Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition [Old Version]

I have nerve damage to my right hand due to a work injury and at 53 I have had to rethink my life and go back to college so that I will be able to work again in the future. I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Student Edition the end of December. There was no problem at all getting the registration key, all you need is your college email address. The instructions tell you it will take 24 hours, but I received my key in less than 30 minutes. It takes a while to get your voice profile setup. For some reason the quick voice training didnt work and I had to read a passage from a list of books. That took about 30 minutes and then I was off and running. While the program doesnt get every word you say perfect every time, I would say its 98% correct most of the time. This version included a very nice headset with microphone and I have been able to write my first 3 essays in less time that it would have taken me any other way. I speak it types, I tell it to open Word, it opens Word. Its like Im dictating to a person and they are doing all the hard work for me. It is an amazing program and is worth every penny. I highly recommend this program for anyone with a disability and even for those without one.

Verifying my student identity to get the serial number was easy and only took a few minutes online. Setting up the program was easy. This program is demanding on the CPU. I recommend not running any unnecessary programs while installing and using this software. The microphone it comes with works horribly with this software. I was very disappointed with the software at first until I realized that the microphone was the problem. Know that you are going to have to invest $80-$120 in a good headset or microphone in order for this program to work optimally. I use the SteelSeries Siberia V2 headset in combination with an Audio to USB adapter. With this setup, Dragon recognizes my speech flawlessly with minimal training. Dragon will automatically adapt your user profile to you as you use it. It will look at all of your documents and learn the most common words and phrases that you use. It is incredibly easy and quick to teach it words and phrases that it doesnt recognize. Train it while using it, then get right back to work in no time! The commands are intuitive and customizable. I am a college student and this program has been a life-saver. I take notes so much faster by dictating, even though I can type incredibly fast. I have so much more free time now. For those who have never used dictation software before, I found the following website helpful for many useful tips. [...].

Never worked correctly

I dont understand why people are having such a problem with this product. In just the short time that Ive had it I have been very pleased with its performance! I received this product on Thursday, January 5, 2012. Inside the box were instructions on how to obtain the serial number that would enable me to install the product. I went to the listed website, completed the online form, and gave them my college e-mail address. I received an immediate response on my college e-mail address with the registration key. As others have mentioned, the headset included in the package is essentially worthless. They are extremely ill-fitting, and actually hurt to wear them. In fact, I cannot foresee this headset sitting comfortably on anyones head. This is one of the most disappointing aspects of the entire package. Once the program was loaded onto my computer, I completed my profile and I was very soon up and running with dictation. In fact, this entire review was dictated using the Dragon program. I find the program very easy to use, and so far the dictation has been pretty smooth. I dont know if my voice is such that the program finds it easy to recognize, but the accuracy so far has been very impressive. I enjoy the fact that I can not only dictate, but that I can also make manual corrections on the keyboard if necessary. There is a learning curve involved, but I believe that over time I will become even more comfortable with the program and I will be able to increase my speed. Overall I am very happy with this program, and I believe that it will become a great asset to me with my college courses this term, especially since I have two classes that I will have to do a great deal of writing for. I would give this program five stars, however the headset that was included with the program is of such low quality that I feel I have to let people know that they will likely have to purchase a better one. (Or at least one that doesnt hurt to wear!)

I am a happy customer of Dragon 10. I bought the student edition of 11 for a student friend. I was shocked and embarassed by the process of trying to register the product. You know how much you hate those refund processes which seem like a scam designed to cause you to fail? Well, that is what this feels like. You need to provide a complete description of yourself, your school, scanned copies of your student ID, scanned copy of paperwork from the college showing your studentship to be current. And the icing on the cake? You are going to send all this stuff to a third party who appear to be outside the USA and tell you it may take up to 30 days. The instructions are tedious and strict, and the follow up emails if they do not like what you send are abrupt and unfriendly. Yeah, really nice. I like Dragon 10. I am totally shocked that Dragon have such a nasty process for the Student Edition. Especially as this was a gift for another person, it has been an embarrassing and unpleasant experience. And, the product still is not usable, you do not get a code to activate the product until this third party is finished grilling you. Nuance should be ashamed to go to a third party and allow their customers to be introduced to Nuance in such a way. A Student Edition only exists because Nuance wants to make a good relationship with a new customer. What were they thinking? Such a shame that their technical nous is not matched by a friendly approach to customers.

I have used Dragon for years, this update was worth it and got rid of some buggy issues I had with the prior version

It doesnt understand me when I talk, and the company keeps calling me and asking me to upgrade. Bummer.

it was a gift

Company did not able to activate the software using student email address. Required additional IDs. Tried for week and finally returned back to Amazon. NO problems at return.

I received my Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 11 and, after training it, when I attempted to dictate anything, it got very little right. Just my breathing near the microphone would cause it to type him him him him him him him. It also liked to insert the word and frequently. I checked online to see how much it would cost to buy the included headphone online. I found it priced at $9.95. So I concluded it was probably junk and decided to buy a better quality headset. I chose the Andrea NC-185VM USB digital headphone. It cost about $50. NOTE this headset is DIGITAL, therefore, if you consider it, be sure that your computer can handle digital audio input. If it doesnt or if you are not sure, you may want to consider the Andrea NC-185 analog version for about $30. If it is as good as the digital version, you should be very well satisfied. As soon as I began using the new headphone, the resulting typing was virtually flawless. Ergo, I have concluded that the included headphone is not worth using. You may as well just ecycle the headset as soon as you receive it. I even tried to throw Dragon a curve using the new microphone by dictating medical terms such as, myocardial infarction, histoplasmosis, and trichotillomania. It typed all of them without error. So the five stars that I am giving this product is for the software, not the hardware. Dragon NaturallySpeaking has even ignored me clearing my throat without muting the microphone. I have dictated this review using Dragon NaturallySpeaking and have had to correct very little. If you are a student, faculty or staff of an educational institution, be sure to check out the academic price. It can save you about half off the regular price.