Re: MacSpeech Dictate review

In article
<jollyroger-D206AC.17370713032008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Mark:
There is no such critter as a "USB headset" without a dongle.

JR:
Erm... I have a Logitech USB headset that is plugged in to my keyboard.
there's no dongle. It's a A-0356A. Plugs right in, works with Skype an
iChat and ventrillo and iTunes are everything else.

Mark:
I went to the Logitech website, www.logitech.com/

What a mess, tried a search there for A0356A but apparently
they do not list by model number.

The USB headsets that I did see there offered the choice of
connecting via phono mini plugs, or _if_ you bought the
optional analog-to-USB adapter, you could then connect to
your USB port on the computer.

JR:
Go here: <http://www.logitech.com>

Click "Webcams + Communications".

Click "Internet Headsets + Phones". Notice there are *several* USB
headset on this page. I have the ClearChat Pro USB and it works great -
no dongle.

Click "ClearChat Pro USB?". Resulting page:

<http://tinyurl.com/2fkwds>


Hi again JR. After 5 long-distant phone calls to Logitech,
believe I have resolved the issue about where Logitech hides
the dongle/ext'-sound-card/translator/analog-to-USB-adapter/
digitizer/sound-pod/etc., etc. ...

....in your "ClearChat Pro USB" A-0356A headset.

Logitech claims that the digitizer circuitry necessary for USB
operation has been miniaturized to the extent that it can now be
"built into" the plastic molding of the headset proper.

That from a supervisor in the cust' support section,
in PC side of things.

He said the miniaturization "was like magic".

Yeah, magic. If true, I would worry that to miniaturize it
that much, they would have to cut corners in the circuitry,
making the microphone unsuitable for speech recognition.

Come to think of it, the web page for that headset did not
say one word about the headset being suitable for
speech recognition.

You would not believe the trouble I had to go through to track
that supervisor guy down, with his possibly plausible answer.



Here are some of the phony answers
that I got from other Logitech flunkies:

1) MacBooks do not have an internal sound card.

2) Microphone itself generates digital output.

3) USB jack on MacBook goes to input of
the Mac's internal sound card.

4) All you gotta do is select the headset model
in Mac Preferences and everything will work
without any stinkin' digitizer being involved.


Heh, Chuck Rogers would get a kick out of reply 2) above,
in light of Chuck's recent excellent post explaining the
output characteristics of headset microphones.

Mark-
.

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