Customer Reviews

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(43)

 

 

The original title of my review was going to be "snookered again," but I've since had a change of heart (and sound card). I originally purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 4 years ago which was a total piece of junk. Upon hearing a short review on NPR, it sounded like things had improved.

First off, caveat emptor. You need a good sound card. Nuance is not very helpful here. Their website/docs simply state you need a Sound Blaster 16. I don't know if it's occurred to them you can't purchase a Sound Blaster 16 card anymore (nor would you want to), and they should just bite the bullet and present a list of cards that work well (like they do for microphones). I bought a Sound Blaster X-fi XtremeMusic which seems to work. Second, you need a hefty machine. For me this is a 2.4 GHz dual processor XP workstation with a gig of RAM. The box says you can get by with 512 MB of RAM and a 1 GHz processor, I'm not sure I believe this.

Once you have the right hardware in place the software seems to work fairly well. This review was dictated using the software. However, I'm not giving them five stars because they still seem to suffer from poor software engineering. As an example, take the set up and training process. I was waiting for a new sound card to arrive and thought I would try using my onboard sound card built into my Dell. The setup process did claim that the sound quality was insufficient. Unfortunately, navigating out of the process was impossible leaving me stuck at the "welcome to general training" screen. When the new sound card arrived, Dragon was still stuck looking at the on board sound system and had no UI to allow me to use the new sound card. My only solution was to disable the onboard sound system which luckily forced Dragon back into configuration mode where I could reselect my microphone parameters. A second example of amateur software development was an error message ("can't load compatibility module") that is caused by Dragon's attempt to build a link between icons on the desktop and voice commands. This message wouldn't be so bad if it were not accompanied by random crashes ("dragon is unable to respond, please close all applications using..."). A recently posted knowledge base article states that the error message only comes up if links are invalid on the desktop, and suggest removing things using RegEdit (I kid you not). After uninstalling a SonyEricsson desktop link that I wasn't using, the message went away along with the random crashes.

In summary, Dragon has matured from snake-oil ware (v4) to usable. However, they need to make an investiment in the non-voice rec modules of their software.

I have long looked at voice dictation software and been disappointed. I am a professional writer and the possibility of dictating my work at least in draft form has always been so appealing that I tried every generation of voice dictation software going back to the early 1990s.

I received NaturallySpeaking 9 last night and captured the screen cast of the out of box experience. While I did not achieve recognition in the upper 90th percentile, I did achieve recognition significantly better than any I have seen before in previous generations. Fans of voice dictation have long said that, "if only you train the application for a few weeks, you can achieve quite practical levels of recognition. " I imagine that's true, but I've never had an initial experience positive enough to make me try.with NaturallySpeaking, the out of box experience is so good that I am willing to continue working with the application.

While I do own a hefty system, dual processors and a few gigabytes of RAM, unlike the other reviewer I've had a very positive experience using only the motherboard's onboard sound.

I won't give it five stars, because I do think that Nuance is overstating the recognition statistics out of the box: while it's extremely good, better than anything I've seen, it is not, for me, only one or two words in 100 that I need to fix.

I've dictated this review, and made around five corrections. Several paragraphs were recognized flawlessly. Given that I type 90 words per minute I think that I would've been able to type this review in approximately the same amount of time,but for slower typists, or for those of us who occasionally dictate documents into recorders for later transcription, I believe that NaturallySpeaking has reached a tipping point and is worth the money.

I was impressed with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8, but version 9 is vastly improved in terms of speech recognition. Version 8 was excellent; perhaps in the 95% range. Version 9 comes very close to 100% right out of the box, without any special training.

Nuance is clear about the product requirements. A processor faster than 1Ghz is required along with at least 1GB of RAM (with 512MB minimum free). At least 650 MB of drive space is required. (The previous reviewer apparently did not read these requirements.)

Installation on a computer running Windows XP SP 2 was entirely uneventful. Setting NaturallySpeaking v9 up with two different microphones was a snap. Recognition in a variety of applications was literally 100% without any training. It was, in fact, amazing. Setting the program up to run with a digital voice recorder, however, didn't go so smoothly - and that's why my rating is only 3 stars for what technologically is a 5 star product.

Nuance's tech support is absolutely awful. They charge $ 9.95 even for an e-mail response, which they call an "incident." The manual has virtually no information on troubleshooting. Their online knowledgebase is not well indexed. Or, more accurately, they are running it on a particularly poor platform. Their user community is sparsely used and a lot of the information is useless.

Nuance should learn that turning out a superior product isn't enough. It has to be supported competently as well and it is here that Nuance falls flat on its face.

On the other hand, I recognize that the product is working with two microphones and hopefully I will find the answer to my problem somewhere, some day. As a long-time (and long-suffering) voice recognition software user, I will say the accuracy of NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred is phenomenal. Only the support stinks.

Jerry

As an owner of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 professional I am here to tell you that this version is so much better and I am totally amazed. It makes very few errors and you don't have to train it as much as the other versions. In fact I spent about 20 minutes training program and it works great. One thing I did differently this time is that I bought a high-end noise canceling microphone because I don't like using a headset. Take a look at the Buddy Desktop Mic. It is totally awesome and it works very well with this program. In fact have dictated this entire review using the program and the new mic. Do make sure that you have a high-end computer with plenty of RAM. My system:

Intel Pentium 3.2 GHz
one gig of RAM and NVIDIA 6600 GT PCI express video card.

It took me a lot of research to find the right microphone and program but this is definitely it. I hope this review helps you and happy dictating!

PLEASE NOTE -- I'm TYPING this paragraph, but the REST of the review was dictated (unedited for insertion here, except where noted therein) by using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred, using the minimum required training, even though the product is advertised as requiring NO training. Use your imagination to figure out what I was really saying during that dictation!

The first thing I thought was important to note in this review was that there are a couple full Asia's comments that were used in the advertising for this product on Amazon.com. First, the advertisement states that, "no script reading required to get started", and "require no training," which are both statements that are utterly untrue. As soon as installation is completed, you are asked to begin training for the new user -- just as in previous versions. I'm as shocked as such blatantly false statements could be made in the product's manufacturer or not get in trouble for making them. When you began in and immediately insisted she go to the standard training, in fact I think it's the same training required in Virgin eight with the same selections. In fact, I tried starting dictation without doing any training, and I was informed that the user files were not ready to allow this user to begin dictation yet; instead, I was required to get into the same training as was required in Virgin eight before I could do any dictation. Thus, the reason for my giving this product such a low rating out of the box is because of the false advertising, backspace; if it gets better I mean in my original rating to reflect improvements in the product if they happen during further use in training. "Mean in my" in that last sentence was actually "I may emend" (had to type those three words by hand).

As to whether this program's (that word originally came out as "Koran's"!) dictation is 99% correct as adverse ties in the description, you can be the judge from this dictation's accuracy or inaccuracy.

Oh yes, I also had the same problem of us have had with insistence of either register and reregister and reregister the product.

It is very possible, and that it will improve with use. However, I'm very frustrated that I opted to delete my previous user files from Virgin eight because I was told by the advertisement of a product that there was no dictation necessary which suggested that I did not need mild user files. The word "mild" in the previous sentence actually was "my old." So much for 99% accuracy. So far, I can't really tell any difference in original accuracy over Virgin eight, other than the fact that the Dragon bar is graphics look a little different. The tutorials are the saying with the exception of a small addition of conveying its(that was Advanced) tutorials covering a small amount of information. The training looks the same date, the N. accuracy at star looks about the same, as Virgin eight. I hope this will improve with training, but I have to say that I'm definitely not throw for false advertising regarding a lack of training needed to begin using this product.

Other than the addition of an extra installation disk or a DVD, I'm really beginning to wonder if there is any difference for improvement with Virgin nine over Virgin eight, other than the fact that I just blew another [...], after the rebate a having gotten yet, to "upgrade." And, by the way, I truly do not speak ungrammatical he, which I'm guessing is the impression you getting from the gobbledygook you reading here. Point being, what comes out of my mouth does not as necessarily equal what comes out on the page. Again judge for yourself the insistence that there is no training needed you can start right away and then it is 99% accurate. That is In Oh TE what I just said, and so much for the autopunctuation functions accuracy. Good grief! Even one I try to correct a nonsensical vacation, what comes out of my correction is anime remotely what appears on the screen to be oh so incredibly accurate Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9. Oh yes brother, that's got to be in 99th percentile for sure exhalation mark.
---
Addendum (this is typed, not dictated) --
Another reviewer here, Chris B, is also absolutely right about the "uninvited guest" InstallShield Update Manager that surreptitiously gets installed with DNS9 Preferred. I didn't see it until after posting my initial review. This "Service" even becomes a permanent fixture in your CONTROL PANEL, and it apparently now "manages" my updates for Jasc and Corel products on my computer in addition to DNS9 Preferred. After finding that it does not work to fix the update error problem (see below), I've simply firewall-blocked its recurrent attempts to access the Internet for unknown/undisclosed reasons. Really annoying, and Chris B is also correct in that I also can not find ANYTHING about this unannounced, background add-on program in the Nuance DNS9 documentation.

Interestingly, in their "knowledge base," there is the following disclaimer: "The InstallShield Update Manager is not included with any ScanSoft product, but is downloaded from the InstallShield website. To un-install the Update Manager utility, download the remover from Installshield's website." In other words, it doesn't come on the discs, but during installation, they download a third party's program off of the Internet and install it on your computer without your knowledge or permission. Sound comforting?

Additionally, my installation of DNS9 can't recognize the fact that the program has been registered (successfully according to the online web page, but unsuccessfully according to the DNS9 on my computer!) THREE times now, so it refuses to check for updates, giving me the "Error 13003: Version Not Registered with the Update Service" message that another reviewer here has also posted about. So, the program won't check for updates. How can I fix that?

The grandiosely named "InstallShield Update Manager" does not function to fix this problem (even when I allow my firewall to let it connect to the Internet), so I dunno, but I can get one "free" help call with Nuance, but any further ones cost $19.99 per "incident." Even worse, to email for support, you have to complete a "Problem Report Form," which costs $9.95 per "incident." I've rarely seen a company charge for email tech support. So, to get this program installed properly, I'm supposed to pay THEM to help me debug THEIR product? Really revolting. Again, to borrow from Chris B's review, he's absolutely right about the lack of "good ol' customer service with this mob."

The dictation quality is improving slowly, though it's still nowhere near 99% accurate as advertised, and these other headaches, backdoor sneakery, and the CS money racket just to get the product functional make me want to deduct a star from my original review. I won't do that, though, in hopes that this revision isn't "inadvertently withheld in processing" for a week by this site's management as the first version of my review for this product was.

My Hardware Info -- Dell Dimension XPS Gen 3, Intel Pentium 4 550 w/HyperThreading (HT) Technology (3.40GHz), 1.00GB RAM, Windows XP SP2, Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM), Telex H-531 DIGITAL USB Microphone

Update -- May 07, 2008 -- Broke my Telex microphone while moving and replaced it with a Plantronics Foldable USB Stereo Headset (Optimized for Laptop Use) (Audio 470 USB). Accuracy is substantially better than the Telex, even with minimal training. I can't add any stars to my review, though, because even though this microphone works better, DNS 9 Preferred says that the sound quality of the Telex was better than the Plantronics, even when the Plantronics is functioning better. See my review on the Plantronics microphone for details.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is NOT fully Vista compatible. It is NOT compatible with 64 bit Vista, ONLY 32 bit Vista.

(And I don't understand why anyone would want to use 32 bit Vista, considering the fact that ALL computers made today use 64 bit technology!!!)

AHHHH!!!! It just doesn't make any sense, and now I can't use Dragon anymore because the official Nuance site DOES NOT mention this incompatibility ANYWHERE! Believe me, I searched the site entirely and it misleadingly claims 'Vista compatible'. This is not true. It won't even install, let alone run on a 64 bit system.

Nuance needs to get with the 21st century and make DNS compatible with 64 bit systems.

This product needs horsepower! Don't buy it unless you have a newer processor and at least a gig of ram. Best excuse I can think of to please your gaming children while being purely rational.

I go back to version 3 or 4, I forget, and unlike many firms these folks hand you new performance each time rather than easy to see features. Version 9 is definitely a step up from version 8. You may not notice these improvements but they are there. I have a noise cancelling microphone that I can now use to dictate while listening to the radio. I can vary my speaking pace from phrase to phrase. And they seem to have crammed the better part of several dictionaries into their revised vocabulary.

In all the years I have owned this product I have never needed to call customer support. I can't see downchecking folks on a product feature I never use.

But what you want to know is who needs it. Blind folks, obviously. And anyone with the sort of dislexia that makes writing a chore. Indeed anyone who finds getting the words out a problem. Then there are folks like me. I can type 60 words a minute but DNS lets me dictate at three times that speed. More to my comfort, I never figured out how to type while lying flat on my back in bed. I dismantled several typewriters trying.

Now these folks, unlike most software vendors, offer a try-out period. Use it for a while... USE IT... and if it doesn't work out for you send it back for a full refund (save always as to shipping). But you SHOULD give it a fair shake as try-out. You will need to invest at least three hours... training, dictating, and correcting to get up to speed. Anyone who expects that it will work perfectly straight out of the box is a fool. It's supposed to learn your voice, your style, your vocabulary. And it is brighter than a three-year-old who might take some months to get to the same understanding. Give it half the patience you would give a three-year-old and you will be astonished.

This is, at the moment I write, my most used and favorite software in all the world.

Joe Dehais

I read a very enthusiastic review of DNS and decided to give it a try. I am not unfamiliar with speech recognition having used products from IBM and L&H in the past. Didn't hurt that Amazon was offering a great deal: a $70 rebate off the $179 sticker price, bringing the Preferred package down to near-Standard pricing.

It arrived, I installed it, and the trouble began.

In the two decades I have been installing software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking takes a prize for misbehavior. I started by trying to install it on the F:\ drive because I really don't like the OS and the Apps sharing a room. No go. DNS could not find dnstk10.dll even though it was plainly visible in its Program folder. The requested reinstall produced the same result.

I scrubbed the Registry of all reference to Nuance, repartitioned the C:\ drive, and let DNS go where it wanted. This time, the error message was that sapidll.dll had not registered and could I please reinstall.

A search revealed a patch: spchapi.exe. It took dropping into Nuance's site via Google to find it because Nuance's own search engine had never heard of it. Seems sapidll.dll was not part of my XP Pro SP2 install. Who knew?

Downloaded and applied the patch and, finally, the program began to work. And it's pretty decent. Unfortunately, the program refuses to quit asking me to register. And, when I've gone through the registration process, the EREG.EXE hangs and must be killed manually. Have renamed the EREG.EXE in hopes of putting it out of my misery.

While DNS is the best speech recognition program I've ever used, the problems of getting it installed have taken a bit of the shine off it.

I bought this program hoping to dictate away. The speech recognition is markedly improved. However, it has repeatedly fed me error messages for which there is no technical support. I have received no response from Nuance to emails and their product support line was busy.Their online blog had numerous instances of similar problems. I instituted the recommended fix. It seemed to fix that problem.

It seemed to be working, then froze my Word document. I exited the program and Word, then reentered them and ran repeatedly into the same problem.I am permanently deleting it now.

This program has bugs on top of bugs. I am hoping it hasn't permanently corrupted my Word program.

If you like pulling your hair out or are some kind of masochist, this program is for you. Otherwise don't waste your money.

I just purchased and installed NaturallySpeaking nine, which I started using to write this review. I gave up on it because it took so darned long with all the errors.

I think the program has some merit. At $49, I would have loved it. At $199, I think it's quite poor.

There are some strong positives. I would rate the accuracy fairly high, with some exceptions. It didn't take long to train the program or to learn how to use it, so I think eventually I will be very happy with it, if I can get over a few frustrations that are almost unbearable.

First, the microphone is a joke... a $200 program with a $.30 microphone and now my head hurts so much that I don't notice my wrist problem. Maybe that was the idea.

The em dash symbol in the program is incorrect, and there's no way to fix it. It inserts an em dash like this --- instead of the 3 dashes joined, as in Word. I've spent an hour trying to fix this and it doesn't appear to be possible. So I got on their website looking for help and discovered I have to pay for any help I want. Even to try to use their knowledge base is difficult and the forums require a lengthy sign up. Reporting a glitch takes another lengthy signup...so I decided I'd put my report on Amazon instead. I suspect it will have more chance of getting noticed here. I would say this company cares and not one iota about its users.

And, finally, the program occasionally hangs up and won't budge. My system has a Pentium 4 processor and a gig of RAM, so that's not the problem. I was hoping that by version nine it would be a much better product than it is. And FYI, I could have typed this in less than five minutes. It's taken me a half an hour to dictate using the program because I have to keep going back and fixing things that the program does incorrectly. If you don't absolutely need voice activation software, I would wait until another company comes out with a better product. This product needs better software and a better company.