ScanSoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Preferred

Rating:
Summary: first day great!
Review: When I first heard of Dragon preferred I was totally shocked to think I could finally liberate my dyslexic mind and exhausted tired hands from the keyboard and move on to speaking my text in the professional had been trained as, which was as a professional speech communicator. Having read all the reviews on Amazon. I decided to give Dragon a chance and a purchased it , Dragon arrived here in a week.

I realized that changing from a keyboard to a speech recognition program was not going to be a quick process. After all changing from handwriting to typing had not been quick process. Therefore I allotted entire Sunday to this project. I got up at 7 a.m. this morning, installed the software which worked perfectly, followed the training directions, which worked perfectly, and is now 3 p.m. in the afternoon and I'm dictating my first document. It's true as a dog trainer, I tend to confuse the " go to sleep " command with the dog training command, " lie down" . At noon I took my dogs running in the mountains for two hours for break.

By following the directions, which included doing two of the verbal training programs with Dragon and allowing it to read as many documents as it could find in the my docs file, I think, I helped Dragon with my rather odd accent. I confess I have an very odd accent. Its part English, part Chinese and part of Midwestern, and if Dragon can hear me, it can hear anybody. My one objection to the Dragon program, is it declines to read any file on under 500 meg, as a short story- short article writer of 1000 to 2000 words, eliminated three quarters of the documents is my docs file. Oh well.

The computer I'm using is the Sony vario , it is one year old, and it has Windows xp home edition on it. To assist me with my learning curve today. I have been using Dragon naturally speaking for Dummies. The guide which comes with Dragon is very helpful, but rather terse. The Dragon book for dummies is dated, but extremely useful.

Well, I have a glass of wine in my hand to celebrate, I'm looking out the window. My feet are up, my right hand is very rested today. I hope this review has been helpful to you and I hope you have as much fun with Dragon as I have. Of course as a dog trainer, I just couldn't wait to train my own Dragon. This document took me 15 minutes to dictate and correct.

Rating:
Summary: Falls short of promise--again
Review: DNS has always been promising and always falls short of its promise in practice. I have a powerful machine, lots of memory, and it still freezes up on me. It often fails to recognize commands in MS Word 2003, although it does better in its own Dragon Pad; it looks like it wasn't really adapted to Word 2003. Tech support is terrible. DNS 8 is supposed to be much more accurate than 7, but I haven't found it so. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: This author loves it!
Review: Dragon Naturally Speaking is simply the best speech recognition software available. I've used Dragon NaturallySpeaking for many years as an author (JavaScript Concepts & Techniques: Programming Interactive Web Sites), a teacher, and before that a student. Why? Because Dragon records dictation much more quickly than I can type; and I'm not a slow typist by any means. Not only does this allow me to get my thoughts on paper more quickly and accurately before they disappear into the cosmos, but it also reduces the repetitive stress of typing - something my body appreciates profusely. There's nothing like kicking back in your chair in a relaxing position while working. It seems sinful almost.

One of the things I like best about Dragon NaturallySpeaking is its ability to learn quickly. The first speech recognition program I used didn't become super accurate until I'd used it regularly for a couple of weeks. The folks who wrote Dragon NaturallySpeaking, however, seem to have realized that time is money, so they've built a Vocabulary Optimizer tool into Dragon that helps it learn how you put words together, so to speak.
Here's how it works: after you set up your microphone and perform an initial dictation Dragon's New User Wizard will ask if you want to adapt the program to your writing style. If you accept, and I highly recommend that you do, Dragon will scan all of the text, Word, and WordPerfect documents in the My Documents folder on your hard drive to analyze your particular writing style. This process significantly, and I do mean significantly, increases Dragon NaturallySpeaking's overall recognition accuracy from the get-go. You can always run the Vocabulary Optimizer later, too.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking also includes lots of other tools that can help improve its accuracy. Occassionally, you may notice that Dragon has trouble transcribing a particular word or phrase. The most likely cause is that the troublesome word isn't in Dragon's vocabulary. Not only can you add the word to Dragon's vocabulary, but you can also train the pronunciation of it so the next time you use the word during dictation, Dragon can better recognize it.

If you do a lot of technical writing like I do, there are likely lots of words you use that Dragon doesn't have in its vocabulary. No problem. Just use its Add Words tool and have Dragon scan documents you've already written for words it doesn't know and improve its vocabulary in nothing flat. You can also type a list of words and phrases you want Dragon to learn, on separate lines in a plain text file, and have the program scan it with the "Add a list of words to your vocabulary" tool. Dragon NaturallySpeaking can also analyze your sent email and add names from your email address book.

If you've never dictated your thoughts before, it may feel awkward at first. It takes a little time for your brain to make the transition from typing your thoughts to dictating them. I had trouble with it at first: similar to the transition I went through when I switched from handwriting my thoughts to typing my thoughts. Give yourself some time to adjust to the process. It's well worth the effort in terms of time savings, thought recording accuracy, and less wear and tear on your body. Dragon NaturallySpeaking also makes the transition to dictation easier than other speech recognition programs. You don't have to talk like a robot to dictate successfully to your computer. With Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you just speak naturally.

Rating:
Summary: Brand-new to voice recognition
Review: I felt compelled to write a review even though this is my first ever review, I'm doing it with Dragon speak right now. I have had Dragon speak for two weeks and you used it for about two hours. I have to tell you is a wonderful program this is, using voice recognition. I find it easy to use. But there are some small mistakes like the punctuation that just happened there.

I will tell you, I made the commitment and spent over $400 on the Sennheiser microphone and boom and set up.

I bought this form emicrophones.com, and they were such a joy getting me set up. I have no affiliation with that company I only have great things to say, because they got me up and running and I'm having no problems. I'm currently finishing a manuscript that has taken me five years to get this far. I've been and will put more words on paper than then my 20 wpm typing.

Really great program, but I as I have said I went to the web sites and did all the reviews and set up my computer with a ton of RAM and made the investment in the hardware. I've never tried the microphone that comes with the software, but from what I've read it is critical to have a great microphone.

Great program two weeks in, this was all done in Dragon speak eight errors and all.


Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I have used a software now for about three hours. It is nearly 100% accurate. I am using the cheap mike that comes with it. I highly recommend the software.
I have been interested in such software for many years and have purchased it many times. This is the first time it actually works. The software is far easier to use and not to use, my criteria for using.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for the disabled-you'll be hooked
Review: If you're reading this. You are interested in buying Dragon NaturallySpeaking version eight if you are. I highly recommend it! I had versions of Dragon software, dating back to 1995. Let me tell you the software was clunky back then, being a quadriplegic, I used it to type and move the mouse. But as soon as I got a touchpad mouse. I dropped Dragon altogether. Step forward almost 10 years, I decided that I needed to send longer e-mails than two sentences (because that's all I could type, it gets tiring using only one hand and one knuckle on that hand). So I took the plunge drop the cash on Dragon, and after three days am totally satisfied.

I added up and running and dictating in less than 20 minutes. The accuracy is amazing I'm actually typing this by voice. Since I can use a touchpad, I do not use the Dragon NaturallySpeaking for mouse commands. But for dictating it is perfect and quick!!!

I'm using it with a 2 GHz processor, and it is fine. Getting it set up was a little quirky with my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. I'm actually using it with a tabletop condenser microphone, not the heads that they came with it (which I found to be quite uncomfortable). Since I'm unable to get the headset on my head, but a tabletop mike is working perfect.

So I recommend this product anyone who has a disability that makes typing difficult. Anybody who doesn't want to learn to type (though I think he would be lazy, just suck it up and learn). The software is leaps and bounds above previous versions go for it! Enjoy!


Rating:
Summary: Remarkable software
Review: Judging by the reviews, you either love this software or you hate it. Perhaps I've been lucky, but I have to say I am very impressed. If my experience is anything to go by, this really could become a killer app. But different people are inevitably going to have different experiences. Here's my story. I'm using an P4 3 Mhz HP Pavilion laptop with 512 megs of RAM and a Logitech USB headset/sound canceling microphone. I've done quite a bit of the supplied training. And I've done some of my own, reading from books that are closer to my own style and usual subject matter. The program has analyzed a chunk of my own work and e-mail which seems to have helped it recognize and spell correctly a lot of names it could not have been expected to get right otherwise. I write for a living but I have never been a particularly good typist. Since installing the software about 10 days ago, I have churned out several thousand words with it at a pace I never achieved with my fingers. I have found it extremely useful for transcribing notes. In my former life as a reporter, I had to dictate quite often to copy desks on a tight deadline, and this system is faster and a lot more accurate than any of the humans I ever had to deal with. But as this suggests, I have had some experience with dictation and that may be one of the reasons I seem to be enjoying success with DNS. How you speak to DNS must surely be an important variable in determining the results you get. I speak with an English English accent of which Henry Higgins would probably approve. My installation of DNS has an ear for American accents with occasionally comical results. But day by day it is coming around as Eliza Doolittle did. Be patient, read the instructions, don't expect miracles overnight, and speak consistently -- and you may find yourself as blown away by this product as I am.

Rating:
Summary: The mobile recorder
Review: The software works well and you can dictate into the programs stated in the manual. There is a problem with the mobile recorder. The cable to allow connection to the serial port of the PC was missing and there is nowhere to ask for help. Do not buy the software if you are getting it for the mobile recorder.

Rating:
Summary: Great tool + easy to setup and use
Review: This entire review was dictated into Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 without a single correction - I have subsequently put corrections in ALL CAPS so that you can evaluate for yourself the quality of dictation. I said (SIT) in an open cube without doors so have coworkers on either side, yet Dragon captures my dictation without a problem.

This is truly an awesome product. The biggest problem with voice recognition software is the quality of the recognition, and I have found that this version provides nearly flawless voice-recognition. The software is easy to install, easy-to-use, and is a great time saver when writing long documents. While it can be used as a keyboard replacement and use (USED) for short messages, and to perform Windows and applications commands, that is essentially anything you do at the keyboard, where I find it most valuable is in writing long documents. For normal business users, the key benefit should come when writing documents, as any profession (PROFICIENT) typist would likely be faster using a keyboard and mouse for Windows and application navigation.

The biggest challenge with voice recognition software is that when errors are made they are typically not captured by a spellchecker because they are legitimate words, and therefore a lot of time is necessary to review and correct errors in a voice-transcribed document. All in all this is a highly recommended solution that will be sure to save you time.

Rating:
Summary: Worst possible software.
Review: What makes it so bad? It takes a bunch of your time before you realize its a "no go." So you are out much more than the original cost....

I try Dragon every few years to see if it is finally living up to its promise. In the past, I have just been disappointed with its accuracy. This time, it installed and seemed to work for a few weeks before telling me it had become "corrupted" and would not reinstall. So I have wasted all the time I have spent "training" the program. Tech support was its usual additional waste of time, and a long distance phone call. Order this only if you consider your time of little value...