Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 12, English (Old Version)

Ive been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking since version 3. Many people try this program and almost immediately stop using it. when I first began using it years ago I did the same thing. I would put it on my computer system, go through a lengthy training process to teach it how I speak. The training process teaches it how you pronounce different words and it used to take about an hour. While there is still a training period it now takes roughly 5 min. in the past even after training the program to recognize your voice through that hour-long process it would still make many mistakes. And like most people I just got frustrated and uninstalled it. If I gave this five stars you know there has to be a bright side coming. :-) One day, back in version 3, I decided I was going to use it no matter what. And Im glad I did. What frustrates people the most about using voice dictation software is that its not 100% correct all the time. Now a big however. However, when the program makes a mistake (and it holds true right up to the newest version) instead of getting frustrated all you have to do is correct the mistake. Teach the program what you wanted it to type as opposed to what it did. Once you do that it usually doesnt make the same mistake again. As an example, I have a medical condition called Ménières disease. I guarantee you the word Ménières is not in any standard dictionary that computer uses. So the very first time I was dictating a letter and said the word Ménières the computer typed the words many ears. Coincidently, Ménières disease does happen to be a problem with the inner ear but the term many ears isnt certainly what I was looking for. To correct the error went like this: say to the computer select many ears, then say spell that and a dialog box pops up and all you do is speak into the microphone and spell the word correctly. In my case it was to say cap m e n i e r e s, say the words click train and the computer automatically clicks a button labeled train and then you speak the word that you just spelled and it enters it into its dictionary. And it will then replace the incorrect spelling with the correct one automatically and you can continue dictating. When people read this in the manual that is usually what deters them from using the program. I like everyone else thought I was going to be spending all my time saying that entire paragraph to correct a word. Also like everyone else I thought I didnt have the time. The thing is, to actually perform the actions that I described in the previous paragraph actually takes less than 15 seconds and once you do but you dont have to do it ever again. I have created a website dedicated to information on Ménières disease so the term Ménières came up constantly. After the first time it made the mistake of spelling Ménières as many ears it never made the mistake again. Being a website dedicated to a rare medical condition I used the term Ménières probably 100 to 120 times. Like I said, after correcting it the first time it never made the mistake of misspelling Ménières again. In this review alone Ive used the word Ménières at least 6 to 8 times. This review is being dictated through Dragon NaturallySpeaking. If you do see a mistake in any of the words in this review its due to my laziness, not the program. I say that because besides just speaking into a microphone and watching the words appear on screen you can even use the program in another way to check what youve written (or what its written). Both the premium and the home versions of this program have the ability to read what has been typed out loud. The only reason Im not doing it is because Im starting to run late for an appointment and lost track of time. So there isnt time to have it read the entire review back to me and listen for errors. But once more, if you read this back to me and there was an error all he would have to do is go back and correct it and it wouldnt happen again. When I started using this program it was for work purposes but I didnt think much of it when I stopped using it because I typed 111 words per minute accurately. What can I say, I did a lot of typing so my speed just naturally built up. Another however coming. However, now I have osteoarthritis and not only do I type very slowly but its very painful. Using NaturallySpeaking once I start the program I dont have to touch the keyboard. It even has an entire set of commands for several of the most common web browsers so you can use it to surf the Internet as well. And that is also in either the Home or Premium versions of this program. As of today (April 9, 2014) Amazon is selling the previous version (11) for an extremely reduced price. While I purchased the Premium 12 version for a few extra features I found I really dont use them so I went back and purchased two copies of version 11 (I have multiple computers). As THE final note, which ever version of the program you by, it also comes with a plug-in headset. I didnt feel like sitting a few feet from my computer – which is the length of the cable to the headset – so I simply purchased a wireless one for $20. But you do have everything you need to get started right out of the box. Would I recommend it? I own four copies… you guess…

Cut my writing down by 50% because I dont have to go back and correct everything I write. Only thing I had to get used to ,was thinking in complete sentences, which when youre typing, you tend not to do. Do always go through the training exercises it suggests, and learn how to use it by reading what it is capable of, and how to do it. That way, you get full benefit from the software. Be warned it is VERY resource hungry, so throw the fastest processor and at LEAST 4GB of memory at it, otherwise it will frustrate you.

I received this as a Christmas gift and installed it the next day. I was not able to get the mike and headset to work and kept receiving error messages of incompatability with my computer. I have Windows 7 and have had no other compatability issues with other software. After multiple calls to Tech Support, they were never able to resove this. I was told they were aware of incompatability issues with some sound cards. Over all,I spent about 6 hours on the phone with them. Although I was told a supervisor would review all my calls to make appropriate recomendations to resolve this, it was never done. I was told I would receive a new headphone/mike set in 3 to 4 days but that never happend. As a result I returnd this product. FYI, as a further insult, althougth they have a toll free number for Customer Support, the Tech Support line is not toll free. Also, Tech Support is only free for 90 days. If you call the Customer Support line and ask to be connected to Tech Support , some of the time they will, but at others they will tell you they do not have the ability to do so. Very poor cumstomer relations. I would never recomend this product or company.

I chose Dragon because I do a lot of emails, facebooking and I am writing a book. I am a horrible speller, and you dont have to worry about that with Dragon. It is very fast and easy to install and learn. I have tried to talk faster than it can write, I havent been able to do it yet. When I say a wrong word, it will anticipate what I wanted to say and give me the correct options. It is worth every penny. Im just sorry I didnt find out about earlier.

I chose this item cause I HATE to type and thought this would be perfect in helping me get caught up with my work at the office. However I spent more time fixing the mistakes and getting frustrated when Dragon couldnt understand what I was saying that it now sits in its original box on a shelf. It sounded awesome and I bragged to everyone about ordering it. Now everyone is asking about Dragon and laughing when I say, if I took the time to learn it maybe it would be good but I dont have the time that is needed. Oh and I did not get it at the great sale prices it is currently selling for ....so yes I got duped hopefully by reading this you wont. Like I said if you have time to learn all its tricks Im sure it would be awesome but when one see online there are actual training classes for the software I should have known.....and I work in IT.

Ive set this software up on several computers. If the user follows the guidelines that are clearly laid out for setting up voice recognition, it works just fine. I will add that the majority of people I know dont use it enough to fully understand how it functions. They dont spend enough time with it to master it. They get frustrated and set it aside. Another example of exercise bike software - it is capable of great things, but ends up in the corner collecting dust due to user apathy.

I purchased this product for my daughter going away to college. I believe the product works but I also know that it takes some time to get used to. Time is a very big issue with me so I decided to return it. I contacted the company and there were no issues, I would recommend the product for someone who has to the time it takes to learn it correctly, I think it could be a big help and I would recommend the company because they did everything they said that they would.

Upgrading my review to three stars. I had to uninstall then reinstall the program. Now it seems to work. It is a bit slow on my OS (vista 64-bit with 1.8 GHz). Maybe it is better on a different OS with a faster processor? Accuracy out of the box seems pretty good, but I havent used it that much yet.

When I first installed the software, there were a couple of significant glitches that upon searching the internet, were common and should not have still existed. Further, Nuance replied that my installation question, might require a fee to answer, which is a poor customer service response. Ultimately, they supplied a solution, without charge, which took two days. Then, I ran into a compatibility problem with Word 2010, which I also found was a regular problem on the internet, also took two days to get customer service response. Overall, I very much like the product, with one ongoing glitch. The dictation box, on a somewhat regular basis does not transfer to the intended application, like open word document and the dictation is loss. I find, to be comfortable, you must transfer one sentence at a time to document, so as to not lose your work. This needs to be fixed. You must insure that you place the cursor in the document, prior to dictating, but then it still happens on a regular basis.

I have been reading about Dragon Naturally Speaking software for some years now, but have been reluctant to take the plunge primarily because of the seemingly large number of negative reviews surrounding it. I recently convinced myself, however, to just go ahead and try it out and see what MY opinion of it would be. Its been kind of a complicated road but, in the end, has finally worked out well. First, I made the mistake of ordering the software directly off of the Nuance site since it appeared that I would be saving $30 by doing so. From the description on the Nuance site, it appeared that there would be a headset included with the purchase. Not being a terribly bright fellow, I bought it only to discover that (1) it was for a download only and that (2) no mic-headset was included. It took quite a while to initially download the program and there was a lot of futzing about getting it installed; not very smooth at all. But eventually, I got it to work. Since I didnt have a headset-mic or even a stand-alone mic to use, I simply used my webcam mic. That worked okay, but while the results were very surprisingly good, there were a number of mistakes which was well short of the advertised 99% accuracy mark. I accepted this since I was using a mic that was not really intended for this kind of situation. Now heres the level of my stupidity: I kept thinking that the headset (which, as previously mentioned was described as being included) would be shipped to me. I saw nothing to indicate that this was indeed the case so I emailed Nuance customer support for the answer to which they responded back to me in about 2 days. A number to call was provided to me to call. I was told by Nuance CS that no headset was in fact included. I asked for a refund, deciding to re-order using Amazon instead. This is what I should have done in the first place. Getting the refund has been a far more lengthy wait than seems necessary. When I ordered DNS through Amazon. I also ordered the Andrew NC-181VM USB mic-headset since these received generally high praise from a number of reviewers for use with DNS (see my separate review on these). Now, after that lengthy spiel, on to Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 12: In a word, Amazing! This is the stuff of sci-fi made real. Coupled with the Andrea headset, and after doing only the preliminary training, DNS worked almost flawlessly right out of the box. I havent yet (and probably never will) scientifically assessed the actual accuracy of DNS, but if it isnt the advertised 99%, its pretty darn close. Thats been my experience so far, at least. I still have a lot to learn and remember about some of the voice commands that you can use, and especially some its more esoteric abilities as far as controlling programs and such, but so far Im completely impressed with what DNS can do. I was concerned because of the several negative reviews about Premium 12 being less than some previous version or another. I honestly cant address that and, quite frankly, its now become completely irrelevant to me since Premium 12 has met and exceeded any expectations I had of it. It just flat works and it works amazingly well. If some previous version somehow worked better for some other person for whatever reason, more power to them. My only objection to some of those opinions is when they attempt to prevent the purchase of Premium 12 based on their objections. I think it is perfectly acceptable to state ones own experiences and biases about a product, but quite another to block the purchase of that product or tool that I believe many others if not most would find perfectly acceptable and useful without having to resort to some outdated and perhaps less supported version of the product. Im all for fair and reasonable criticism of a product, but some sense of reality needs to enter into our opinions. Which brings me to my criticisms of Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 12. DNS is not without its flaws. The installation process, even with the CD was somewhat on the kludgy side. First, it was on the lengthy side, but that is okay with me, except that during this lengthy installation process I received at some point mid-way through installation some kind of error message that I didnt understand that seemed to indicate there was some kind of installation failure and told me something had not completed successfully. I thought Oh, great....Now Ive got either buggy software or Im going to have to try to start over again. But once I clicked the error message off, installation proceeded on happily and finally finished. And then, of course there was the whole registration process to go through (actually, I had to enter the same information--serial #, etc--at least twice) before I could actually start using it and tackle the preliminary voice training sessions. Since there was that installation hiccup along the way, I thought that something was surely going to prevent the program from running or cause some other bump along the road, but it hasnt happened yet, so I guess all is well in spite of the nagging feeling that something might be missing that needs to be there. In spite of the lengthy and somewhat convoluted installation process, I can still easily justify the 5 Stars I have given it. In the big picture of the world of software, this has to be one of the giants along with being, perhaps, even a potentially life-changing tool for many people for many reasons. All I really know and really care about now, however, that DNS Premium 12 is running and seems to be running flawlessly. The amazing thing about this incredible tool is that it tracks very rapidly. Im a pretty fast typist and I initially thought that I could probably type faster than what DNS could keep up with. Not so. I can start blabbering at a pretty good clip and DNS seems to hang right in there with me, even though I have to pause my flow to insert the punctuation, etc as I rattle on. The main catch here is that you have to have your thoughts pretty much under your belt already before speaking. If you are halting and stopping and kind of fumbling around as you speak, DNS doesnt handle that all that well. That is one advantage of typing; you can pause and think about what you want to say at any point in the flow without everything getting all hung up and bumfuzzled. With DNS, you will find yourself doing more corrections if that is the case. I really dont know how many people out there might actually need Dragon Naturally Speaking. I think if you are a troubled or slow typist, this would be an absolute boon to you. If you are a lousy speller, DNS handles spelling corrections extremely well, usually on the fly. I am neither of these things; I am both a fast typist and a pretty good speller most of the time. Nevertheless, I still find DNS an incredible tool. I must say that it may take me a while to find ways for me to use it and truly justify its purchase. But being the geek that I am, I will do my best to find a way to put it to good use. So, for right now, I stand extremely impressed with what I regard as among the more useful innovations in the software realm. Just as an aside: before investing in DNS, I did try out the built-in Speech Recognition feature of Windows 7. It works fairly well and is impressive to a degree in its own right. In my opinion, however, it doesnt hold a candle to DNS and quite frankly, suffers from too many weaknesses that would render it too frustrating for me to use for most purposes. It just doesnt offer nearly the accuracy or sophistication of DNS. In conclusion, I can highly recommend Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 12 to anyone seriously interested in getting their feet wet using speech to text translation. I hope you will find it as amazing as I have.