Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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277 of 278 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This author loves it!, December 14, 2004
Dragon Naturally Speaking is simply the best speech recognition software available. I've used Dragon NaturallySpeaking for many years as an author (JavaScript Concepts & Techniques: Programming Interactive Web Sites), a teacher, and before that a student. Why? Because Dragon records dictation much more quickly than I can type; and I'm not a slow typist by any means. Not only does this allow me to get my thoughts on paper more quickly and accurately before they disappear into the cosmos, but it also reduces the repetitive stress of typing - something my body appreciates profusely. There's nothing like kicking back in your chair in a relaxing position while working. It seems sinful almost.
One of the things I like best about Dragon NaturallySpeaking is its ability to learn quickly. The first speech recognition program I used didn't become super accurate until I'd used it regularly for a couple of weeks. The folks who wrote Dragon NaturallySpeaking, however, seem to have realized that time is money, so they've built a Vocabulary Optimizer tool into Dragon that helps it learn how you put words together, so to speak.
Here's how it works: after you set up your microphone and perform an initial dictation Dragon's New User Wizard will ask if you want to adapt the program to your writing style. If you accept, and I highly recommend that you do, Dragon will scan all of the text, Word, and WordPerfect documents in the My Documents folder on your hard drive to analyze your particular writing style. This process significantly, and I do mean significantly, increases Dragon NaturallySpeaking's overall recognition accuracy from the get-go. You can always run the Vocabulary Optimizer later, too.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking also includes lots of other tools that can help improve its accuracy. Occassionally, you may notice that Dragon has trouble transcribing a particular word or phrase. The most likely cause is that the troublesome word isn't in Dragon's vocabulary. Not only can you add the word to Dragon's vocabulary, but you can also train the pronunciation of it so the next time you use the word during dictation, Dragon can better recognize it.
If you do a lot of technical writing like I do, there are likely lots of words you use that Dragon doesn't have in its vocabulary. No problem. Just use its Add Words tool and have Dragon scan documents you've already written for words it doesn't know and improve its vocabulary in nothing flat. You can also type a list of words and phrases you want Dragon to learn, on separate lines in a plain text file, and have the program scan it with the "Add a list of words to your vocabulary" tool. Dragon NaturallySpeaking can also analyze your sent email and add names from your email address book.
If you've never dictated your thoughts before, it may feel awkward at first. It takes a little time for your brain to make the transition from typing your thoughts to dictating them. I had trouble with it at first: similar to the transition I went through when I switched from handwriting my thoughts to typing my thoughts. Give yourself some time to adjust to the process. It's well worth the effort in terms of time savings, thought recording accuracy, and less wear and tear on your body. Dragon NaturallySpeaking also makes the transition to dictation easier than other speech recognition programs. You don't have to talk like a robot to dictate successfully to your computer. With Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you just speak naturally.
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408 of 418 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Version 8 might actually do it!, November 15, 2004
UPDATE Feb. 27, 2006: The program is still working wonders. Every now and then, it forgets and needs to be retrained. I consider that a minon hassle for the convenience I have when I use the program. I still recomment it, and up it to 4.5 stars.
I read all the horror stories about Dragon Naturally Speaking version 7, and was reluctant to purchase the product. I also read reviews about IBM ViaVoice, and was reluctant to purchase that one as well. I subsequently decided to get Dragon Naturally Speaking version 7 based purely on features available. However, my local retailer out of the product and informed me that version 8 was soon to be released.
I bit the bullet last night and purchased Naturally Speaking Preferred version 8, and hoped that I would not have the same problems that many of the previous reviewers had with version 7. I opened the package, put in the CD-ROM and proceeded with the install wizard. My first attempt was a relative disaster, giving an error number 1335, explaining that there was a cab file that could not be found because: either there was a network error; or an error reading from the CD-ROM; or that there was actually a problem with the package from the vendor. I searched the CD-ROM and could not find the cab file that had been mentioned in the error message. So, I tried the installation one more time. This time it worked. My next step was to plug in the microphone and headset that came with the package. I went through the initial training of the microphone and setting sound levels, and got an indication that while the levels were not very good, they were understandable.
My next trials and tribulations occurred when I was actually trying to train the program for my voice. This is when my computer started freezing and I had to keep on rebooting the computer. And then I had a brainstorm! I decided to plug the microphone into the back of the computer rather than to the microphone jack on the front of my computer. Ever since I did that, the program has been working wonderfully!
The program is doing a fairly decent job of recognizing my voice after only 30 minutes of training. I did take the time to go through the 14 slide tutorial, and that may have given the program more opportunity to recognize my speech patterns. I have used it in Word Dragon Pad with success. I have had several problems with Internet Explorer since installing the program. I cannot confirm that these problems are because of Naturally Speaking since these problems were beginning after I installed service pack 2.
I will caution you to either put your microphone to sleep or to turn it off when the telephone rings. I forgot to do this and had a very interesting insertion in the file I was working on at the time. Nothing like humor to lighten your day!
I'm using voice recognition to create this review. Because I am new at this, I did correct errors made in voice-recognition. It was easy to do while I was dictating. Doing so gave me practice in learning how this program works, and in the voice commands available for correcting.
I'm running Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred version 8 on a Dell XPS (Pentium 4, 3Ghz, one gig of RAM), using Windows XP home for my operating system. I had previously installed Service Pack two. For now I'm using the microphone that came with the package and do not think I am experiencing adverse results.
When I initially had the installation problems, I did visit ScanSoft web site's technical support. As previous reviewers have noted, there is zilch for technical support. Fortunately, by plugging the microphone into the rear of the computer, I no longer have the computer-freeze problem; so I am not in a position where I need technical support. Let's hope I never actually DO need tech support.
With my limited one day's experience, I will give this product 4 stars, and will return at a later date to give an update on his review. If you are considering this product, I do say go cautiously, and heed the previous reviews which have been rated as useful by most readers of the reviews. They all have good and bad things to say about the product, and help with the overall decision-making process. But, maybe this Version 8 has fixed some of the major bugs. Keeping my fingers crossed (and hopefully my tongue NOT tied!).
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54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very satisfied, works great., March 21, 2005
I am writing this review using the Dragon naturally speaking 8 preferred software. I just started using it and I'm very happy.
I use a Compaq Presario x1000 laptop, Windows XP, 500 MB RAM, and an Andrea 750 microphone. Oh, and I do use Microsoft Office small business edition 2003. Because of prior reviews of Dragon software, I did some research before buying this product. (The first thing I did was throw out my old IBM ViaVoice disk. It's useless and per my research, not worth upgrading.)
Scansoft is also worthless for tech support or advice.
I contacted eMicrophones, their web site is eMicrophones.com, and got some great advice. They advised a minimum 500 MB RAM and a better microphone, the Andrea ANC-750. They also advised a USB soundcard as the sound card in most laptops is not shielded and noisy. I'm glad I took their advice. My laptop smokes, even using the voice software. No compatability problems at all. No crashes or slowdowns (and I do have XP SP2 installed).
I hope this helps you all. Kurt
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