Do I need to use some sort of USB powered external mic with my iMac in order to do proper dictation and voice commands? I tried a simple plug-in mic and it did not work.
Thanks,
M
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 27" iMac 11,1; 8Gb Ram
Your Mac has a built in microphone...
Open System Preferences > Dictation & Speech
For Voice commands, System Preferences > Accessibility > VoiceOver
What is wrong with built in mikes in your iMac?
Allan
If you don't want to use the built-in mic for some reason, note that iMacs that have an audio input jack (the new ones don't) require line level signals. Since most mics output much weaker signals than that, that means you will need some sort of preamp to boost the mic's output to line level to get it to work.
You can buy a regular (analog) preamp or a mixer to do that, or use something like the Griffin iMic, a USB powered preamp & analog to digital converter. There are many other options for USB powered audio interfaces, but that's the cheapest one.
Of course, I first tried the internal mic, but I have too much ambient noise for the internal microphone to work.
If you just need a mic for dictation and to still use with say Skype or Apple Face time, do a search for USB headset style mics. Make sure the headset mics say compatible with Macs and OS X.
Off the top of my head, Plantronics makes a few USB headset headphone/mics combos that work well with Macs and OS X.
Good Luck!
😉
Here's a listing of a few on Amazon.
What type of external microphone do I need?
