Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 12, English (Old Version)

I was very excited to get this, because all I do is type all day long, and I am not the best typist. So, my hope was that this software would assist me with that, and what I found was that it had more major errors than my own typing. I tried two different headset microphones with similar results. Part of the issue was that I write in a certain specific vernacular, and the software was a struggle around some of the words. On the other hand, if I were handicapped in any way that made typing difficult, I would think this software would be a dream come true. It has its merits!

I just bought Dragon for the first time, having waited until the s/w had been around long enough to hopefully work well, and the first day I was ecstatic as the recognition works very well with my plantronics Savi headset, but noticed serious apparent interactions esp Firefox acting badly and sloooowly, and lots of firefox and excel freezes (Office 2007), so looked to Amazon reviews to verify. Sadly it is the usual software story, great initial product becomes bloatware (usually after sale to larger company) as excess new versions are developed to milk users and maintain cash flow, and company wont fund a needed rewrite from scratch. This exact thing happened with ACT over a decade, great to horrible. I think the subscription model or SAAS is best as it does not encourage version pre-release to meet revenue deadlines. Ive tried switching browser to Chrome and IE, and the conflicts resulting in slow performance and freezes crept in. This is crapware, and Im still on the fence about whether the benefits (I love taking a break from typing) outweighs how badly my computer gets messed up. Im thinking Ill try using it for email twice a day, shutting it down and restarting right after.

I am a physician and bought this program to work in the EMR. I bought this version solely because of the cost. I have used the medical version and it is a little more straight forward to use. That said I find that I can dictate using my iPhone and the program is very good about understanding even most medical terms. It is not possible to dictate directly into the EMR but as long as the cursor is in the right place it is easy to get the data into the EMR. So I would recommend this for clinicians who do not want to spend the money on the medical version.

I can type fairly well, but thought by having this I could save a little time. WRONG. First Ill say that I dictated reports for 20 plus years and never had an office assistant complain about my dictation. I understand the commands to use, talk clearly, into the mic. I also took the time to train Dragon, and edit its mistakes. I use the provided headset in a quiet office. It still couldnt understand what I believe are easy things: wood stove not would stove, light bulb not white ball, etc. In the end, it takes me so much time to go back, locate all the errors, correct them, and reproof that Im spending twice the time I did without Dragon. So....if you can type at all, youre better off typing. This is not a time saver. It does however provide some entertainment reading its mistakes. No, its not abandoned Raj, its a band in the garage.

works pretty well - every now and then will take some time to wake up if the microphone has been turned off for a long time, but other than that, works great. the speech recognition is incredible. using it with microsoft usb headset though, not the one that came with it.

It takes quite a lot of time to train the software, but if you keep working at it you can get it to work well. Helps save the hands & wrists. I bought this version because it comes with a headset (mic & speakers) and Im glad I did.

I dictated an email message after the 15 minute initial training set up and it did about 90% accuracy or more. I was flat amazed. I dont dictate as well as I speak especially when Im reading the words I am dictating. If I did additional training it would produce much better accuracy. Im waiting for a version which automatically inserts punctuation and corrects grammar. This software is so advanced, Im predicting that day will be here soon. I use Logitech wireless H800 headsets as recommended in the list of qualified headsets. I have noisy fans, but the noise cancellation of the H800 eliminates the background noise. I have an IVY Bridge 3770K CPU with 8 GB of RAM. Im sure that helps a lot, too.

I have an infirmity in my hands and makes it difficult to type, so I badly needed assistance from my voice recognition software package. This package is working well, it couldnt be better. However it seems determined to add unwanted words. At present, it inserts the word for over and over and over again. The program does save me time, for but for needs considerable refinement . It also skips words. Using the program requires a great deal of time for editing.

I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking for years, starting with version 6, and, while the early versions left something to be desired, they worked pretty well. I bought Dragon Version 10 and used it for a couple of years and was very happy with it. When I got a new computer running Windows 7 my Dragon 10 would not run so I upgraded to 12. What a mistake! While it does translate speech into text it is so irritating to use that I have gone back to my old computer and version 10. Since many words sound alike (isle/aisle, to/two/too, etc.) the program will sometimes make a mistake. With my old version I could select the word and say spell that and the program would let me make a correction, either by choosing the right word from a list or actually spelling the word on the keyboard and training the program to understand it. With this one about 90% of the time it refuses to work. If I say spell that the program comes back with spell letter S, deletes the word and inserts an S. Other times it will say spell bracket and insert a bracket. Many times it refuses to do anything and just sits with the cursor blinking. I am using the same microphone I used before and have even tried a wireless USB mic with the same result. If you go to the Nuance website there are a bunch of FAQs, but no easy way to talk to customer support. Maybe version 13 is better but i am not about to plunk down another $100 to find out. I wish I could recommend it but I cant.

I bought this to help my daughter write papers for school. She spent over an hour programming her voice into the software and when she began using it, it couldnt follow her voice accurately. She is in the 7th grade and her vocabulary is not sophisticated. When she spoke into the software it would type about every third or forth word incorrectly, requiring her to go back and manually edit the text. Once the editing was finished she had lost her train of thought and had to go back and try to recall where she was in her writing. By the time she got through the first two paragraphs (175 words = 45 minutes) her writing was incomplete and far below her ability. I am going to post the software on Craigslist where I will be competing with many other dissatisfied customers selling theirs.