Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred

This version 10 is really helpful as it is - will my God is missing or get out right out of the box. It is user-friendly, intuitive and it just keeps improving as one uses it. It works well whether I am… inserting one word or running off a multiple paragraph thought that is remarkably accurate upon being reread. As one makes it one's own by adding your jargon to its vocabulary it routinely reduces time and stress relating to one's written works.

expand

collapse

WARNING #1: If you have the 64-bit Vista or Windows 7, Version 10 will not install! After you buy Version 10, you have to download version 10.1 from the Nuance website. (You'll need your product key to do… that.) If you have 64-bit XP, don't buy this product, as Version 10.1 doesn't support 6-bit XP. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably have a 32-bit operating system and you can use either Version 10 or Version 10.1. If you use Version 10, download the service pack. Version 10.1 runs under Windows 7, and I am using it on a Windows 7 64-bit system to write this review. Warning #2: After 90 days Nuance charges for tech support, and the support is mediocre. Advice #1: Get a headset with a USB connection! It transmits sound digitally. The program's accuracy is far higher than it is with an analog headset that plugs into the headphone & mic jacks. Advice #2: Run the 15 minutes of training that's offered when you start the program the first time. It helps the program adjust to your microphone and your accent (and we all have one). Advice #3: Under Tools/Accuracy Center, there's a way to teach the program to understand your speech pattern better by analyzing all the corrections you've made. Run that after every few hours of dictation after you've first installed the program. You can even set it up to run automatically by clicking on Tools/Options. Advice #4: You can download the full manual and quick start sheets from the Nuance support web site. If the program's new to you, do it and read the material. My guess is that many of the unfavorable reviews are from people who didn't do those four things. And now, the review. The first time I tried Naturally Speaking it came free with a circa 1998 computer. It was horribly inaccurate. I bought Version 4 or 5 couple of years later after reading a good review. I've upgraded almost every time a version has come out because the program keeps getting better. Version 10 gets a 5-star rating, one more than Version 9 woud have. At this point the program is accurate about 99% of the time. Right out of the box is understands many proper names (companies, cities etc.). It learns to spell special words if you take the time to train it. It even learns your particular speech pattern and accent. It's also capable of entering strings of numbers into the cells of an Excel spreadsheet, and you can use it to fill in long forms on the monitor. Still, you have to proof read carefully. Once in a while -- maybe every couple of pages of dictation -- it will turn out gibberish by stringing together perfectly spelled words that make no sense. That's part the 1% error rate to have to be aware of. Then you have to watch for situations where it mishandles homonyms - "two" instead of "too" etc. Catching that 1% can take a bit of time, but the program does slowly learn to do better, and it will learn faster if you take the time to train it. Despite time needed to catch errors, Naturally Speaking is much quicker than typing for anyone who's not a good touch typist. (I'm a 66 year old male and I didn't learn typing in high school, so this thing is great for me.) For anything longer than a page, if you can dictate in phrases rather than word by word, it's highly accurate and more efficient than typing. It's also a lot easier on your fingers. After all, your tongue is immune from carpal tunnel syndrome. The software keeps up easily with a normal speech pattern on a fast computer. On a computer with 1GB or less of memory you may want to dictate mostly into the "Dragon Pad" box that you can get from the Tools menu. That opens up an applet that saves files in a format that can be reopened in Word or WordPerfect for further formatting.

expand

collapse

I've been using this software since version 7. Version 10 installed just fine. I still use Windows XP on my laptop. The program does type faster and there is less of a delay between what you say and when… it types it out . . . that I do like better. As for the number of mistakes it makes, I don't see a major change. Some days it seems to make very few and other days it can drive you nuts. You definitely have to proof read everything you write using this type of software. Overall, it can be faster than typing by hand but you just have to be patient and be willing to correct the mistakes. As for the software and the computer connection/function, etc., that has been perfect. No problems to report at all, while when I ran version 8 I had many. I wouldn't pay full price for this software, but with a rebate this update only cost me around $40 and that was worth it.

expand

collapse