're now able to use the new command.

NOTE: Natlink/Vocola is free, versatile and compatible with all editions of DNS (you can even use it to create commands with Standard editions), but it has its quirks. If you're looking for a complete command set with user support, you may want to consider a buying product like Knowbrainer or hiring an SR professional to customise commands for you.

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