Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition [Old Version]

Hi, This is the first review Ive ever written but wanted to tell you what a great product this is. I purchased this product because I have health issues that make it difficult to type and almost didnt purchase this because of all the negative reviews. Many other reviewers noted that there was great difficulty geting the serial number needed to install the product. Well, I have a .edu email address. I received the program, went to the verification website, answered the questions, and was immediately verified. I waited about 30 minutes to check my email and there was the serial number. I installed the program, did the tutorial and training sections and was up and running. The first thing I did was to dictate class notes. The terminology was very technical and specific to this graduate class subject. Dragon got all the words, as long as I pronounced them right :), and I cant tell you what a relief it has been for me to be able to do course work without experiencing pain in my arms.

I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking student edition a week or two ago and delayed set up and registraton, because I was intimidated by some of the reviews I read here. The registration process was simple and only required one e-mail to get product registration, which was sent to me a immediately. The only requirement for a product registration was my student e-mail address. I thought it would take hours to train my dragon but found it was very simple. I am not computer savvy and I get frustrated easily but this process was seamless. I wish I had taken the time two weeks ago to set it up. Version 11 student/teacher is easy to use and has already proven to be a good investment. Perhaps the nuance customer support has improved since the other reviews are written. I am still training my Dragon, but believe it will save me hours of typing that can be spent in more productive ways.

Bought this and was pleased, but the newer editions are now much more capable and productive and the price is right!

I lost the use of my right arm/hand half way thru a collage semester. I purchased DNS to dictate and control my computer so that I would not have to drop my courses and continue school. Activating the Academic version is quick and easy with a valid approved institution e-mail address. The software is a bit taxing on computer resources. I recommend installing on a new Windows 7 PC with 4 gig or Ram to benefit from all the features. Although, It preforms well on one of my XP computers with only 1.5 gig of RAM. DNS adapts quickly to your voice and constantly learns to improve accuracy, the hardest part is learning how to talk what you want to type.

I could not get this to work and it pissed me off that it came with head phones but it didnt say that so then I ordered extra and the damn thing never would load right. Every time I use it all it does is type, and him and him and him. Stupid software!

Bought this as a graduation gift for my son who has dyslexia and is entering College. Since day one he has put it to great use and has helped him produce wonderful research papers that are/were required from him. Thank you

This review is for Dragon NaturallySpeaking premium 11 student edition. After reading the reviews for this product I admit I was a little concerned about both the quality of the product and the registration process. Both of these concerns were baseless. Im a grad student at an accredited university in the United States and the process of registering and receiving a serial number took less than 3 min. the student edition does not come with the serial number. After receiving the product you must go to the registration page on their website and put in both the product number and an e-mail address ending in .edu. Next you select your institution from a pulldown menu of institutions in your state. I followed the instructions and received a serial number at my university e-mail in less than 30 seconds. From the reviews and the price of the student version it was clear to me that I would want a higher-quality microphone. Along with this product I also ordered a Sennheiser ME-3 ev microphone and an Andrea USB adapter. Because the microphone is made to attach securely to a belt transmitter it does have a metal lock ring at the base of the plug. Some reviews suggested that this lock ring would have to be removed. Perhaps the construction of the microphone cable has changed but I was able to use the Sennheiser microphone plugged into the Andrea USB adapter without any modification. Dragon NaturallySpeaking requires a four-minute test/learning session to create a profile for your voice. After this you can use it to dictate anything you would normally type. I am dictating this review. For $70 I dont mind having to buy a better microphone. This is a fantastic product. After using the product for the past two days the only drawback is that I wished I purchased a wireless microphone. Being able to walk around and dictate at the same time would be, frankly, awesome. Note: the Andrea USB adapter is a bulky dongle. I think the Andrea USB soundcard with array microphone has the same adapter in a much smaller form factor bundled with a desktop microphone. For mobile users the smaller adapter combined with any microphone might be a better choice than the bulky dongle. I also read that the Yeti microphones also work well with Dragon. to summarize, the student edition is a great value and easy to register if you have a .edu address at an accredited university. You may want to upgrade the microphone.

When you buy this product you have to send in different kinds of information in order to obtain a serial number which will enable you to install. If they dont, I guess, like your info they will not send the serial number, which means you bought this without being able to use it & out of the money you paid. No phone number on the box or info sheet inside. Online there is a number but they dont deal with the company that wants the info for the serial number. No help at all so far. Very upset at the company, before you purchase this product you should be told ahead of time that this info will be needed & may result in a serial number or it may not. Which means you are on your own.

overall is that some people dont have @xxx.edu email addresses. If you have one, then you get your access code within 15 minutes. Right out of the box, it as excellent functionality (and Im using the crappy headphones that come with it). My field in graduate school is kind of esoteric and Im in health care already so there are a ton of terms that I thought this product would trip up on but it does very well. Especially after you do the training and let it scan over your word documents. Its really increased my productivity. Also, I thought the lag time between when you finish talking and when it appears on the screen would be a problem when I was watching the youtube videos of it in action, but its really not that bad of a lag. And even more, you could go on for like a good 20-30 seconds without stopping and after the lag, itll still show up very accurate.

The software is great from what Ive seen of others using it at school. The verification process is completely lame. Seriously, two days for verification even with a school email address and school id that you have to scan and send to them. I have used many educational versions of software, they have all been reasonable to validate. Even $1500 CAD software was usable within minutes. Almost worth paying full price.