Customer Reviews

Sony ICDSX68DR9 Digital Voice Recorder with Dragon NaturallySpeaking RE Software

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm writing this review with this software and recorder package. It's fair to say that I'm very conflicted about it. On the one hand, now that it's all working correctly, this is a tremendous product package that seems to offer enormous possibilities. On the other hand, getting to the point where it actually works can best be described as torture and not for the faint of heart. The recorder itself works very well, is quite accurate, and has instructions are clear and easy to understand. The battery life is seems quite long and the capacity in terms of the amount of recordings that it can hold is enormous. I did have to go to Sony help to get the recorder software (not the dictation software) to work on Vista -- relatively painless.

So much for the good stuff. The "Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred 9 Recorder Version" software, however, comes with virtually no instructions. Nowhere in the package or in the recorder instruction manual is there anything useful about using it. Using the help system that comes with the software is initially awful and usually unhelpful. After a seemingly uncomplicated installation process, I quickly ran into roadblocks figuring out what to do to get it working. At the website of Nuance software, the manufacturer of Dragon Naturally Speaking, you look in vain for any suggestions. They mentioned one free help call and a charge for each call after that. More remarkable is discovering that the "Recorder Version" software appears nowhere on their website. I learned from Sony that this version of Dragon is less than fully functional, but how it differs, I have no idea. One of the first installation screens allows you to upgrade, of course, at a cost. I called the Sony help line, level 1,multiple times with no useful results until they gave me the number for Sony level 2 support. A call back from their expert on the Dragon software never happened. Another tech told me that I couldn't call Nuance software for assistance because calls to them would be met with, "this is a Sony product. Talk to them." There were no instructions or manuals at Sony on how to use the product. Although it took multiple calls spread out over several days, the tech got the program functioning for me by using one of those programs where they take control of my computer remotely and demonstrated the basic functions to me. I was pleased with his persistence and patience. It may be that the upgrade will prove worth it at some point, and I may do it. At the same time, I wonder if the upgrade will continue to offer a reasonable interface with the software that the recorder uses that connects to Dragon. The business practices of Nuance software are reprehensible. How Sony and got roped into putting this package together with no instructions for a complicated software package is beyond me.

For disgusted users of earlier versions of the Dragon software, as I was, I can say that this package is head and shoulders above the others that required countless hours of training but still produced text that required endless proof reading and correcting. With this software, the dictation to text has been nearly perfect except for words that are unusual, and this problem is the same as having a new secretary confronted with vocabulary unfamiliar to her. Still, Nuance's decision to allow a version of the software onto the market with no documentation, a fourth rate help system and a market model that seems to rely on immediate upgrading and paying for help is unconscionable.

This is where I am with it today. It now seems to work almost flawlessly, but I've left a lot of stuff out about how I got there. There are many things I don't yet know how to do, but I can get from the recorder to accurately typed text in a word processor. If you're up to the challenge, the price you pay for this package may be worth the difficulties.

I value the comments and reviews on Amazon very highly and usually make my purchases based upon them. However, in this case, the reviews for this product were either very negative or very positive and I decided to heed the advice of the Scribbletalk review and purchase this item.

I was NOT disappointed. The recorder works flawlessly and produces a quality recording even in less than ideal situations (on a bus, with other chatter in the background, and in windy conditions outside.) The only negative thing I can say about it is that every time you hook it up to the computer to transcribe your recordings, it will first charge the battery in the recorder before doing anything else. I haven't investigated yet if I can over-ride this in "options" so it may not be a problem at all.

Okay, let's be realistic about the bundled software, Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS) "Recorder Edition" version 9.5. This is NOT the full-blown version 10 Professional version that costs about $600. It's the "Recorder Version" that only works with transcribing from files produced on a digital voice recorder like the Sony. It does NOT have the capabilities of using voice commands to control your computer and other software that is on your computer.

The software works very well and is very easy to use even without a manual. You also need to load the Sony software that converts the voice recording to a file type that DNS can use for transcription. The Sony software was also effortlessly loaded and works easily and well.

The "training" phase for DNS was very easy to do. I simply read 15 minutes of text into the recorder and DNS worked through it and "learned" how to recognize my voice. You can also let DNS sift through your email and documents folders to "learn" your writing style which also will reduce the number of voice recognition errors.

After this 15 minutes of training, I dictated a few pages of my writing ideas into the recorded and then transcribed it. It was amazing to watch DNS throw down my text much faster than if I had typed it. Also, there were very few errors and the error that were there were really due to my slurring a word now and then.

When you are editing the transcription and find a word or two that do not seem to be right, you highlight the words and hit "playback" and you can then hear what you said on the recording and correct it. That's how I discovered that the mistakes DNS made were really my fault in pronunciation.

The bottom line is that the Sony recorder and DNS software work very well. If you need heavy-duty software for medical or legal transcription you should consider the latest full version of DNS, a professional grade microphone, and a professional recorder. However, for the rest of us who just want to easily get thoughts, letters, emails, ideas, creative writing or whatever down on paper quickly and easily, this recorder and software will do the trick.

Unlike other reviewers I had no need to try and contact Sony or Nuance for assistance. I did however find many internet sources of tutorials and user support groups which have quickly answered any questions I had about fine-tuning things.

I purchased this knowing that it also included the Dragon Naturally Speaking Recorder Edition software with the intention of transcribing meeting recordings into text as MoM (minutes of meeting). The recorder itself is very simple to operate for recording and play back. The included Sony software that allows you to convert the recordings into a mp3 file onto your computer's hard drive was equally simple to use. The quality of the recording was excellent. However, attempting to use the Dragon Naturally Speaking software to try and convert the recorded meeting into text was not very good. The software was designed pretty much for an individual's speech pattern not for multple person speaking on a single recording. The Dragon Naturally Speaking software does allow you to set up multiple speech and writing patterns. The skinny is that both products are very good but like anything else the Dragon Naturally Speaking software will no doubt get better as times passes. If you are looking for a simple tool to record a single voice pattern and convert into a word or text document, this combination is for you.

I'm not sure why one of the other reviewers had such a bad experience. I'm SO glad I bought this product BEFORE I read the negative reviews. I purchased this recorder and then read the reviews and decided to open it and go for it anyway.

The installation was a breeze and even the dragon software held my hand every step of the way. I was up and running in about 20 minutes. I installed the software, made a test recording, transferred the file, read the provided passage for voice recognition, and the software started transcribing my notes with a fair degree of accuracy.

I'm dictating case notes and this product is working wonderfully for me.

The software vender does not support this product sold in this fashion. I went ahead and upgraded to Dragon 10 ($40 more). I did the training readings under version 9, upgraded to version 10 and my dictations are so garbled as to be non-sense. This product combo is not a quick easy solution for dictating. The voice recorder itself works ok, but don't expect that trained profile to be effective at dictating your thoughts.

I read the reviews about software problems but bought this recorder anyway. To my relief the software installed without a hitch, except that the first time I recorded the 15 minutes of text required to activate the Dragon Naturally Speaking software the signal to noise ratio was too low. I recorded again with an external microphone and all went smoothly. (The software told me that the s-to-n level was too low the first time.) In fact, I was quite impressed with how the Sony Digital Voice Editor software and the Dragon software integrated. It was truly effortless.

I don't have much experience with the actual recorder yet, but it seems to work satisfactorily. A couple of notes of caution: It is quite sensitive to movement noise, so if holding it while recording you have to be careful to keep it still. And the Dragon software will only "learn" one person's voice, so you can't transcribe a meeting with it.

The recorder itself is very very cool, especially when paired with a Olympus ME-15 Microphone. The recordings are crisp, and a battery charge lasts forever.

If you're planning on doing speech-to-voice transcription, I highly recommend this product as well. The included version of DNS is not full-featured, but is perfect for this purpose. If you think you're going to right a Best Seller while vacuuming the house and watching TV, however, it's not going to happen- You'll need to learn how to adjust your speaking slightly, and most importantly speak CLEARLY. It can't tell what you're saying if youmuffleallyourwordstogether or tink dat its kewl to tak l1ke dis. Neither can I. I use it for grading/annotating papers (professor), writing blog entries, and transcribing meeting notes.

Highly recommended.

I bought this product to capture some focus groups I conducted. Despite considerable background noise, the recorder did a great job of picking up all of the participants. Some people spoke very softly, but the device still caught it. I was disappointed that the transcription software is only for a single speaker, and only works after reading a lenghty test passage. I did have some trouble with the transcribe function of the recorder's software, whereby it would take several seconds to respond when I paused it, and it would completely lose the file if I saved the Word document I was typing into. Otherwise, the device worked well and did what I needed it to do.

I use this for meetings and note taking. Documentation is not the best, but once through the learning curve, it works great. Dragon is not the greatest, but it works well once you have figured it out. For those on the road, you can't beat its size.

I have had this recorder for over a year and use it regularly to dictate my Sunday School lessons. The device is easy to use, and the transcription is not perfect, but is good. I was surprised how good it is. Certainly good enough that I continue to use it regularly. The software was easy enough to install and the use of it is intuitive. Voice recognition software from Nuance is about this expensive or more so and you still have to buy a recorder. This package at this price is very attractive. Sony now has a newer model ICD-SX700d which is probably better. It comes with version 10 of the Dragon software which is a newer version.

If I had to make this decision again, I would buy another of these recorders. Spend a little effort, this recorder will be very rewarding.