Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition [Old Version]

Works really well!

I bought the student version of Drangon Naturally Speaking for my grandson who lives with me. I called Nuance on Friday about getting the serial number and she said to follow the instructions on the product. I sent in the required information yesterday (9/11/10) and am still waiting for the serial number. I called them today and got no help. It seems like Im going to go through some of the hoops that another writer talked about. Why they have to make this such a big deal is beyond me.

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.

I could not get this to work and it pissed me off that it came with head phones but it didnt say that so then I ordered extra and the damn thing never would load right. Every time I use it all it does is type, and him and him and him. Stupid software!

This system is terrible. It will not train. The Dragon on my old Lenovo 9 years ago was better.

I was very disappointed in the software. I purchased this product under the assumption I would be able to use this for my graduate classes. My plan was to record the lectures and then the software would transcribe the lectures for notes. Did not happen. You would have to make a profile for each voice to be transcribed, and even then I am not sure it would have worked for this. I have not reviewed the product description again to make sure, but I thought it said it was for lectures, so this was not correct. I tried getting help from the software company, but they never clearly gave instructions or help in solving this issue. So I have returned the product, hoping for a full refund. Bummed to say the least.

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.

a person still needs to use the keyboard with this program. did not work for my husband he cannot see

the education verification was simple. If you have a campus e-mail address and ID, the process takes less than a day. Since I have these things I cant comment on the process If you dont.Im currently getting used to the software but it seems to be a life saver.

Im working on both a Masters degree in Management Information Systems and an MBA. Needless to say, I do a lot of reading, writing, taking notes about what Im reading, and writing about what Ive read. Ive always found the process of switching back and forth between reading and typing notes on the computer to be awkward. So, I tended to be rather old-school and just scribbled notes in the margins of what I was reading and in notebooks. That, of course, was inefficient because then I would have to type my notes into the computer in order to organize them and use them in a 21st-century way. I knew my archaic methods wouldnt pass the benchmark a thesis, so I bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking with the hope that it would help me streamline my note taking process. I was hesitant about purchasing the software because I had tried speech recognition software about a decade ago, and because of my tendency to speak quickly and mumble and my mild speech impediment, lets just say that the software was less than successful at understanding me. I shouldnt have worried: Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 11 premium edition is amazing. Its accurate, fast, and fully featured. Now, I can dictate my notes while I read, read my scribbled class notes into the computer, or speak my outlines, rough drafts, and brainstorming sessions directly into Microsoft Word, OneNote, and other software. Registration: Registration was quick and easy. I followed the instructions included in the box and had my serial number sitting in my e-mail inbox within minutes. The only thing that threw me for a minute was that the product code on the instruction sheet wasnt labeled as such and didnt look a thing like the one shown on the website. I have a .edu e-mail address from an accredited university, which is what I assumed streamlined the registration process. So, your mileage may vary if you need to upload a scan of your ID card or other information in order to register. Installation/Setup/Training: The software comes with a quick reference card that includes installation instructions. I didnt time it, but it took quite a few minutes to install the software. Then, I had to set up a profile, configure the microphone, and do the initial training. The software prompts and quick reference card make this process easy, but it does take some time. Perhaps because I have had problems in the past with speech recognition software, I was overly worried about Dragon NaturallySpeaking recognizing and understanding my voice. So, I went through several of the training scenarios, which took me about an hour. I also let it scan my My Documents folder so that it could get an idea of my writing style and standard vocabulary. Im not sure which of these had the greatest influence or if it was a combination of both of these activities, but the software has done an amazing job of understanding me from the first time I used it for dictation. It also recognized a lot of the terms that are specific to technology and business and even many of the acronyms that are used in technical and business writing the first time that I used them. The words and acronyms that it doesnt recognize, I simply add to the softwares vocabulary (verbal dictionary) via the in-line correction feature or by explicitly adding them to my profile. The Headphone/Microphone: Having read numerous reviews that indicated that the included headset had a less than ideal microphone for speech recognition, I purchased the