Rating: 
Summary: Great Program - With Caution
Review: Admittedly, I only use the program to input voice into Word. I am an author, so I have to enter a great deal of text in a short period of time. Forget about cheap mikes. They simply don't work. You need to purchase a USB headset, mine is from Plantronics... So if you're going to input a LOT of text, and have the money and high end equipment needed to use the product efficiently, this is an incredible buy. Training, once I got a good mike, took less than an hour. I can see why users who do not use the product regularly might think it is a bad buy (and it probably is!). But if you believe there is a right tool for the right job, this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok, but not that impressed
Review: as a previous user, I'm a little disappointed
Rating: 
Summary: False advertizing?
Review: Don't buy this product. It did not meet my expectations. I purchased NaturallySpeaking 6.0 and I worked with it for about seven hours today in hopes of getting it working with some degree of accuracy. I spent over two hours "performing additional training" which consists of reading/recording on-screen passages to improve the accuracy of recognizing my voice. I ran the Acoustic Optimizer at least a dozen times after making corrections to dictated passages. Despite these steps, the program continued to make the same mistakes. It never seemed to be as dynamic at adapting to my corrections, as the product claims would indicate. The drop down Correction Menu would almost never have the correction choice that I was seeking despite making the same correction repeatedly and running the Acoustic Optimizer. I don't think that the productivity gains I was hoping for from this product could ever be realized. I think that I would spend as much time making corrections to documents as it would take to type them the old fashioned way.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: Don't buy this product. It did not meet my expectations. I purchased NaturallySpeaking 6.0 and I worked with it for about seven hours today in hopes of getting it working with some degree of accuracy. I spent over two hours "performing additional training" which consists of reading/recording on-screen passages to improve the accuracy of recognizing my voice. I ran the Acoustic Optimizer at least a dozen times after making corrections to dictated passages. Despite these steps, the program continued to make the same mistakes. It never seemed to be as dynamic at adapting to my corrections, as the product claims would indicate. The drop down Correction Menu would almost never have the correction choice that I was seeking despite making the same correction repeatedly and running the Acoustic Optimizer. I don't think that the productivity gains I was hoping for from this product could ever be realized. I think that I would spend as much time making corrections to documents as it would take to type them the old fashioned way.
Rating: 
Summary: A great improvement
Review: Having used an earlier version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, this product is a great improvement both in accuracy and functions. You will probably need lots of memory (ie 192 MB or more) but I have got reasonable results with this software even on a 500 Celeron. Being able to save user files is useful, particularly if you have a USB microphone.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than Dragon 5.0
Review: I bought the software because I cannot type for very long. Dragon 6.0 is much easier to use in dragon 5.0. The most useful upgrades in 6.0 are "spell mode" and that you can talk directly to DOS and Telnet applications. The telex headset that came with 5.0 is a very LO-FI and inaccurate. I have a Plantronics and it works a lot better. Both dragon 5.0 and 6.0 or excellent for surfing the Web hands-free. Speech recognition is not nearly as accurate as typing. However, it does work. I am dictating this message without correcting too often.
Rating:
Summary: A minimally good product that doesn't meet its claims
Review: I bought this product to help my visually impaired brother get better use from his computer.
One of the things I wanted it to do was read his email for him. Contrary to the implication of its advertising, it doesn't read the very commonly used AOL email.
It also does not allow selection of a default print size on its Dragon Pad to be increased.
Dragon is also very bad about providing on-line support unless paid for. I requested help on these two items agreeing to pay; response was that the software just doesn't do these things; and goodbye.
I don't know how good later versions of ViaVoice are, but an early version was certainly able to read AOL email.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best Speech Recognition software on the market.
Review: I bought this software recently and was pretty skeptical about speech recognition capabilities in general. After using Dragon 6 I really changed my mind. Not only the speech technology is very efficient but the software also has a lot of functionalities to drive your computer by using speech. When you buy the software don't get confused with Dragon 5.0 which is the old version and which has nothing to do with the capabilities of Dragon 6.0. Dragon 6 is also way better that IBM Via Voice that I tried at a friend's place. Anyway, Scansoft the maker of Dragon 6.0 is the leading speech software company so you can't be wrong. One thing: the training of the software is very quick and easy.
Rating:
Summary: Follow these tips and it'll work great!
Review: I just bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking about two weeks ago and I've already had a lot of success with it. If you're considering this product, I'd highly recommend it. Initially, I bought it because I'm a lawyer and do a lot of dictating anyway. But I also like to see the words on the screen, which is why I sometimes prefer to type things myself. I figured that Dragon NaturallySpeaking would be the best of both worlds. So far, it's worked pretty well for me. But keep in mind that the software doesn't work perfectly right out of the box. Based on my brief experience with the product, there are several keys to success. The first is to put in the time doing the voice-recognition training. Unless you teach the software to recognize your voice, it just won't work correctly. There's simply no getting around this. Although it may seem tedious at first, the training will pay off. (Besides, some of the training exercises on the software are very entertaining. For example, you can read President Kennedy's inspiring inaugural address or an excerpt from Dogbert's hilarious book on how to improve your management skills.) I spent at least an hour or two training the software when it first arrived and, believe me, it was time well spent. After the initial training period, the more you use it the better it gets because it is constantly "learning" from its mistakes. As another reviewer has suggested, it probably takes about two months before you'll be really impressed with the product's potential. (I'm pretty impressed after only two weeks!) The second is to buy a decent microphone. A lot of reviewers recommend a USB microphone, but an expensive USB model probably isn't necessary. I have an analog microphone (a Plantronics .Audio 90) and it works just fine. This particular model was far less expensive than most USB microphones that I've seen. The key is to find one that will allow you to position the microphone correctly in relation to your mouth. As the instructions tell you, the positioning of the microphone is essential. Frankly, the one that was included with the software just wasn't up to the task. It always seemed to be too close to my mouth and I was getting very poor results. But as soon as I started using the Plantronics, the accuracy of the software improved dramatically. Trust me, you'll be a a lot happier with the software if you spend a few extra bucks on a good microphone. Third, although it may seem counterintuitive, you should always speak quickly and naturally when dictating, rather than one word at a time. For some reason, the software is far more accurate when you do. Of course, this is a two-edged sword. If you're really "on a roll," and speaking quickly, the software is very accurate. On the other hand, when you just want to insert a word here or there, it isn't always as accurate as it could be. Consequently, I find that you still have to do some mouse movements when editing your documents. So, although Dragon NaturallySpeaking promises virtually hands-free operation of your computer, don't expect miracles, at least not at first. Finally, until you really start to master the product, you should probably use the text editor that's included with the software. It's called "DragonPad," and I've found that the voice recognition is somewhat more accurate when used with this program than it is with, say, Word or Outlook. Don't ask me why. Besides, it's really not that much of a bother. You can simply cut and paste from DragonPad into whatever application you may be using. When you first start using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the increased accuracy is worth the extra step. You tend to get less frustrated when it's working the way it's supposed to. Shortly, however, I plan to "wean" myself off of DragonPad and start using Word and Outlook more frequently. I hope that these tips help. Have fun, and remember that practice makes perfect. (Yes, this review was dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking.)
Rating:
Summary: The best product for your computer out there!
Review: I just got this product today. It only took a few hours for me to program my voice. I still have a little ways to go but, is a lot easier than typing. It is very well worth the cash. I would recommend this product to any college student, business associate, or anyone who uses a computer for type. I am using this product right now to fill this format. I bought this product because, I my not a good speller. This takes it all a way. Thank you
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