Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition [Old Version]

Bought this and was pleased, but the newer editions are now much more capable and productive and the price is right!

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. [...].

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.

Unfortunately, all posted links to the education validation on the Nuance site are broken. What IS this mysterious process anyway? Are part-time graduate students eligible for the Premium 11 Student version? Thanks.

I have tried on multiple occasions over the last few years to buy Dragon Naturally Speaking but each time could not get past the idiots at Nuance customer service. Im a grad student and most recently my question was: What is the difference between the $99 (list price) Premium Student/Teacher edition and the $169 Premium with Academic pricing? Seems like a reasonable question - both called Premium, one labeled Student/Teacher, one not labeled Student/Teacher but with academic pricing. So whats the difference? Believe it or not I could not get this question answered after calling three times and talking to three different customer service persons. No one actually knew the answer to the question but no one was willing to say I dont know. But each one pretended to answer without actually giving any information. It was like talking to someone from outer space. On two of the occasions when I asked What does that mean? or Can you explain that another way so I can understand it they would start talking and hang up in mid-sentence to make it appear that the connection dropped accidentally. In previous years I have had similar problems - all ready to buy, cash in hand - and just couldnt allow myself to go through with the purchase after pitiful interactions with Nuance. I honestly have no idea how these guys stay in business. My advice? If you absolutely need this product, go ahead but understand that you are completely, absolutely, 100% on your own. DO NOT believe anything that Nuance customer service or techincal support tells you. They pretend; they lie; they will do anything they can to get you off the phone and get on to the next call (must be something to do with the way they are paid). There is no second tier or third tier support. They will NEVER transfer you to a supervisor no matter how nicely you ask. And they will drop your call if you seem to be a bother. This is the most negative Amazon review I have ever written and Im sorry to even have to do it. But it needed to be said. UPDATE: Just after writing this review I got a phone call from Margo in Marketing at Nuance. It seems she was responding to an email that I had sent a week before asking the question mentioned above. She was great, appologized for the previous less-than-satisfactory problems that I had experienced, listened to everything I said, went over it all several times to insure that she understood the question, and then promised that she would dig into it and get back to me that afternoon. Its three days later and I still havent heard from back from Margo. Are you aware that Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all have native speech recognition capability? Thats how I intend to handle my application.

Despite having an accent, I was able to use this product very well. It is a good learner and was able to pick up my professional lingo simply by analyzing my e-mail and documents folder. Was able to use right out of the box...

I was hesitant to purchase due to some reviews but I had no issues registering my product! In fact, the entire process only took about ten minutes! I have started to use the program and totally LOVE it! I have a disability that affects my hands and I have very little use of my hands and this program is heaven to me. THANK YOU!!

I bought this last year and didnt install it right away, when I did and tried to register it on the registration site the response was not for use in the United States. I didnt see anything that stated that in the advertisement of the item so beware of software at bargain prices, it may not be the bargain you are expecting.

I lost a whole weekend that I could have dedicated to setting up an accurate voice profile for the software and then using the software. The wrong serial number (for a different product altogether - Mac Dictate 2.0) was provided on Nuances automated website. I was literally stuck dead in the water with a worthless serial number. (I was getting the academic version) I tried to register my product on the website (the only way to contact Tech Support) but without a correct serial number, I was stopped in the middle of that process. All-and-all, this is frustrating process. Nuance needs to overhaul their web processes and make them usable for clients. No matter how good the Dragon product MAY be (I dont know since the company is incompetent in delivering a frustration-free install process), customers will not stick around. And trying to talk with customer service reps is like talking to robots who just repeat themselves- they are reading off a script that I could easily do on my own and find answers faster from just by searching key terms instead of waiting on their long automated responses. As the old cliche goes - not good for business. UPDATE (usability testing): This is a Dragon Naturally Speaking review actually done WITH Dragon NaturallySpeaking and done on a headset (with) a noise canceling microphone in the car on the way to work so (we) will see how well it can transcribe what I am actually saying ..... -ERRORS- (CORRECTIONS) 1- The main issue is -a not- (it does not have) very good -actor- (accuracy). -see a need to- (I know you have to) train Dragon. I (have) been very diligent about giving Dragon -aint- (a) digital voice profile -is- (because) you can have different voice profile(s) (based off) what youre using. And I got a digital voice recorder profile and the accuracy is still not where I -needed- (need it) even though Im pronouncing words like a broadcaster would pronounce (his) words. And Dragon actually expects you to be able to be a professional anchor and were not talking about hard words that Im trying to pronounce -a- (but) simple thing(s) and Dragon still gets it wrong because it simply cannot take any fluctuation in your voice. (If) you mumble or -bespeaking- (if you speak too) fast but -is- (it will get) something wrong. -cf. the list fits- (So you have to be almost pitch) perfect in everything -he said- (you say). So unless youre extremely motivated to use the software and (then) go back and try to -takes- (fix) the accuracy issues in your user profile, -within- (then) this speech to text software may not be what youre looking for. Yes I am motivated to use the software which is why Ive done a bit of usability tests and -down- (found that) the accuracy in transcription is horrible. For brainstorming purposes, Im trying to put down the best ideas I can while in the car. But literally when I brainstorm theres no accuracy in the transcription (and I) have to go back -active- (and I have to) repeat complete thoughts all over again or change (them) in the transcription after-the-fact and that leads to the second point ..... OK...Im motivated to use the software but not motivated to continue writing the corrections from this audio that Dragon couldnt do correctly in the first place. You get the point though. 2- Going back to make corrections - this is supposed increase your accuracy for your user profile which I would be fine in continuing to do but there is a big gap for the user to actually understand if the corrections are being applied to your user profile. What makes the corrections in Dragon? I open up the transcription in Dragonpad but then it doesnt tell me when Im typing the corrections from the transcription that the software is actually recording my corrections. Dragon does a very poor job of telling you the one-two-three-step process of how to improve your accuracy. Sure it does look at documents and e-mail to improved your accuracy (for writing style, jargon, etc.) but it doesnt tell you for the transcription process itself when your typing corrections from what the software just transcribed if it is recording those corrections into the profile. In short, when youre fixing all the transcription errors, theres no thank you or we got it prompt from Dragon that it is recording the actual words you wanted transcribed in the many spots it messed up. Its worth noting I actually have Dragon for Windows 11.5 Premium/Pro running on a virtual machine on Mac (its the same thing as having a full Windows 7 OS on the Mac). The Professional Edition, which you have to have if you want to take a digital voice recording and have it transcribed, is preferable to paying more than double for the Mac version, which is actually two software products that are needed to do the same thing. Dragon Dictate for Mac and Mac Speech both have to be purchased (again at more than twice the costs of Dragon Naturally Speaking) in order to do the same thing as the Dragon Naturally Speaking software. For Mac users, I highly recommend the Virtual Machine route (with 6 Gb of Memory) because you can use your one copy of Dragon Naturally speaking on five machines. Its not really a good business model to try and rip Mac users off like that. The limitations of the Dragon software allow me to only do outlines for different projects and notes to myself (that I could easily transcribe with my smart phone). Basically I cannot do any real original brainstorming or have a flow of original ideas or generate creative marketing ideas (they dont resemble anything that they should in the transcription). I just want to speak my free-flowing ideas when I get really inspired and really go for it. Thats just not possible. The company, Nuance, should really look into their user interface overall because that and their lack of customer service - which is a severely crippling issue b/c they are just so incredibly horrible - make this software just not worth the effort unless youre really motivated. And my motivation is becoming very selective with Dragon.

still using it