Description:
Voice recognition software often conjures up images of Star Trek or 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which characters hold in-depth conversations and accomplish great tasks with their computers. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 5.0 Preferred Edition takes talking to your computer out of those science fiction movies and into the world of everyday use. While recent versions of speech-to-text software have resulted in mistake-ridden documents and overpriced products, NaturallySpeaking 5.0 offers the ability to create well-written and edited documents, send e-mail, and surf the Web. In addition to better accuracy, other improvements include the "training period" and vocabularies for teen, adult, and advanced users. After you have chosen the applicable vocabulary, this training period gives the computer time to get to know your voice patterns. Instead of a 45-minute training session (as in the 4.0 version of this product), NaturallySpeaking 5.0 thankfully only requires up to 10 minutes of preparation. The program even offers dictation pointers for those of us who enunciate poorly. One obvious advantage to voice recognition technology is that your hands are free to hold the telephone or twirl your hair while you dictate. For example, this review actually was written with the program and not with the keyboard--a feat that previously was impossible. The only problem was found when loud noises occurred during use (make sure to keep your kids or noisy officemates out of the room). While NaturallySpeaking 5.0 is not perfect, it is a vast improvement over earlier versions, as well as its competitors. So, while you can't tell your computer to take out the trash, you can have it write your documents hands-free. Now, if only they would invent the transporter. --Madeleine J. Miller
| 
