Nuance Dragon Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 (Old Version)

Ive been a Dragon user for years, so - when the new release came out - I purchased it and upgraded. It has been a disappointment -- the new Dragon bar at the top of the screen expands whenever I scroll near it, and I find the software is a lot less responsive online (I grade papers in Google Classroom, and the new version has a very difficult time recognizing online documents as text fields). After a few frustrating hours of trying to make it work, I uninstalled and tried to roll back to version 12. Unfortunately, I needed to then do a clean install and cant find the disk. I went to Nuance, figuring since I registered the product I should be able to download a clean copy and reinstall but they have no download area, and wanted me to send them ten bucks for a replacement disk. So, looks like Im moving over to Google voice to text... a real shame, after some six years of using Dragon.

I have only been using this for one day, but I must say that so far I find it incredibly functional and easy to use. My microphone is Sennheiser PC 25-S. I am speaking naturally, without having to awkwardly enunciate all my words, and the accuracy is really high, 90% or more. Whats great, too, is that telling it to correct is easy. The user interface is helpful, and prompts you in straightforward intuitive ways. I look forward to working with this more, especially as the program is learning my speech patterns and vocabulary. I purchased this after reading a lot of user reviews, and after trying to use the built in Windows speech recognition (which totally sucked! even though I was using the same quality Sennheiser microphone and spoke clearly and slowly-- accuracy rate at best was 40 to 50%-- very frustrating). One thing that was a hitch, though, was that the program did not install properly from the CD disc onto my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit desktop. But a quick call to Nuances tech support solved the problem. They walked me through discovering that, in my case, it was a .dll error, the solution to which was to uninstall, then download a new installer online which they sent me a link to. That installation went smoothly and I was immediately able to work through dictation! Whew, I am so glad! This is an important first step for me to heal from the bad tendinosis I have in both arms from too much typing and mousing!

There is a physical defect in the program disks. Amazon replaced the original order that had the same problem. The hole in the disk is slighly reduced in size by a thin rim of plastic. This blocks the insertion of the spindle on some drives. This can be visualize byoverlaying another disk where the extra rim is evident. By scraping this plastic the disk can then be read. An additional problem is present for MSN Browser users using MSN mail. If the microphone headset has a USB connection and is turned on it wil crash the MSN Browser when the email writing window is open. Unfortuately this is a one of the many of the Browsers problems. It does not appear the occur when the headset is pluged into the sound jacks.

I bought this product ten days ago because Im dyslexic and I wanted to write faster and with greater accuracy. The same day I purchased a new laptop that runs on Windows 10. I realized that because Windows 10 is rolling out slowly, Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 software might not be compatible with the new OS. I checked the Nuance Communications website and it confirmed that Dragon 13 is Windows 10 compatible. The thing is, it isnt. After installing the program and performing a microphone check, I found that the software was not only completely unresponsive to voice commands, it also crashed at random intervals. I uninstalled and reinstalled the program, purchased a different headset and deactivated the Cortana application in an attempt to get Dragon to work. None of my attempts were successful. I sent a message explaining the situation to Nuances tech support staff. After repeatedly explaining that I had already employed the above troubleshooting methods online and over the phone and proving that my microphone works, I was e-mailed a download link for what I assumed was an updated version of Dragon 13. In actuality, it was just an exact copy of the program I had already purchased. The version of Dragon I was sent was also completely unresponsive and buggy. When I relayed this information and my frustration at being sent a copy of a program I had already proved did not work on my machine to Nuances tech support, they stopped responding to my inquiries. Subsequently, I used Google to see if anyone else had encountered the same problem I was dealing with. I discovered that Nuances tech support forums were filled with complaints from other people who had run into the same issue and had also been blown off by the companys tech support staff. It was then that I gave up trying to make Dragon 13 work and returned the software. As near as I can tell, the program worked optimally with older versions of Windows, but despite the lies on Nuances website, Dragon 13 is completely nonfunctional on Windows 10, so buyer beware.

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.

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 had a very unexpected stroke several moths ago and my left hand still isnt completely back so this has been a real help. Except when I edit -- and I admit I do that a lot -- it cant seem to remember where we are on a page so I almost always have to go back and fix something or other manually. Maybe I dont speak Dragon well enough yet.

Beware!! Nuance changed its software support policy with Dragon 13. Any program that is not explicitly supported by Dragon now has to be accessed through either DragonPad or the dictation box. This means that text within legacy programs, especially legacy email programs, can no longer be edited within that program. Instead you have to do all of your edits within DragonPad or the dictation box and then transfer the result into your legacy programs. This slows down the writing process at least 50% and interrupts your train of thought repeatedly. I reverted back to 12.51 without fighting for a refund. Dragon 13 may indeed have a 15% increase in recognition accuracy over version 12. But it also has at least a 15% decrease in usability, in my case considerably more than a 15% decrease. Having said that, if you know you will only be using programs that Nuance lists as fully supported, version 13 may work well for you. However, Nuance lists Mozilla Thunderbird as fully supported. A quick search of the net will reveal that there are many users that disagree and claim that Thunderbird is not fully supported in Dragon version 13 regardless of Nuances statements to the contrary. I STRONGLY advise against upgrading from Dragon version 12.51. Also, be sure to install Dragon from a disk copy rather than a downloaded copy. Regardless of the version there are many more installation problems with downloaded copies. Time for the scalpers to stockpile disk copies of 12.51. Get them while you can folks. Additionally, do NOT judge Dragons recognition success rate in any version using the microphone that is included with a disk copy of Dragon. To use this program effectively you MUST buy a separate good-quality USB microphone. I recommend the Logitech business line of headsets. At the time of this writing these Logitechs were designated with a B somewhere in the model number rather than an H. These may only be available on eBay at this point.

I purchased this in 2015. It was working fine until my computer quit. Once the PC was repaired (new logic board) I had to reinstall all my software. When I reinstalled dragon the Serial number no longer worked. I called Nuance and they said since 13 is no longer supported I cannot activate it. THAT IS THEFT!

I never liked typing, so I really like this software! Its not perfect, sometimes I have make corrections, I expected that, its still a lot less to type! Im very happy using Dragon, to write facebook messages and emails. I ordered the Disc and the microphone. There was an option to purchase a Koss microphone, the implication was that Koss is a better microphone. So I ordered that too. I have a laptop, and as it turns out, I dont need a microphone at all! I just speak and it types! This is wonderful, because both 2 ear microphones were very tight on my head. So now I have 2 headsets for sale!