Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 12, English (Old Version)

This review written by dragon. I talk it types. Very handy. This allowed me to keep my previous user files so right off the bat it got the words right. I talk a lot of property legal descriptions and am amazed it gets them right almost all the time. It even types numbers when I want numbers and text numbers when I want them. So it is very contextual and smart. Also it continues to learn and incorporate your style over time so it gets better and better as you use it.

I am a physician and bought this program to work in the EMR. I bought this version solely because of the cost. I have used the medical version and it is a little more straight forward to use. That said I find that I can dictate using my iPhone and the program is very good about understanding even most medical terms. It is not possible to dictate directly into the EMR but as long as the cursor is in the right place it is easy to get the data into the EMR. So I would recommend this for clinicians who do not want to spend the money on the medical version.

works pretty well - every now and then will take some time to wake up if the microphone has been turned off for a long time, but other than that, works great. the speech recognition is incredible. using it with microsoft usb headset though, not the one that came with it.

I have only been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for a few weeks now, but I am thoroughly satisfied with it. It was very easy to install and the training period was easy to get through. I have been using it for a variety of tasks. The primary reason for which I purchased it was to be able to dictate manuscripts for books and I was surprised at how easy and accurate it is to use. In fact, this review is being dictated through that same program. The number of mistakes that the program makes is far fewer than I had anticipated. Quite a few years ago I had used an earlier version of Dragon and was satisfied with it at the time, but there is no comparison between that version and the present one as far as ease-of-use and accuracy are concerned. I am very much satisfied with what I received.

Dragon naturally speaking does not recognize my computer sound card and microphone. It does not recognize any speech at this point. At best I am going to have to try and teach it my voice for hours on end to get it to work at all. I thought that this would be quick and easy to get it up and running, does not appear to be the case. Wish I could get a refund!

If you are willing to spend some time on the training and getting the program used to your voice, its well worth it. It allows me to enter all kinds of information from a document into a spreadsheet, for example, without having to do that look down, read entry, look up, tab and type, look down, make sure the right thing went in the right box. Im a fast typist and I do a lot of typing, so sometimes its just fun to give my hands a rest and let Dragon do some work for me. The only downsides I find is that it still cant always keep up with me and it does have a couple of accent recognition issues, but other than that, its a fun and useful product.

Ive been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking since version 3. Many people try this program and almost immediately stop using it. when I first began using it years ago I did the same thing. I would put it on my computer system, go through a lengthy training process to teach it how I speak. The training process teaches it how you pronounce different words and it used to take about an hour. While there is still a training period it now takes roughly 5 min. in the past even after training the program to recognize your voice through that hour-long process it would still make many mistakes. And like most people I just got frustrated and uninstalled it. If I gave this five stars you know there has to be a bright side coming. :-) One day, back in version 3, I decided I was going to use it no matter what. And Im glad I did. What frustrates people the most about using voice dictation software is that its not 100% correct all the time. Now a big however. However, when the program makes a mistake (and it holds true right up to the newest version) instead of getting frustrated all you have to do is correct the mistake. Teach the program what you wanted it to type as opposed to what it did. Once you do that it usually doesnt make the same mistake again. As an example, I have a medical condition called Ménières disease. I guarantee you the word Ménières is not in any standard dictionary that computer uses. So the very first time I was dictating a letter and said the word Ménières the computer typed the words many ears. Coincidently, Ménières disease does happen to be a problem with the inner ear but the term many ears isnt certainly what I was looking for. To correct the error went like this: say to the computer select many ears, then say spell that and a dialog box pops up and all you do is speak into the microphone and spell the word correctly. In my case it was to say cap m e n i e r e s, say the words click train and the computer automatically clicks a button labeled train and then you speak the word that you just spelled and it enters it into its dictionary. And it will then replace the incorrect spelling with the correct one automatically and you can continue dictating. When people read this in the manual that is usually what deters them from using the program. I like everyone else thought I was going to be spending all my time saying that entire paragraph to correct a word. Also like everyone else I thought I didnt have the time. The thing is, to actually perform the actions that I described in the previous paragraph actually takes less than 15 seconds and once you do but you dont have to do it ever again. I have created a website dedicated to information on Ménières disease so the term Ménières came up constantly. After the first time it made the mistake of spelling Ménières as many ears it never made the mistake again. Being a website dedicated to a rare medical condition I used the term Ménières probably 100 to 120 times. Like I said, after correcting it the first time it never made the mistake of misspelling Ménières again. In this review alone Ive used the word Ménières at least 6 to 8 times. This review is being dictated through Dragon NaturallySpeaking. If you do see a mistake in any of the words in this review its due to my laziness, not the program. I say that because besides just speaking into a microphone and watching the words appear on screen you can even use the program in another way to check what youve written (or what its written). Both the premium and the home versions of this program have the ability to read what has been typed out loud. The only reason Im not doing it is because Im starting to run late for an appointment and lost track of time. So there isnt time to have it read the entire review back to me and listen for errors. But once more, if you read this back to me and there was an error all he would have to do is go back and correct it and it wouldnt happen again. When I started using this program it was for work purposes but I didnt think much of it when I stopped using it because I typed 111 words per minute accurately. What can I say, I did a lot of typing so my speed just naturally built up. Another however coming. However, now I have osteoarthritis and not only do I type very slowly but its very painful. Using NaturallySpeaking once I start the program I dont have to touch the keyboard. It even has an entire set of commands for several of the most common web browsers so you can use it to surf the Internet as well. And that is also in either the Home or Premium versions of this program. As of today (April 9, 2014) Amazon is selling the previous version (11) for an extremely reduced price. While I purchased the Premium 12 version for a few extra features I found I really dont use them so I went back and purchased two copies of version 11 (I have multiple computers). As THE final note, which ever version of the program you by, it also comes with a plug-in headset. I didnt feel like sitting a few feet from my computer – which is the length of the cable to the headset – so I simply purchased a wireless one for $20. But you do have everything you need to get started right out of the box. Would I recommend it? I own four copies… you guess…

It takes quite a lot of time to train the software, but if you keep working at it you can get it to work well. Helps save the hands & wrists. I bought this version because it comes with a headset (mic & speakers) and Im glad I did.

I love this. It is a huge revelation. I couldnt type due to a serious arm injury so got this w a feeling of desperation. I was able to compose a huge NIH grant (P50) using this software and a mouse w my good hand. I did not use the voice commands or ability to control the cursor or menus. It is not without bugs, Ive had a few crashes (but it recovers well), and of course it makes some errors, but I now oscillate between typing short things and dictating longer ones. This feels like the future. I would like to see cloud based storage of my user profile and some other glitches worked out, but this technology has already come of age and it will kill they keyboard in the next decade. In the near future keyboards will look like dot matrix printers or fax machines.

I had several issues with this product, When I finally got it to install it wont open on my laptop. I get an error that I dont have enough memory to operate it and I have over 50% of memory available. So I can tell you how well it works just that it wont. Not happy that it gives specs that it will work on my machine and now that I have it I cant use it...