Prompted by Phil's post, I have discovered how to alter the "codec"
priorities in Windows 95, but I have no idea if it has any effect, if it
does any harm, or even what I am doing. For those brave enough to try,
here is the sequence in Windows 95: click the "start" button in the
lower left hand corner of the screen. Click "help." Type in "codec,"
hit enter, and click on the topic "codecs, configuring for multimedia."
Click "display," and then highlight "changing the configuration of audio
compression devices."
A "help" screen will pop up. Click on the red arrow and follow the
instructions. If you want to change the priority of the Microsoft PCM
to "priority 1," click on "Microsoft PCM." In the dialog box, there
will be a place to change the priority.
On my machine, "Microsoft PCM" is listed as seventh priority. I tried
changing it to first priority, but it didn't seem to make much
difference to my recognition. [I should add that I'm quite happy with
my current recognition level, which is somewhere in the high '90s. I
use Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred.]
I did a little research and discovered that these "codecs" are designed
for compressing the audio input, I think. It also looks to me that the
Microsoft PCM does not compress the files at all, which should add to
accuracy. But I really have no idea what I'm talking about. Fiddling
with my system settings is one step up from magic incantations.
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