Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 [Old Version]

This is the best money I have ever spent for a program. I had read all the reviews and researched prices and this was such a deal I could not pass it up. I review and type medical records, so this was a huge time saver for me. Now instead of me typing, the dragon does all the work. You do have to train your dragon, but that has been half the fun of this program. To give an example, I was using a medical word parenthesis (numbness) and the dragon translated it to a pair of thieves in Paris!! Actually cracked me up trying to figure out what I said!! But then you just click on the word (or words in this case) and spell the word you wanted, and then train the dragon by saying that word. The next time, no matter how badly I said the word, the dragon got it right. You find yourself learning to enunciate words better. Another example was, syncope and the dragon typed, sticky feet. It is well worth letting the dragon search your files of word documents and emails to find words which it saves. Each time you add new words, he remembers it! I find myself asking, what took me so long to buy a program like this. Seriously, I do not know of other programs like this but when I searched voice activated programs on Google this one jumped off the page. I am thrilled with the results. Since purchasing it, I found a lot of my friends and family had either used it in college, or are using it today. Go for it, you will be glad you did. Watch for the sale though, because this program was $99.99 one night and $199.99 another. I got it for the $99.99 and it included the microphone and headset.

I love the fact that I dont have to type my papers, but the program took some getting use to. The supplied headphones did not work well because it distorted the speech to such an extent that the program got the words wrong. I then bought an Andrea stereo headset and this was 90% better. Now I plan to upgrade my program but havent done so because the manufacturer wants full price. I paid full price upon original purchase. The upgrade should give the consumer a price break. I would have updated annually otherwise. As it is Im holding back on this one.

I am a traveling consultant. Since I began using Dragon Naturally Speaking, I have been able to increase my written output of both client required updates and reports as well as all the internal stuff that goes with a life on the road - without adding any time to my week. Try it, youll like it! Dont be shy or impatient - take the time to work with the initial user profile setup routine. Once the Dragon learns your patterns, it is almost foolproof.

I am envious of the reviewers who had no trouble with installation. I believed, since I have a new, clean Windows 7 64 bit system, that I too would have such an experience. Outside of the fact that everything Ive ordered recently from Amazon seems to have some delay in shipment, I am extremely frustrated with this product. I used Dragon 9 on my old laptop to dictate my patient notes. While not flawless, it saved me several hours a night on charts. Upon purchase of a newer laptop, I could not (nor could anyone else) get Dragon 9 to work. After reading the reviews here and elsewhere, I ordered Version 11 Premium. 6 hours later I am still unable to install the product due to various Errors (many of which appear to be searching for a file on my C drive). My IT savvy friends are unable to install the product. Nuance Customer Service tells me there must be some other program preventing the install. Perhaps that may be true, but its hardly service to tell me theres a problem and not offer a solution. I am also not pleased that the software arrived without a manual - when I pay nearly $200 for a product I expect something more than a trifold card with quick and dirty instructions on it. The box does not even appear to be a standard manufacturers. I have faith that the seller will right things for me, but I suspect this will mean returning the item (and yes, I am aware that Windows 7 comes with its own VR software, but it doesnt work well either Ive learned).

This program seems to work well enough, but I wouldnt, based on my experience, recommend putting it in your startup folder unless you are a real computer whiz. It will take over your computer and if you try to get it out of there it may cause a big mess. Thats what happened the FIRST time I tried to use the program. Then I found out you cant use both the English and the Spanish versions on the same machine. You cant use more than one copy of DNS on one machine. When I bought the Spanish version (after purchasing the English one), I found this out the hard way. The rep did not tell me though that if you just get the Spanish one, you can make a profile in English and Spanish using just that one. Things would have been a lot easier if she had. When I got my machine into a mess trying to put the Spanish version on, I called them and another rep essentially told me that you can only use one language at the time. The gist of it was from what he said, one language, one machine. This turned out not to be true. Later, I had to uninstall my English copy and it wouldnt uninstall properly, so I called them again. The rep sent me a link to download a removal tool which worked fine. That particular representative was extremely knowledgeable and very helpful. While I had him on the phone I mentioned the bilingual problem and THEN I was told that the Spanish version will let you set up profiles in both languages. Well, I now have the Spanish version installed on my machine and it works fine for both languages. So, in my experience their customer rep department is batting 33%. Or however you say it. The program itself is not difficult to learn but it will perform SIGNIFICANTLY better if you have copious amounts of written documents and e-mails on your computer that have the same sort of vocabulary that you use. It goes out looking for these when you first train the program, and the more that is available, the better the program will recognize what you are saying. Otherwise, you have to train it more frequently.

I was a little apprehensive when I read Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Dummies and it said not to expect much if you use Biblical phrases. I had ordered Dragon for the express purpose of writting Bible Studies so I thought that I had really made a mistake. But Dragon learns easily and it incorporated the vocabulary from previously written studies and seemed to know what word to use when I spoke it. I had to train it a little on Ezekiel but it got Jehovah and Hezekiah right off. All in all I am very happy with Dragon. But dont order the Dragon for Dummies book - it is about 6 versions behind. Also do not order the Sennheiser headset microphone that is listed in Amazon as it is for wireless (even the one that doesnt say wireless) and the connector does not work properly. Speech Recogition Solutions has the same microphone with a standard plus.

I purchased this with a great deal of trepedation. My hands are arthritic so it was time to get some help. The program works, but is hard to train. I do not know if typing or dictating is better. Over time I expect the program to function better. Their 90-day tech support is too limiting. The training period, and its overall functionality, will prove if my choice was right. Dragon sent an email for an upgrade to Version 12.0. The cost of said upgrade is $99.99 or $20.00 more then Amazon charges for their software. The upgrade policy is a free upgrade if purchased within thirty days of the newer version. Otherwise they charge one-half the cost of the software if purchased within 60 to 90 days. This is the first experience with this policy. Needless to say, as per previous reviewers stated their customer service is unacceptable. There is no recourse other than keep the current version. Would I purchase Dragon again? NO! Would I recommend them based on their policies? NO!

Though Ive had the product since January Im unable to actually give it a review as my efforts at installation and activation have been unsuccessful.Reaching the customer service department at Nuance by phone has been an exercise in futility,and even their email is set up to say youre message wasnt sent because of an error,but not what the error was. I havent given up on it,though,and have hope of putting it to good use when I get it working. On a more positive note,I am able to give Amazon a review,and its a good one.You guys are the best.Many companies run well,but few are as well run,taking care of business not only with attention to detail,but with courtesy,honesty and goodwill as well.It is a genuine pleasure doing business with you.If America were as well run as Amazon,Id have a lot more faith in our future. Sincerely,mover1414,Palm Springs,California

This is my first experience with voice recognition software and overall I like this product. I describe it as comprehensively helpful because it does allow me to get a lot of text into a document or program in very little time. I bought it to enable my thought/creative processes, and Im satisfied with my increase in production. I will also say that it is technically fickle because despite the fact that I have a high-end Plantronics headset, robust computer, and no vocal accent, it still makes some pretty silly errors. I didnt think it would take so long to adapt to my voice, given its version 11, but I guess there are a lot of bells & whistles I havent tried yet that will ultimately make it a great tool.

I took the advice of the folks who advised picking up version 11.5, and not only did I save a pocket full of cash but I got a good product to boot. After installation on my Windows 7 laptop (shut off your antivirus/spyware protection first!) all it took was about 20 minutes of reading to the software for training and it was surprisingly really super accurate and fast during dictation. Another plus was that it pointed me toward a free app for my iPhone that allows me to dictate text messages (Dragon Dictation). Sweet. Follow the advice of those telling you to pickup version 11.5 and get a good product for a lot less money.