Nuance Dragon Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 (Old Version)

Firstly, dont purchase the disc + headset bundle. The software already comes with a headset included in the box, a fact which I discovered after ordering and receiving the bundle and ending up with an extra headset. So ordering the bundle will result in you receiving the software and the headset it comes with in one box, and another box with a second headset. That offer is quite deceiving. Despite being annoyed at spending a little extra money, I didnt consider it worth returning the extra headset since I got it all on sale for a decent price, and because I may end up needing a replacement headset at some point anyway. As for the speech recognition itself, its decent. Not as amazing as I was hoping; I do have to spend a little time correcting mistakes, and it also slows you down to have to speak the punctuation out loud. But this is the first speech recognition software Ive used, and Im betting as far as speech recognition goes, its good. The uses of the Home version are kind of limited because of it not being compatible with many programs, meaning it will not enter the text directly into said programs/emails/etc. for you. But it can still be used pretty much anywhere by putting the insertion point where you want the text, and then as you speak your speech will appear in Dragons dictation box, from which you can easily transfer it to your designated spot with a simple click of the Transfer button. So, I found that pretty cool. My main reason for getting Dragon is Im a transcriptionist and my hands tend to get tired and stiff from typing. I was hoping that me dictating and then editing would be at least as quick as me typing, as well as sparing my hands from strain, but so far, its not really been worth it due to the time it takes to continually transfer the speech from the dictation box into my program, which gets me behind from dictating the words from the audio Im listening to, so then I have to skip back the audio once the dictation box gets out of the way, plus edit any mistakes I see, and I actually find it easier to manually insert punctuation when I review each portion that I transfer rather than speaking all of the punctuation. Eventually I may be able to make it work out better, but so far, it slows me down a bit, so I only use it sometimes. Just figured Id explain that for anyone else considering this for transcription. But the speech recognition aspect is decent as long as youre willing to check for mistakes. There tend to be at least a couple or few mistakes per paragraph in my experience so far.

I’ve been using the various editions of Dragon ever since it came out. It is one of the most useful things for computer use. If one needs to do any significant amount of writing it is essential. I find that it is 90% accurate right out of the box, and approaching 100% after a little bit of use. I am of course writing this with Dragon and I will note any errors that it makes. I can see how some people might have some difficulty with it, particularly those who aren’t that computer savvy. One may have to adjust their sound settings for example. And of course having a competent computer is required. I just purchased this version for a new laptop. It is one half the price as the Nuance website. And the basic version does come with a Nuance headset. Which brings me to virtually my only complaint. The headset has excellent audio quality. But for the life of me I have yet to find any reasonably priced headset that doesn’t squeeze my head too tightly. I am trying to bend this one out so that it is a little more comfortable. Actually I am writing this using Amazon’s earbuds with microphone. Much more comfortable. I’ve also tried a Bluetooth headset designed more for listening than dictating, and the audio quality was not sufficient. I am going to look into a reasonably priced dictating Bluetooth headset which would be extremely convenient. You may have noticed that Dragon has not made a mistake yet even though I got it yesterday, and have only used it a couple of times.

I will be writing this review using the voice to text program without making any corrections. This will provide a clear example of what the program can do. Im an anthropologist and amusing this program following surgery on my dominant arm. This makes it impossible for me to write to my students and others without the use of the program. I am correcting and responding to student papers and writing emails. Some of the language that I use is technical and specific to the field, especially in human origins, but the program has been more than satisfactory. Ive advised my students in advance that there may be issues in the wording and spelling of my responses, but is worked. The only problem I encountered was on the installation of the program on my personal computer. When I had the program installed by the tech team at the college, it was installed without problem. The only recurring problem relates to my knowing and learning all the various voice commands. I assume that I will become more proficient as I continue to use the program. Delightfully surprised that when I ordered the program, it was on sale for $22 and included a headset. Great bargain! Highly recommend

I am writing this review using DSN 13. I had a very hard time downloading the software onto Windows 8.1. Thus the reason why I am giving it four stars. When I tried to install I kept getting a message saying the installation was interrupted and unable to finish. I searched on the Internet for fix actions and found one that worked for me. Create a guest account on your computer and install DSN 13 to that guest account, it took it a little while to start the download but it worked on the guest account and Im able to use it on my primary account. This is the link I found the fix action in http://nuance-community.custhelp.com/posts/c5c9614e18 hopefully this will work for some of you that are having a hard time downloading the software. Also on a side note I never had any previous Dragon software before this. The software itself I give 5 stars! I have had no issues with it after the install.

Dragon Naturally Speaking works very well on both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10s Operating System. However, you may need to make sure that you override any other dictation programs (including ones which may be associated with Microsoft Office for it to work properly). So long as you make sure your computer meets all of the minimum requirements this program should work well. This is very important as this program in conjunction with your OS and your Office program will use up a lot of memory. The program is very accurate right out of the box, however, following the instructions will allow for greater accuracy. Please note this review is for the Windows version of Dragon and not the MAC version. Order: Product shipped very quickly, with all component in the package. Product worked exactly as described and per system requirements.

As stated, it was very accurate right out of the box. The tutorial was only semi-functional on my laptop, and extremely brief. The headset is of surprisingly decent quality, with respect to the microphone, but lacks adjustability, cord length, and becomes uncomfortable after a few hours. I have a smaller head, for an adult, and it squeezes my ears and head, causing a pressure headache. It would be helpful to add a better quick-guide in the box, as the one provided is only a card stock fold out, and does not have many useful commands listed. The new features greatly improve functionality, and only took a few hours to get used to the dictation style. Overall, great software, mediocre hardware.

I am extremely upset as I was sold an obsolete product that cannot be installed on my computer. Why are these obsolete products still available? Now I am inconvenienced by having to return the product. Pi$$ed I am. AND it will cost me money to return the product. NOT HAPPY. Be careful of what you buy folk.

I bought this for a computer that was running windows 7 or 8 and had to upgrade to windows 10 when I bought a new computer about 1 year later. I was told by tech support, that I have to buy a new version of dragon to get it to work the same as it did on the old computer.

Ive used three previous versions of Dragon (8,10 and 12), and was pretty lukewarm about those. But with 13 Home (and maybe with 12.5), theres some kind of corner that the recognition engine has made, and now its much more accurate, with relatively little training. Ive tried it on both my Windows 7 laptop and Windows 10 desktop with amazing results, where free flowing text is 90+ percent accurate, and often whole paragraphs are mistake-free. I did purchase a higher quality USB microphone, but even the unit that came with the CD was pretty accurate. However, my focus is on first drafts of longer emails, notes, and transcribing hand-written fiction into a computer document. I can easily churn out 1000 words in 10 minutes, spend one or two minutes manually correcting things, and its done. A great time saver. If expanding the use of the product to perform more detailed tasks or control your computer, then the expectations need to be adjusted. Its going to take more time to train it, and learn the limitations, with much more time necessary for the proper learning curve. I have not yet tried anything to complicated, but at least this version is going to allow me that option. Previous versions I just got frustrated with simple drafts.

Would not recommend this software to someone with a southern accent - I could not get product to understand my words no matter how many times I tried the setup feature that should teach the program my voice. Im fairly decent with computers but this is one of the few items Ive had to return to Amazon. It did come with a nice headset which impressed me, so Ill give it 2 stars instead of one. I felt bad that it didnt work since it would have made my life much easier. The software install and setup seemed easy and software was easy to navigate. Just a caution - once installed it seemed to make some of my other programs open slower. Update 12/1/19: I returned this software for a refund a week after purchase. However, I really needed a voice to text software and ended up buying the pro edition (even though I feared it wouldnt be any better). It was a struggle to get the software loaded but I called Dragon support and they helped. Turns out the pro version works great for me. Im using a low-cost USB mic that had high ratings (not a headset).