Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition [Old Version]

Its very convenient to just talk and it types... like having an assistant write your dictation... Software takes a while to learn your voice and pronunciation so dont expect perfection at first... Overall, it is a welcomed tool on my computer, convenient, and time-saving...

I have used Dragon for years, this update was worth it and got rid of some buggy issues I had with the prior version

The insane procedure you must go through to activate this software is maddening. They tell you to go to a website that is frequently down and upload proof of employment at an academic institution and then they say you have to wait 24 hours before they email you a serial number. After trying for two days to get to the website which was always down I called tech support and they said theyd email me the serial number. I waited three more days and finally got an email from them telling me to go to the website again. I found a solution to activate on my own at [...]

I expected too much apparently. i wanted to speak and have it type, but even after several training sessions i am getting no results. I may return this for a refund. if I am missing something, I want to know because i was thinking the product would make my life easier.

I heard a lot of complaints about activation of the education edition. I didnt have any of those problems. I like this software because once it learns your field and how you talk it abbreviates where it is supposed to (like CPU, OS, DDR3) other speech software would spell it out (like see pee you, instead of CPU).

This review is for Dragon NaturallySpeaking premium 11 student edition. After reading the reviews for this product I admit I was a little concerned about both the quality of the product and the registration process. Both of these concerns were baseless. Im a grad student at an accredited university in the United States and the process of registering and receiving a serial number took less than 3 min. the student edition does not come with the serial number. After receiving the product you must go to the registration page on their website and put in both the product number and an e-mail address ending in .edu. Next you select your institution from a pulldown menu of institutions in your state. I followed the instructions and received a serial number at my university e-mail in less than 30 seconds. From the reviews and the price of the student version it was clear to me that I would want a higher-quality microphone. Along with this product I also ordered a Sennheiser ME-3 ev microphone and an Andrea USB adapter. Because the microphone is made to attach securely to a belt transmitter it does have a metal lock ring at the base of the plug. Some reviews suggested that this lock ring would have to be removed. Perhaps the construction of the microphone cable has changed but I was able to use the Sennheiser microphone plugged into the Andrea USB adapter without any modification. Dragon NaturallySpeaking requires a four-minute test/learning session to create a profile for your voice. After this you can use it to dictate anything you would normally type. I am dictating this review. For $70 I dont mind having to buy a better microphone. This is a fantastic product. After using the product for the past two days the only drawback is that I wished I purchased a wireless microphone. Being able to walk around and dictate at the same time would be, frankly, awesome. Note: the Andrea USB adapter is a bulky dongle. I think the Andrea USB soundcard with array microphone has the same adapter in a much smaller form factor bundled with a desktop microphone. For mobile users the smaller adapter combined with any microphone might be a better choice than the bulky dongle. I also read that the Yeti microphones also work well with Dragon. to summarize, the student edition is a great value and easy to register if you have a .edu address at an accredited university. You may want to upgrade the microphone.

I ordered this Student/Teacher version because Im a college instructor. Obtaining the serial number was not a problem. However, the DVD I received is warped, emits a loud clicking noise in my computers DVD drive (the same noise is audible on two other systems so the problem is clearly a defective disk), and it is unable to read the disk to install the program. Thats when I had the misfortune of contacting Benjamin in customer service. He is semi-literate in English and apparently located somewhere in India. He asked for all my order data from Amazon (order number, etc.). He even listened to the loud clicking of the disk in the drive, and agreed it sounded like there was clearly something wrong with the disk. Then some additional hoops to jump through: 1. E-mail him screenshots of the Windows Explorer interface to prove that my computer cant fully read all the files on the warped disk. 2. E-mail him digital photographs of the disk itself (top and edge) to prove that I have an authentic disk and prove that it is warped. Okay, this was a strange request, but using my digital camera not too much of a problem if it would have satisfied Nuance and gotten me on the road to receiving a new disk. Were these thoughts ever naive. 3. Ben replies. He now wants the POP proof of purchased of the Dragon 12 that came from Amazon. Huh? What exactly does POP proof of purchased mean, and why wasnt it requested during the original phone call? I send him a screen shot of my order record from my Amazon account and the scanned barcode label from the box. (Maybe the latter is what he meant by proof of purchased [sic]?) 4. Ben replies again. This time he wants the email from amazon indicated the the payment you made from them if there is please attached it with this email as you reply. LOL. This reads like work from one of my grade-F students. Again, if this is what was required, why wasnt it clearly requested in the original phone call? I forwarded him the original invoice e-mail. I made a little wager with myself that this would magically prove insufficient as well. Sure enough, it did. 5. Sorry its me again, as i can see in your screenshot [sic] of the email you got from amazon one last favor, can you please take a screenshot also of that the same email but open the VIEW INVOICE option. Take a screenshot of an e-mail he already has right in front of him and at the same time click some link. Boy, that sure makes sense. Sorry, but Im now done with this: from the bizarre request for photographs of the defective disk, to one illiterate and cryptic request after the other. Anyway, Ben made clear on the original call (after we had spent about 5 minutes entering my Amazon order information into his system) that the system screenshots showing the disk as unreadable along with the disk photos would be sufficient. Now theres another new and nebulous obstacle course to run every day. I am a very busy college instructor who doesnt have time for this. If I dont receive a response from this review within a week from a literate adult at Nuance, I will immediately initiate a chargeback on my credit card and look at other options, particularly Windows Speech Recognition. Not only is it free, but its been reported to be a decent program with even more improvements expected on the forthcoming Windows 8. Ive been a solid Dragon customer since version 9, but after this experience Im done with Nuance.

Never worked correctly

I did not obtain a product code number that would allow me to use the product. It was to come with my student copy and I have been unable to use it as I do n ot know how to send my student picture Id. I am thiking i must return this product as I am unable to send this info. If I could fax this I would be happy to.

I never write reveiws. After reading the strong negatives regarding the registration process, I had to write to about my experience. VERY FAST AND EASY WITH AN EDU EMAIL ACCOUNT. The serial number was IMMEDIATELY emailed. It took me less than 5 mins. to register and recieve my serial number. It took another 5 mins. to download it and I am off an running. I plan on using it for my dissertation. Will post an update.