NY Times Video of how Dragon Works | Dragon Naturally Speaking 7 Preferred [Old Version]

Easier but not necessarily faster than typing | Dragon Naturally Speaking 7 Preferred [Old Version]

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	• Dragon Naturally Speaking 7 Preferred [Old Version] Windows \| Nuance Communications, Inc., 2003 average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
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The software works as advertised

I recently purchased Naturally Speaking 7.0 preferred to use in digitizing our family's genealogy histories, and received the program last night. After playing around with the program last night and this morning, I can report that it works surprisingly well; I had high hopes for this software, and they have all been met. After completing the online tutorials, the software was very efficient in understanding my voice. When it didn't pick up a word (it wouldn't understand me when I said "approximately" or my wife when she said "wow"), I used the add vocabulary function and "trained" the program to understand the new word. I found that the program instantly recognized what I had just added.

It runs well on my Windows XP (AMD 3ghz, 1 gig memory), and I haven't noticed any difference in quality when working in the dragonpad or word (which has been mentioned by some reviewers). The playback function (it will play back a recording of your voice from anywhere in a document you just entered) is very useful in identifying and correcting translation mistakes (wish Preferred version allowed me to save the digital file - only in Pro). I am using a Plantronics Audio90 headset, and am happy with the results (the A90 mic is very good, the earphones fairly comfortable; after an hour's use, I didn't experience any discomfort). The select, mark-up, and cursor moving functions are very intuitive, and I can foresee that, with a little practice and time getting to know the software, it will become second-nature to dictate. Both my wife and I set up user files, and there was no problem moving between each of those.

While I haven't used the program for very long, I'm very impressed, and I'm not easily impressed re: technology. I highly recommend v 7.0 preferred (and, incidentally, can't imagine why anyone would need v.8).

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NY Times Video of how Dragon Works

DNS 8 is awesome! See the video

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Easier but not necessarily faster than typing

After retiring (from a career as a scientist), I took a job as a technical writer. My technical background and my interest in writing are good matches for this job, but the fact that I never became a touch typist proved to be a significant liability, especially since I record my thoughts while referring to source material. For this reason, I turned to voice recognition software. After surveying the voice-recognition software that was available, I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking version 7. My computer was relatively new at the time and featured a 2 GHz processor, Audigy sound card, USB2 ports, and 512 MB of RAM, so I was comfortable with its ability to efficiently run the software. I have used this program for about six months, and the results are decidedly mixed.

Despite having gone through the recommended training program, I find that the software continues to make a significant number of errors. The errors are never typos, and thus detected by one's spelling checker; they are errors of word selection, and thus careful editing is a must. Many of the errors are ones that you would expect - for example, "an" or "in" for "and" - but in some instances the choice of word by the software is so bizarre that if I do not catch it immediately, it is not apparent to me later, even from context, exactly what word I intended, which sends me back to the source material, and that of course takes time. Good enunciation and optimal positioning of the microphone are, of course, important. But I have found some words that the software missed by a mile no matter how carefully I enunciated or positioned the microphone. I have also found that some words that I asked the software to select and correct continued to be misinterpreted, suggesting that the software does not always learn from the corrections. So while dictation is easier than typing, editing for the inevitable errors results in dictation being no faster than had I typed it myself. I should point out that I have always dictated to DragonPad, where accuracy is supposed to be highest, and then cut and pasted into Word. One problem that I have noted with DragonPad is the apparent absence of an autosave feature, and I have lost material on occasion as a result.

In surveying voice-recognition software, I noted the evaluations of microphones of several websites that dealt with voice recognition. As a result, I purchased a Sennheiser ME3 USB microphone, which was top-rated by one of the websites. Before making the purchase, I debated whether to buy a high-end microphone or a digital recorder. I settled on the microphone because of my inexperience using digital recorders for dictation and because of their cost. In retrospect, I wish I had purchased a digital recorder because of the freedom it provides: one must be at one's computer to use a microphone, and this I have found to be more inconvenient than anticipated.

Based on my experience, this software makes the job of getting one's thoughts on paper easier but not necessarily faster than had one gone to the trouble of typing it. And woe to the person who fails to carefully edit what this software records. Does version 8 represent a significant improvement over version 7? At this point, I'm not prepared to pay to find out.

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Better than I expected

I am writing this review by using the actual product itself. I will not correct any mistakes it makes. As you can see, my accuracy level is fairly high, and I am very satisfied with the progress I have made so far. This is only my second day using the product, and already I have used it to send numerous e-mail, Word files, Excel files, and reviews such as this one. I can't tell you how exciting it is to see the spoken word appear as if by magic on the screen without having to touch the keyboard at all. This product is amazing! I will recommend it to all my friends and family without hesitation. I'm pretty confident that over the next few days as it recognises my voice more and more, I will overtake my typing speed and my whole desktop computing experience will become a hands-free zone. This this product will revolutionise the way we were, and I'm fairly sure that in the next three to five years voice recognition software will become far more mainstream and it is today.

My wild tip for getting the best out of this product is to make sure that you have a decent microphone and that you have positioned it correctly, in my case I have found that about 1 in. away from my mouth is just about right. Also, please do not skip the training section, if you spend a couple of hours diligently doing White says, then the payoff will be significant in the future.

So this is the end of my review. I have not use my hands once. There are a couple of mistakes, but I think the accuracy rate is up to about 95% in this review. Pretty amazing when you consider that I have only had the product for two days! My congratulations to all those involved with this product, and I cannot wait for future upgrades. Thank you one and all.

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Buggy and better to avoid

This is a review of version 7. If you plan to use it I suggest you don't. I purchased this software from Amazon in 2004 and have used this software on two Intel Pentium IV PC's running Windows XP and on a Dual Core (also XP) recently and every time I use this software something buggy happens. Maybe I should switch to the latest version but on Amazon there is no shortage of complaints for this software which is in its 10'th version.

I use a Labtec Axis 301 headset as was recommended by Scansoft the original makers of version 7. On the Pentium IV's the software would install without any problem but on my Dual Core the installation never completes. After the last step when you click the "Finish" button the install window simply hangs. You then have to do a Ctrl+Alt+Delete to invoke the task manager and delete the non-responding installation. When you do that you get a small dialog that displays the following error - "Setup Failed to run installation. The remote procedure call failed". However after you do that you notice that the program has been installed. You then can proceed to training and be up and running.

What I always found out while using the software is this. With the headset on my head and if I had something to write about, I couldn't dictate the ideas with as much productivity as I would do if I were to type the same. The software when used continuously does help in situations like dictations but in my case and those who are writers, I find myself typing ideas much faster. The errors are many and you find yourself going back to your keyboard to correct them. When the program types wrong messages repeatedly you can go nuts.

I also found training very irritating and skipped many lines and words as the program would come to a dead halt on certain simple words and sentences not allowing you to proceed in spite of every possible pronunciation and at all volume levels of your voice.

The best part is yet to come. Try to uninstall the software and it won't. It asks you for the original CD and when you put that in it only proceeds to do another install. I did that too and once again the installation wouldn't complete as before. I had to use a freeware such as Revo Uninstaller to uninstall the program.

I am not sure of the latest version but version 7 deserves to be marked obsolete.

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PREFERRED 95/98/NT/WME/W2K

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