Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition [Old Version]

it was a gift

I bought the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software about a month ago. I was very hesitant because I was concerned about the accuracy but I needed something because I have severe arthritis. But to my surprise it was amazing right out of the box. It only took a few minutes to set up and verify that I was a student. I have used this for writing several technical papers and it has done awesome picking up on chemical compound names and engineering terms. I have been very amazed with this product and I am using it to write this review and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

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.

Buyer beware! Have you paid for this software, you cannot download it unless you get a code from an itinerary organisation, and if you are not someone from the big time school or university they will deny you the code in your money has been wasted! Do you not buy this

I have nerve damage to my right hand due to a work injury and at 53 I have had to rethink my life and go back to college so that I will be able to work again in the future. I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Student Edition the end of December. There was no problem at all getting the registration key, all you need is your college email address. The instructions tell you it will take 24 hours, but I received my key in less than 30 minutes. It takes a while to get your voice profile setup. For some reason the quick voice training didnt work and I had to read a passage from a list of books. That took about 30 minutes and then I was off and running. While the program doesnt get every word you say perfect every time, I would say its 98% correct most of the time. This version included a very nice headset with microphone and I have been able to write my first 3 essays in less time that it would have taken me any other way. I speak it types, I tell it to open Word, it opens Word. Its like Im dictating to a person and they are doing all the hard work for me. It is an amazing program and is worth every penny. I highly recommend this program for anyone with a disability and even for those without one.

I really like this product. It works well. Sometimes it types things I am not sure where they are coming from but for the most part this types exactly what I say and does it quite fast as well. I do recommend this to others, but it does need to be trained to your way of speaking and your accent or dialect to know what word you want typed.

Have a computer that was new 5 years ago. I loaded Dragon, provided documents, did training and worked through the tutorial. The first document I tired to create was a test document. It hung up so I closed Dragon and opened it again -- I started creating a document again and got a BLUE SCREEN. The recommendation from Microsoft was that I remove the software. So I did. But I am not that disappointed - though I am out my experimental investment. Dragon was so slow in recording that I could say a complete paragraph before it could finish the first sentence. I cant write that way -- as a fiction writer I need to be fluid and I can wait for the computer to catch up with me. The advertisement said Dragon would be 3 times faster - that would be very true if you cannot type. I was hoping for a different mechanism for typing -- I am on the computer all day at work. This was not the answer for me. I also purchased a better headset -- it did not function at all with Dragon.

Okay everybody, I am not one to write a review, but after seeing everything that has been written about this product, I decided I must write a review. A lot of people, have been bad mouthing the fact, that you have to verify your student status to receive the serial number from Nuance. I can tell you now, for all of you who have a .edu address, this will not be a challenge whatsoever. I received my Dragon NaturallySpeaking, from UPS about an hour ago. Within that time, I did the online verification of my student status, received my serial number, install the program, and I am now writing this review I using my headset and my Dragon NaturallySpeaking. One recommendation I would strongly make, is that you invest in a better headset. I invested in the Koss CS 100 headset is thus far everything is working very clearly. I spent about 20 min. reading some of the documentation that they give you to learn your voice. In that short period of time, you see the results. As a graduate student, who is often writing anywhere between 20 and 60 pages a week of text this is going to be a lifesaver. I hope many of you will be able to make the same investment.

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.

my daughter is doing great with this product. She even started to dictate a story in addition to her homework. It really is amazing how quickly you can train dragon to your voice.