Dragon Naturallyspeaking Professional 10 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I wish that I had taken the time to read users' review before giving Nuance my hard-earned money.
All I got from their email support was canned replies. It's obvious that they didn't read what I wrote. I wasn't able to log in to their website, and they kept
sending me the same reply over and over (8 times).
When I finally tracked down a phone number and actually talked to someone (for another fee), he promised to look into and get back to me, but then I never heard back.
Many others had the same bad experience.
On the internet (not from tech support) I found that if you are running 64-bit, you must download their version 10.1. But if you didn't pay extra for download, you can't get it.


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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Wireless Review

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(More customer reviews)I have just upgraded from Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 to 10. I am happy to report that so far, after a couple of days trial, this upgrade seems to have been well worth it in terms of increased accuracy. (BUT SEE LATER!) At the same time I was tempted into purchasing the alleged integrated Calisto Bluetooth microphone, attracted by the special price, the convenience of a wireless headset, and the promise of increased accuracy.
However, I have run into two problems, either of which makes the Calisto currently useless. In the first place, the Bluetooth insert device for the USB port cuts out after an hour or two of usage. Its function is only restored after completely rebooting the computer.
The second problem is far more serious. Once the Plantronics Calisto is activated, Dragon Naturally Speaking demands that you " prepare this user for dictation". You would probably be encouraged to note that the accuracy level of the new Calisto is rated very high. You are then required to read a passage from a selected text. When Dragon is satisfied with your reading, it will present you with a dialogue box telling you to wait while your user files are being adjusted for your reading. In my case my computer then simply hung up, and could not be started up again without a complete reboot. Two different Dragon phone techs attempted to solve the problem unavailingly, the second one promising I would get a call back from a top expert capable of solving the problem. No reply over the last two days, and similarly no reply yet to an email I sent them yesterday informing them of the Bluetooth insert failure.
I started dictating this review with DNS 10, but, sadly it first began reverting to a habit Id seen before with DNS 9, that is, starting up a new sentence or phase one letter too early. Finally, it gave up altogether and refused to accept any dictation from my old and otherwise commendable Plantronic DSP 400 mic.
So I can hardly recommend purchase of any of this Nuance equipment right now unless you're willing to pay good money for what amounts to a rather unpromising Beta version. But if they had waited to get the bugs out first, they might well have something really to get excited about. Maybe wait six months, a year?
Lesson: I should have paid attention to earlier negative Amazon reviews. (I trusted Nuance on the basis of good experience with earlier versions.)

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DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING

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Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Preferred with Headset - complete package Review

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(More customer reviews)I upgraded from Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 9.5 to version 10.1. I was motivated by the fact that I was upgrading my operating system to Windows 7. There are no versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking below version 10.1 that will work either on Windows 7, or on a 64-bit operating system. So if you are getting a new computer, and you want to use Dragon, you will definitely have to buy version 10.1.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the upgraded version is more accurate than the older version. It is also extremely easy to train. I dictated several paragraphs to the program, taking less than one half hour, and that was all it took for the program to start recognizing my speech accurately. I do back up my user files to use when I reinstall my operating system, but there is really not that much need to do that since the program is so easy to train. Another feature related to training that may interest prospective buyers is that when you set the program up you can specify a number of English dialects, including Southern, Great Lakes region, Spanish accented, Indian accented, British, etc.
I found that installing this program was only moderately aggravating. I believe that you need to close certain applications before the installation will complete, and sometimes doing this involves invoking the task manager. The last time I installed it, it offered to close the offending applications itself, and the installation process went fairly smoothly.
I like to joke that Dragon NaturallySpeaking always spells everything correctly, but it doesn't necessarily get all the words just right, so a spellchecker is useless in picking up the glitches of the program. And there are glitches. I find that in general I have to make a correction or two every paragraph. For example, in the previous paragraph, Dragon interpreted the word my as being may. The glitches may be corrected verbally very easily, though occasionally you may want to type in the correct word. I find in general that I am able to produce text much more quickly using Dragon then by typing, and my hands appreciate not having to actually type. Since I got acclimatized to using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, I will reach for my headset out of habit before tackling my e-mail or dictating text such as what I am creating now.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking it is natively compatible with Microsoft programs, though it is hit and miss with other programs. For example, I use Thunderbird as my e-mail client, and I have to make allowances for the fact that Dragon does not dictate well into the e-mail pane. The workaround is very easy: establish a cursor where you want to start dictating, then click tools> dictation box, and then you're able to dictate whatever you want into the dictation box. When you want to transfer your text into the text pane, click or say "Transfer", and your text appears where you want it to be. Sometimes you can be surprised as to what Dragon will work with. My instant messenger is AIM, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking works perfectly well with it so I can talk rather than typing the text messages.
Another issue with Dragon NaturallySpeaking is microphones. It ships with a cheap headset microphone that you can use to get started with. You'll find, however, that upgrading to a noise canceling headset microphone increases your dictation accuracy rather sharply. I would advise looking for a USB microphone in the $30 and up range if shopping for an upgrade. One lesson that I found out the hard way is that if you start dictating with one microphone, and then you acquire another microphone and want to start dictating with that, the user profile for the previous microphone will not recognize your speech. What you need to do if you upgrade your microphone is to start a new user profile. This is how you do it: click "naturally speaking", then go to "manage users", and then click "new". This will get you started creating a new user profile. You will need to go through training again, but I do not consider this to be a real big deal, personally.
I REALLY like this program, and I would not consider going without it. I recommend it to anybody who either has trouble typing or does a lot of typing, in fact I recommend it to anybody who might be interested!
*********************************************************
This is an amendment to my previous review. I recently found out that Windows 7 has speech recognition built into it for free! At least the Home Premium and up versions. A friend clued me in to this fact. She is quite happy with the Windows 7 version of Speech recognition. I just gave the Windows version of speech recognition a try, and if I had to choose, with price not being an issue, I think I would still choose Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I did not try the Windows version very thoroughly, but I find that when I try to dictate an e-mail with the Windows version, it creates a very small text box to dictate into. I find that this box is excessively small, and really you can only dictate a sentence at a time into it. In the Dragon version, the text box that I use to dictate my e-mails into is quite large, and if I have a lot to say, it will create a scroll bar so that I can go back and reread my dictation before inserting it. Like Dragon, I believe that the Windows speech recognition program really works best with Microsoft applications. (My e-mail program is not a Microsoft application). But I sure wish that I had known about the Windows version when I upgraded my Dragon version. How do you find the Windows 7 Speech Recognition program? Just click on the "Start" button of Window 7, and type "speech recognition". In the upper left corner of the window, the name of the program appears. If it is highlighted, then you can launch it by pressing "Enter". If it is not highlighted, click on the name. If you intend to use the program often, you can right-click on the name, and choose "Pin to Taskbar", "Pin to Start Menu", or "Send To > Desktop".

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Macspeech Scribe Retail For Mac Review

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(More customer reviews)This software does an excellent job of transcribing recorded speech. It's amazingly fast and accurate. In fact it's much better than Dragon Naturally Speaking for the PC which I've used for over five years.
I'll use Scribe itself to finish the rest of this review. Transcription errors below are followed by the intended, or not transcribed words, in brackets. So here we go...
You need to fully understand what scribe is designed to do and the environment that's {that it's} designed to operate in before you decide if it's right for you. I'll tell you how I use it and maybe that'll help you decide. I have an iPhone and I have a MacBook Pro. I used {use} the voice memos {app} which comes with the it on {iPhone} to record long rambling speeches. When recording I speak into the iPhone the same way I speak normally. I am usually in my office or in a hotel room. Results are always better when there is no background noise.
Hold the microphone in front of your pot {pie} hole and don't slur or run your words together. In short, speak like an adult in an easy concise manner.
Exit voice memos.
Connect your iPhone to your Mac and use iTunes to sync your phone with your computer.
In ITunes, under the music tab, be sure "include voice memos" is checked.
ITunes will copy the voice memo you recorded {to} your hard drive. It will save the voice memo to \music\iTunes\iTunes media\voice memos\ as an M. for a {m4a} audio file, which is a supported file format described {in Scribe}. One {Open} scribe and select transfer it {transcribe}. Navigate to the voice memos folder and select your file. Transcribe it, make corrections as needed and save it or copy and paste it into a document.
The above transcription reflects the software's accuracy right out of of the box. I just installed it this morning. The software gets more accurate as it learns your speech patterns and incorporates your vocabulary into it's database. It's designed to transcribe a single voice speaking clearly, not a room full of people all talking at once.
I'm running Scribe on a MacBook Pro, 2.66 GHz Core i7 processor with 4 GB of RAM, Snow Leopard 10.6.5. and I highly recommend it to people who use it the way it was intended to be used.

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Welcome to MacSpeech Scribe, the world's most advanced personal transcription solution for the Macintosh. MacSpeech Scribe lets you forget about the painstaking task of typing, and instead create text documents directly from spoken-word audio files. Just imagine it ... no more irritating and frustrating stopping, rewinding, re-starting, and typing at a snail's pace. MacSpeech Scribe transcribes everything for you ... easily, quickly, and accurately. And it couldn't be simpler: just open your spoken-word audio file with MacSpeech Scribe, click the 'Transcribe' button, and MacSpeech Scribe does the transcription work for you.

Accurate
Amazing Accuracy MacSpeech Scribe provides an astounding accuracy rate of up to 99% ... near perfection. Of course, you can continue to increase accuracy as you use MacSpeech Scribe. Moreover, MacSpeech Scribe NEVER misspells a word. With MacSpeech Scribe, typos are a thing of the past.

Your Own Personal Transcriptionist MacSpeech Scribe integrates seamlessly into your personal workflow and is extremely easy to use. Simply record a spoken-word audio file and save it. From there just open your audio file with MacSpeech Scribe, click the 'Transcribe' button, and MacSpeech Scribe does the transcription work for you. Right before your eyes you'll see your file transcribed into text right on your screen. What's more, MacSpeech Scribe supports up to six speech profiles, ensuring maximum transcription accuracy for up to six different voices.

Powerful
Exceptional Recognition MacSpeech Scribe boasts robust Phrase Training capabilities allowing it to learn as it goes based on your voice input. That means even greater accuracy that more fully integrates into your Macintosh experience. MacSpeech Scribe also recognizes 13 distinct English dialect variations, providing exceptionally strong recognition, and its Vocabulary Editor lets you train individual words and even add new ones such as proper nouns, giving even more control over how it recognizes your speech.

Punctuation is a Breeze MacSpeech Scribe even takes care of punctuation ... just speak your punctuation as part of your spoken-word recording, and MacSpeech Scribe converts it to the appropriate punctuation marks. For example, Jay said comma open quote here are my suggested edits period closed quote ... will be transcribed as ... Jay said, "Here are my suggested edits."

Compatible
Super Versatile MacSpeech Scribe is versatile; it easily allows transcription from spoken-word audio recordings made on Mac, iPhone, and digital recorders, and supports a variety of audio file formats, including .wav, .aif, .aiff, .m4v, .mp4, and .m4a. What's more, MacSpeech Scribe lets you create six individual speech profiles to ensure maximum transcription accuracy for up to six different voices.

Word Work = Easy Work MacSpeech Scribe lets you easily add new words and acronyms, edit and navigate transcribed documents, and so much more. MacSpeech Scribe makes it easy to work with your transcribed document so you can create the perfect document for your needs.

Minimal Training Required MacSpeech Scribe provides astounding accuracy and productivity. With just minutes of training, it'll be effortlessly transcribing your documents, no matter the document size.

Built for Mac
Built Especially for the Mac Mac users expect only the best from the applications they use on their Macs. MacSpeech Scribe was built from the ground up to ensure the ultimate experience on Mac OS X.

Exceptional Online Help For those times when you need a little assistance, MacSpeech Scribe boasts a complete online, searchable Help book. It's convenient to use, easy to understand, and all just a mouse click away.

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Dragon Dictate 2.0 Bluetooth Review

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(More customer reviews)(This whole review is done with Dragon I will not edit it at all)
THIS REVIEW FOCUSES ON THE SOFTWARE OF DRAGON NOT THE BLUETOOTH HEADSET
As a quadriplegic standup comedian (okay I'm the cant stand up comic) I spent a lot of time doing voice dictation. I have been using Dragon naturally speaking since 1995 and I must say it is truly an amazing product and Dragon dictate 2.0 for Mac is the same. I will be adding to this review as I dig down into Dragon 2.0 and some of the editing and correction features. But first I want to give a basic overview on voice dictation and being successful.
One other thing to note I do not use Dragon for mouse movements and commands as I had the ability to use a touchpad mouse so I will not delve into those features in my review. This will merely focus on how you can use voice dictation effectively to receive near 100% accuracy. And how Dragon dictate 2.0 does it almost perfectly every time.
One thing you need to think about when you get into voice dictation is speaking in word clumps. You have to think about what you want to have Dragon type for you then you have to say those sentences in chunks (I hope that makes sense) most people who complain about voice dictation don't take the time to realize this.
In the following example I did edit the text when errors were made for continuity of thought.
[Example]
if I wanted to say "Is that the wheelchair that goes upstairs?" "No it is not but it goes downstairs one time really fast!"
The way I attacked this sentence was "Is that the wheelchair -pause- that goes upstairs question mark -pause- no it is not -pause- but it goes downstairs -pause- one time really fast exclamation point
Here is another one "what is the worst thing that a handicapped person can hear? Is it a doctor telling you you'll never walk again? Or someone saying you can't go with us because you are disabled? No the worst thing we can hear is someone in a crowd yell "run for your lives" at that point I know I am boned.
Here is how I approached saying that joke out loud I will put in a - where I pause
what is the worst thing-that a handicapped person-can hear question mark - is it a doctor-telling you-you'll never walk again question mark - or someone saying-you can't go with us-because you are disabled-question mark - no-the worst thing that we can hear-is someone in a crowd-yell-open quote- run for your lives-end quote- at that point-I know I'm boned period
[End example]
I hope that helps you again understanding how to speak in clumps of words remember to keep your word count between pauses at about 7 to 10. If you do this you will be successful in using voice dictation. If you put a microphone near your mouth and learned to speak in word clumps I say you will have 99% accuracy every time.
Without speaking a word clumps and thinking about what you want to say is when voice dictation has problems, here is an example of a long sentence I will speak this without stopping and pausing at certain points.
What I said: I am not disabled I am just very lazy and really I'm only in this thing for the parking.
What Dictate heard: I am not disabled I am just very lazy and really I'm only in this thing for the parking.
There you go it got a perfect 19 word sentence correct but most of the time keeping your clumps lower helps the program not make mistakes that is just what I have found.
DO ALL THE TRAINING Is all I have to say! Sorry for yelling out better now. But really one thing I found super helpful in doing voice dictation is doing all of the training that you can. While you might not feel like reading a bunch of chapters from random books it really helps and should be done. I make a rule to do all the training the program provides so that it gets used my voice.
Now the microphone that comes with Dragon is decent and will get you almost 99% accuracy. Right now I'm using a tabletop microphone I'm sitting about 6-8 inches away from the microphone and still getting perfect accuracy! Truly amazing how far it's come in 15 years.
What I appreciate also about Dragon is its low resource usage. I mean as I use Dragon through the years it would talk a lot of resources i.e. CPU power and RAM space but now on even a low-cost computer will be fully capable of running this powerful program. I would happily recommend at least 2 GB of RAM though.
Till I Collapse by Eminem lyrics, this is unedited straight dictation. First line is dictation - (Second is the true verse to compare.)
--------------------
As soon as the verse starts I eat it at MC's heart - (Soon as a verse starts I eat it at MC's heart) * ERROR
what's he thinking? How not to go against me? Smart. - (what is he thinking? How not to go against me? Smart.) * PERFECT
And it's absurd how people hang on every word - (And its absurd how people hang on every word.) * PERFECT
I'll probably never get the props I feel I ever deserve - (I'll probably never get the props I feel I ever deserve) * PERFECT
but I'll never be served my spot is forever reserved - (But I'll never be served my spot is forever reserved) * PERFECT
if I ever leave Earth that would be the death of me first. - (If I ever leave earth that would be the death of me first.) * PERFECT
Visit my heart of hearts I know nothing could ever be worse. - (Cause in my heart of hearts I know nothing could ever be worse.) * ERROR
That's why I'm clever when I put together every verse - (That's why I'm clever when I put together every verse) * PERFECT
my thoughts are sporadic, I act like I'm inadequate - (My thoughts are sporadic, I act like I'm an addict) * ERROR
I rap like I'm addicted to smack like I'm Kim Mathers. - (I rap like I'm addicted to smack like I'm Kim Mathers.) * ERROR
the fact is I would rather sit back and bomb some rappers. - (The fact is I would rather sit back and bomb some rappers.) * PERFECT
So this is like a full-blown attack I'm launching Them - (So this is like a full blown attack I'm launching at them) * ERROR
the track is on some battling raps who wants some static - (The track is on some battling raps who want some static) * PERFECT
because I don't really think that the fact that I'm slim matters - (Cause I don't really think that the fact that I'm Slim matters) * ERROR
a plaque of platinum status is wack if I'm not the baddest. - (A plaque of platinum status is whack if I'm not the baddest.) * ERROR
--------------------
I would say that there were a few errors in that resuscitation of that rap but not bad, and good enough that it would save me about 30 minutes to type that okay maybe 15 but I do type one key at a time.
ONE BONUS OF VOICE DICTATION TO NOTE:
Is that voice dictation sometimes makes mistakes but those mistakes can really be great. So sometimes voice dictation will misunderstand what you say what the end result is better than or uses different words then you are going to ever use. For example the other day I went to use "definitely demonstrates" and Dragon burped out "deftly demonstrates" and in the context it's error was a better fit is so bonus when that happens! Keep that in mind voice dictation for the win!
So all in all I recommend Dragon to anyone with a disability for sure even if you are dyslexic Dragon can really help you I think you'll find that this program will free you from the keyboard when it comes to entering tax into e-mails or documents web forums and the like.
I am Chuck Bittner of AskACapper dot com and I approve this message LOL!

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Introducing Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0
The name has changed from MacSpeech Dictate...but that's just the beginning of what's new in Dragon Dictate 2.0. From improved accuracy and faster performance, to streamlined set-up and a revamped Mac user interface, plus new editing commands, Dragon Voice Shortcuts for Search, and MouseGrid, Dragon Dictate 2.0 has been redesigned to deliver Simply Smarter Speech Recognition for the Macintosh.

Powered by the state-of-the-art Dragon v11 speech-recognition engine from Nuance, Dragon Dictate 2.0's recognition of your speech is much more accurate out of the box. Dictate 2.0 "learns" better than any previous version via training in the Recognition window, as well as through the Vocabulary Training feature. Dictate 2.0 responds faster to spoken commands, streamlines the editing process, and supports Dragon Voice Shortcuts that give you more power and flexibility in controlling your Mac by voice.
Powered by the state-of-the-art Dragon speech-recognition engine from Nuance.

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred Review

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(More customer reviews)The original title of my review was going to be "snookered again," but I've since had a change of heart (and sound card). I originally purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 4 years ago which was a total piece of junk. Upon hearing a short review on NPR, it sounded like things had improved.
First off, caveat emptor. You need a good sound card. Nuance is not very helpful here. Their website/docs simply state you need a Sound Blaster 16. I don't know if it's occurred to them you can't purchase a Sound Blaster 16 card anymore (nor would you want to), and they should just bite the bullet and present a list of cards that work well (like they do for microphones). I bought a Sound Blaster X-fi XtremeMusic which seems to work. Second, you need a hefty machine. For me this is a 2.4 GHz dual processor XP workstation with a gig of RAM. The box says you can get by with 512 MB of RAM and a 1 GHz processor, I'm not sure I believe this.
Once you have the right hardware in place the software seems to work fairly well. This review was dictated using the software. However, I'm not giving them five stars because they still seem to suffer from poor software engineering. As an example, take the set up and training process. I was waiting for a new sound card to arrive and thought I would try using my onboard sound card built into my Dell. The setup process did claim that the sound quality was insufficient. Unfortunately, navigating out of the process was impossible leaving me stuck at the "welcome to general training" screen. When the new sound card arrived, Dragon was still stuck looking at the on board sound system and had no UI to allow me to use the new sound card. My only solution was to disable the onboard sound system which luckily forced Dragon back into configuration mode where I could reselect my microphone parameters. A second example of amateur software development was an error message ("can't load compatibility module") that is caused by Dragon's attempt to build a link between icons on the desktop and voice commands. This message wouldn't be so bad if it were not accompanied by random crashes ("dragon is unable to respond, please close all applications using..."). A recently posted knowledge base article states that the error message only comes up if links are invalid on the desktop, and suggest removing things using RegEdit (I kid you not). After uninstalling a SonyEricsson desktop link that I wasn't using, the message went away along with the random crashes.
In summary, Dragon has matured from snake-oil ware (v4) to usable. However, they need to make an investiment in the non-voice rec modules of their software.


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Dragon products have won over 175 major awards for accuracy and ease of use, and are used by more people around the world than any other speech recognition software. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 9 gives small business users and PC enthusiasts the power to create documents, reports, e-mails and more - all by speaking! Fast, easy and amazingly accurate, it's over three times faster than typing. Just use your voice to dictate and edit in Microsoft Word and Excel, Corel WordPerfect, and virtually all Windows-based applications. You can even dictate into a handheld device when you're away from your PC, or use a Bluetooth microphone! It's never been easier to use with no script reading required, so you can get started right away! Dragon products have won over 175 major awards for accuracy and ease of use, and are used by more people around the world than any other speech recognition software. Use Dragon NaturallySpeaking with Nuance-approved Bluetooth headsets Dictate into any Nuance-certified handheld device for automatic transcription when you synch with your PC Supports Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird New indicator that lets you know when you have Select-And-Say functionality available New supported edit controls include Borland's TMemo, TEdit & TRichEdit controls as well as TE Edit from SubSystems and TX Text from TX Text Control Also supports handheld digital recorders and other PDAs that record in. wma and .mp3 format for deferred transcription.

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Okay, I have to admit I was a little bit miffed when I first got the product and realized I had to go through a bunch of hoops to verify my student identity. However, I made one quick call to the company and they took care of this problem immediately by e-mailing me a unlock code. After this it was a simple matter of installing the program, dictating a few sample paragraphs, and then going to work. I was amazed at the accuracy of the program after only a few minutes of use. It had no problem picking out and spelling words such as cardiomyopathy, left atrial myxoma, and other very specific medical terms. As part of the installation process, it does review your documents on your computer and this may explain its ability to recognize all the specific medical terms that I use frequently. However, I have found that it even recognizes medical terms that I know I have not used previously. I have never used prior versions of Dragon so I cannot comment on the difference between prior versions. All I can say is that this program has worked excellent for me so far.

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium provides a whole new way to interact with a PC--using speech instead of a keyboard and mouse--to help you work faster and more efficiently. Dragon turns ideas into text at the speed of thought so you can communicate more freely and persuasively. Just say words and watch them appear on the computer screen--three times faster than typing--with no typos! Tell your PC what to do, and it obeys your commands.
Create and manage unique user profiles. View larger.

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Review

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(More customer reviews)The progress in speech recognition over the years has been mind boggling. 1995 was when I first started using IBM Via Voice and you had to speak each word distinctly. Original Dragon product was called Dragon Dictate and then they changed it to Dragon Naturally Speaking in 1997 and I have been using it ever since, faithfully upgrading to each new version. At that time when you called technical support you could even talk to Dr. Janet Baker, the inventor of the speech recognition and founder of Dragon.
With version 4 they started Dragon Naturally Speaking Medical and that helped in that medical terminology was already included albeit several folds the cost of the regular professional Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Each version has improved the accuracy and they have not made the product unduly complicated or cluttered, as is the usual tendency with software upgrades. Version 11 of Dragon is slower and needs more resources, I could not run it in Windows 7 under Fusion and have to use it in Windows 7 under Bootcamp on Mac. The speech recognition accuracy is almost 97% in this version: it still stumbles on small words like two, to, too, 2; of, off; and, on; for, per etc. But upgrading from Dragon version 10, the improvement is accuracy is noticeable enough to make this upgrade worthwhile. Although program gives you the option of adding punctuation automatically, in my experience it does not work well and you are better off dictating punctuation. Tutorial videos that come with the program and on their Nuance web site are very helpful. In the past it really helped that you could print the commands and pin the sheet on the wall so you could reference them while dictating: not in this version, they do not give you the option of printing commands. But at least it was a pleasant surprise to see that Nuance has not ruined Dragon 11 like their other product Paperport 12.
Sitting in front of your computer screen you say "Search Hardware Compatibility on Nuance" - and out pop the results of your search in front of your eyes. The program will open your browser, search Google and bring the results on Nuance web site on your screen. For sure, you will be wowed!
Since it is going to be a while before the Dragon medical comes out, I decided to buy Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth which comes with PLANTRONIC Calisto Headset with USB Dongle - 81493-02. For general dictation the accuracy is fantastic. By letting the program scan my previous documents, I have been able to add a lot of medical terminology and save money by finding no need to purchase medical version when it comes out.
Previously they did not allow the option of using different accents in Dragon Medical but in this basic premium version you can and that has also helped improve the accuracy of speech recognition. So by selecting the Indian accent and adding medical vocabulary manually by scanning my documents, I have not only improved the accuracy but also saved money.
I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth and the Calisto headset that came with it works really well. Although Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 with Digital Recorder comes with Philips LFH0662/00 Digital Voice Tracer 0662 , if you look at Nuance web site for accuracy of different recorders under "Hardware Compatibility" Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder is the only recorder that gets 6 stars and I have been using it with Dragon.
Nuance's marketing department is very lazy and they use the same cookie cutter boilerplate text for all the different Dragon Naturally Speaking product lines without differentiating them but if you search "Feature Matrix" on their web site you can find the differences in different lines. The very basic Dragon Naturally Speaking Home 11 cannot be used with a recorder, has limited correction playback ability, and does not share vocabulary with different audio input sources. Then they also describe Dragon Naturally "Professional" version which does not show up on Amazon, as of September 2010, but has the ability to record macros and programming VBA scripts. Most users will need Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. The premium version has text expanding commands, for example you can add a command to insert your full address when you say "home address". I still cannot figure out whether Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Student Edition has any less features or just a cheaper version of Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. Looks like anyone can order it and you do not have to be a student. Nuance does not even give you the specifics of Digital Voice Recorder and Bluetooth versions in the product descriptions. What sluggard's?
The technical support from Nuance stinks - almost non-existent. If you run into any technical problems, you are much better off searching it on Google and using the expertise of other users in different forums. Don't expect any technical support from Nuance. Even their web site is disorganized and cluttered. They have all the information available on their web site, but just not obvious. Sometimes you have to search Google to find information on Nuance web site. Thankfully they appear to have some wiser voices in Dragon product development which are keeping their eye on the ball and have prevented Nuance from messing up the speech recognition accuracy and user interface of Dragon, so far. Another annoying thing they have started in this version is the pop up ads from software updater hounding you to buy their program Paperport 12.
For getting speech into the software, you have lot of different options that include corded and cordless headsets and microphones and recorders including PDA's. The whole list of voice capturing products is on Nuance's web site under "Hardware Compatibility" and they rate each one of them for voice recognition accuracy by number of Dragon's. Sony ICD-MX20DR9 32MB Flash-Based Digital Voice Recorder has the highest number of six Dragons. But following are what they sell and recommend and have good voice recognition fidelity:
A). Calisto Pro Bluetooth headset which comes with Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth. But you can also buy it separately. In my experience it has the best speech recognition fidelity of all the microphones I have used, including Andrea. Purchasing Calisto Bluetooth as a part of Dragon 11 Bluetooth is a lot better deal that buying the two separately.
B). Philips SpeechMike - SpeechMike Air 3010 which is a wireless microphone but more expensive or Philips SpeechMike Pro Plus 5276 USB which has a cord. Advantage is the programmable buttons. I used it in QuickBooks Pro 2009 because the buttons could be customized for commands like next field, tab, correct, delete line, etc. But voice recognition accuracy is not as good as Calisto.
C). Dictaphone PowerMic II Nuance-Dictaphone that works with Dragon and they sold it previously only with their Medical and Legal versions. SpeechMike and Dictaphone recorders give you the ability to pause, play, fast forward and customize buttons for different commands. SpeechMike (and Dictaphone) are useful if you are going to use speech recognition in programs other than word processing or plain documents.
D). Voice recorders like Sony ICD-MX20, Philips Digital Tracer and numerous others which you can find by searching "Hardware Compatibility" on Nuance web site.
In last 10 years I have mostly dictated on recorders and then done the corrections at the end of the day in Dragon software. Real time correction can be time consuming and interrupt the flow of work; depending upon your line of work and accent too. Until now, I used SpeechMike 5276 for Dragon speech recognition in specialized software like Quickbooks, Quicken etc. mainly because it has programmable buttons - for example you can program a button to insert Ctrl-Delete at the same time. But now that Bluetooth headset is available, I have been using it with keyboard. At this time I am not sure if Philips SpeechMike makes you more efficient and productive than Bluetooth headset but it certainly is lot more expensive. Now that speech accuracy has improved, and the corrections do not take as much time, I have been dictating real time instead of using a recorder.
Irrespective of those dictation modalities, if you need to write a lot in your work e.g. journalist, lawyers, doctors, students, or for other projects, then you will not go wrong with this product. It will save you a lot of keyboard input and time.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium provides a whole new way to interact with a PC--using speech instead of a keyboard and mouse--to help you work faster and more efficiently. Dragon turns ideas into text at the speed of thought so you can communicate more freely and persuasively. Just say words and watch them appear on the computer screen--three times faster than typing--with no typos! Tell your PC what to do, and it obeys your commands.

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TextSpeech Pro Deluxe Text-to-Speech Converter for Windows with AT&T Natural Voices Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This product is decent...not exactly what I was expecting...the program will sometimes spell a word, and later say the word correctly, or say the word correctly and later spell the word. Overall the program is pretty decent. I was a bit dissapointed in the packaging. I never received my initial order, and when a replacement order was sent, It was not professionally packaged. This gave me the impression that it is not a legitimate product, considering it was burned on a CD and sent to me! I don't know if my original, which never came, was packaged in a more appropriate manner, but I was quite dissappointed in the packaging. I assumed that it would be in a box or something, but it was not.

Click Here to see more reviews about: TextSpeech Pro Deluxe Text-to-Speech Converter for Windows with AT&T Natural Voices

Click here for more information about TextSpeech Pro Deluxe Text-to-Speech Converter for Windows with AT&T Natural Voices

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