Nuance Dragon Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 (Old Version)

This is the base model of the software - the premium versions may have slightly better VR processing, but this is adequate more most applications, if you speak a reasonably standard form of the language. It handles slang and idioms in context surprisingly well, but does not do as well with accented speech or dialects. The UI is capable, but takes a little practice to learn how do command it to format text. Good value for the price.

Most likely anyone who has configured this to his voice, and while dictating, puts in punctuation – “period, , paragraph,” etc. -- and spells offbeat words, will be satisfied. But I had to transcribe a lecture and make the copy ready for translation. Here, Dragon did a really awful job. It missed words, got words wrong, (more to spare for more despair; business feel for business deal -- , on and on) and there was no punctuation. I had to work over the material while listening to the recording -- hugely time consuming. In contrast, a professional service on the Internet did a really excellent transcription of the material, returning it in a few hours. Their charge to transcribe was one dollar a minute. It would have been nice if Nuance put up front that this did not work for other voices. They could also improve their support. I asked 2 questions in 2 emails and got no answers. But I did get some six emails telling me if I was satisfied with the answers they would cancel my ticket. I replied I got no answer and sure enough, got the same emails again. I understand the much more expensive Dragon also requires punctuation input. I believe the service I used proof reads the transcripts, but it must have a much superior software program. The time I spent correcting was almost as long as if I listened to the recording and typed myself. . I asked Dragon if it is possible to configure the lecturer’s s voice as I did mine , but got no reply. The lecturer spoke standard English clearly. Also, for a time I didn’t understand that Dragon can be used on a Word page. I was confused because on starting Drago a window pops up where your dictation appears. There is a tab at bottom that says Transfer. I pressed Transfer, dictation vanished, and I still don’t know where it went. . I couldn’t find any reference to Transfer in the manual. . So, if you dictate yourself , you may be very pleased with this program. But I will use the dollar service.P.S. If Nuance would tweak this program so fi there is a pause it puts in a period it would not be bad Youd be surprised to know how much time it takes to put in periods on a five page article.

I am sitting at my wifes computer writing this review because the Dragon program messed up mine. I installed the Dragon Naturally Speaking Home on my computer, a Cybertron running Windows 10 with an i7 processor. The program came with a headset, so I used that on my computer. After installing it, the program has a set up. First you go through a long processes of registering the program, then it takes you to a set up sequence. During this set up it installs a menu that has a large button on it. Hovering over that button will tell you if the microphone is on or off. It started in the off position, and it never changed. It is impossible to turn the button on. As I was going through the set up, it wanted me to download Bonjour, an Apple program free on the internet. I tried to do that but ran into issues. I finally downloaded the program, but when I tried to continue to load Dragon it failed to recognize the microphone. Over and over it kept telling me to turn on the microphone before it could continue. Over a dozen times I went to the dashboard button and clicked it, but it never came on. I went to the help sites, both on Nuance and on the web, and never resolved the issue. I plugged and unplugged the line numerous times on the headphone/microphone set that came with the program without any progress. I also switched locations from the back of the tower, to the front of the tower, then to the monitor and none of them changed the outcome. The microphone stayed off. So I switched microphones. I put a KLIM USB microphone on the machine, and it still failed to work. The program set up will not recognize any microphone I have tried. And I plugged and unplugged the KLIM several times and used several USB ports. In addition, Bonjour turned off the speakers on my computer. When searching the system error messages I was told the download turned off my speakers, but it never told me how to turn the speakers back on. More problems. Because of this, I manually loaded the microphone specs into the program. It accepted them and said OK, but the microphone never turned on. I erased Bonjour and reloaded everything, to no avail. The microphone will not work. Its simple enough, no microphone no speech program. So, I am now faced with a total disaster. My computers speakers are disabled, and none of the microphones will work. The Bonjour seems to have turned off the ability of my computer to recognize any microphone for any purpose. Of course, it could have been the Dragon program that messed them up. Its hard to say. Even when I leave Dragon, none of the microphones work, but they did before - so why did they quit now? Without some kind of outside help this isnt going to resolve itself. I may be stuck with taking my computer into a repair shop and paying for some type of reset. All because I bought this program. Even if Amazon gives me my money back, which they might not, Ill have to pay extra to fix the computer problems caused by the program. Believe me when I tell you this is a dangerous program to install on Windows 10. In my opinion, this program has the potential to devastate your computer. This is NOT a benign install. Ive researched other dictation programs, but - at least on Amazon - none are available. AD2

Love this program. Exactly what I needed and expected. Installed onto my 8.1 Windows without any fuss or hick ups. Runs smoothly.Though I use my Logitech Wireless, It did come with a pretty sturdy wired headset of its own. Good to know if I ever need a back up its there. Fast and precise. Mainly bought for score to make essays and reports a breeze and yet Im able to instantly note any random thought, spontaneous idea, or random rhyme that may come to mind. Hides almost unnoticed at the top of your screen and blooms out when you need it. If you want a hands free service for school, business or just pleasure then this is what you need. Favorite Perk: All around fast program.

Ive been a happy user of earlier versions but after my laptop updated itself to windows 10, I found myself forced to buy version 13.0. Purported to be a great improvement, I was sold, but Ive not yet gotten it to work. After the install, I went through the microphone preparation and launched Word. The supplied headset was used. Not a single word was understood. Nothing. Frustrated, I eventually did a clean install only to get an error message that some training directory could not be renamed. Installed again without trouble. Still didnt understand a single word. Switched mics. Nope. Decided to use my wifes brand new i-7 laptop with 16GB. Installed fine but still didnt understand a single word. I reached out to tech support and got a couple suggestions. No good. Reached out again and got a suggestion to check the settings. After 3 laptops, 3 mics, and multiple attempts at setting default mic, sound card settings, hardware acceleration, etc, Ive given up. Fortunately, I found an old laptop and installed version 12.0 on it. It works flawlessly. My new laptop? I use Windows speech recognition. While not as robust as Dragon, it isnt half bad. My only regret is that I tried to upgrade to new and improved. Im beginning to think there might be an error on my disc. Nothing but trouble for me.

Great product for the typing challenged. I am so happy I bought this product. Has made going back to school easier. I use this product to write the tons of papers required for my degree. Allows the user to freely dictate their words into MS word documents while reading from resources. Makes writing papers easy. Dragon can also insert text into emails and message board posts. Does a great job learning the users speech and vocabulary. It does a good job listening to the users voice while their is background noise.

Im NOT at all sorry I bought this. The concept is exciting. I will say that theres a lot more to it than meets the eye, though. Let me explain: Im 80+, long since retired, with stiff fingers, and some other issues. My learning curve has slowed down, and there is much to learn to make Dragon fully functional. However, I have had it up an running for about two weeks or so, and Im impressed. Im using it as a kind of overlay, within which I call up my email systems, Amazon, MS Word, and verbally have them do something for me on screen. Currently, Im playing around with transcribing into a recorder [Olympus-722-PC], thence to the Dragon mic. Its still a little weird to see what I say pop up on screen, though. I would add the most of the really negative responses were earlier versions, and for inadequate computer systems I have a 2.1 micropressor, and I thhink it is a bit slow. I upped my RAM from 3 to 6, and am having no discernable problem with speed of processing. [Im slow, too

I purchased this when I rotator cuff surgery, as I work on a computer all day. Now, to be fair, maybe I needed the professional version but this only worked ok. I did a LOT of training of it, let it update and save frequently but still ended up with some pretty interesting interpretations of what I had actually said. I would buy it again for the purpose I used it for but wouldnt continue to use it once better, as it was pretty annoying how often I had to correct it.

I have been using Dragon Naturally Speaking for years. Over the years, most cell phones, iPhones and Androids have automatically come with constantly improving voice to text apps, but not Windows. Dragon soft has a learn period that cell phones dont seem to need, but Dragon soft has a much greater features list. For straight up composition, Naturally Speaking performs well, allowing you dictate a document with very few errors. In a direct test against Kindle, I found that the supplied Kindle app actually performed better fewer errors, provided you dictated with enunciated with sharp clear speech. That is the first place where Naturally Speaking differs from cell phone speech apps. Naturally Speaking learns your voice, slur and mumble patterns, and allows you to dictate in patterns that are not clear, sharp dictation. Secondly, Naturally Speaking uses quick voice activated boo-boo and editing commands: erase that, highlight that, and sentence removal commands. Personally, I still prefer to get it right the first time, so I cant help but try to enunciate well the first time. The ONLY reason that I dont give it 5 stars is that there are SO MANY commands, that sometimes (OK, rarely) you accidentally hit a command in normal dictation. It can be a little overwhelming. Nevertheless, I dont know what I would do without this program.

Dragon Naturally Speaking Home Review I bought this one because it was the cheapest, but didnt consider the add-ons 1. Headphones ( the ones with two prongs and mic) 2. special connection jack 3. second special connection jack since the first one didnt fit my computer. It takes an hour to upload. I also had to watch Youtube videos to install the voice recognition mike and software, which I did. Ran through the tutorial, which shows you many things you can do--only to find out my version didnt do it. I went to the Chrome store and added a dictation box, since the software is made to work with Internet Explorer. On the introduction, I could choose from Southern American, Spanish Accented English, British English, and Standard. I chose standard, but soon found out certain words with U, OUR, or OU the the software had no clue what I was saying. I did talk slowly, ennunciate, and in full sentences. It also has an issue with homonyms. It spelled dawn as Dawn and Don. I could not use quote marks because my version didnt support it. I have read online that I can go into Microsoft office and tweak a few things, so I might try that. The home version is good for writing emails and searching the web. These were never things I had issues with. In the end, it made more work for me.