Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 13.0, English (Old Version)

It's not worth the aggravation. You'd think we'd worked out the bugs in software that converts human speech to text. An app like this would have a lot of applications. Unfortunately, even if the program is only used by one speaker who has read "training texts" into the software to help it recognize the user's cadence, accent, and voice, it is much more difficult than one might think. br>br>I bought it because I'm a writer and my hands and wrists hurt from using the keyboard all day. Despite the higher price, I purchased the professional version because I wanted the best results. Unfortunately, even the best isn't always sufficient. It takes almost as long to locate and correct errors as it does to simply type the text. This was a huge letdown for me. br>br>This is a waste of time. It's not worth the aggravation.

Aubrey Dillon

| Mar 14, 2021

Keep an eye out for a cursor that is skipping. This is where we are right now. the- After using it in a medical setting, I decided to purchase it for home use. In a job where I have to type for hours almost every day, it has kept my hand arthritis from getting worse. My only major complaint is that the cursor will skip around at random and in an unpredictable manner. br>br>No dictation system is perfect, and the occasional errors in Dragon voice are understandable. br>br>My only major gripe is that the cursor will skip around at random and in an unpredictable manner. I've tried saving the text before dictating the next sentence, typing a few words and then resuming dictation, and so on, but the skipping persists for some inexplicable reason. In some cases, such as with email, the skipping may occur with each sentence. The Dragon Voice user blogs demonstrate that the company is aware of the skip issue and is working to resolve it. When I have multiple deadlines and must write for extended periods of time, I use this system, and I've gotten used to skipping. I'm hoping that the skip problem and other minor issues will be resolved with each edition, because Dragon Voice is a fantastic program that will be the wave of the future.

Anderson Merritt

| May 25, 2021

I am returning this product today after spending hours on the phone with technical support and troubleshooting and still being unable to get it to work with Microsoft Office 2013.

Nathaniel Wiley

| Mar 27, 2021

It worked just as I had hoped. br>br>I purchased this software to help with my hand arthritis. I do a lot of typing and even transcription work, and because of the pain I was in, it was almost impossible for me to continue. This software has enabled me to resume document creation, as well as transcription work, which I used to do. br>I'm still not as good with it as I was with my hands after about a week of use, but I'm getting better. The software has nothing to do with it. The performance of Dragon Naturally Speaking is excellent. I haven’t tracked it but I would estimate that its accuracy is around 99%. It takes some getting used to when you've always expressed your thoughts with your hands and now you have to express them orally all of the time. br>Installing the software was a breeze. I'm working on a Dell computer with Windows 8 that's fairly powerful. I didn't use the microphone and headphones that came with the package. Instead, I decided to go with the Andrea combo unit. It's a dream to use with Dragon Naturally Speaking. br>I decided to go with the professional version because it appeared to offer the most training options. I'm not sure which training options it has that the less expensive versions don't, but I'll go over the ones I've tried and like. br>I do almost all of my writing and transcription work with theological documents. This necessitates the use of specialized lingo. It was fantastic to be able to tell Dragon to read through all of my previous documents. I was then able to go through the documents and train it to understand all of the technical terms I had used. This included words from Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. It did a fantastic job and was very simple to use. I also appreciate being able to add words and phrases as they arise. This is also a simple task. br>I have to agree with the comments above: the more training you put into Dragon, the better your results will be. br>I work as a transcriptionist for a deceased pastor. He'd be unable to provide software training in any case. However, with the help of an Olympus digital voice recorder, I was able to create a separate profile and use it to do some training with my own voice. I was able to get Dragon to do a pretty good job of transcribing directly from MP3 files after only a few minutes of training. The word accuracy I would have to say would be at least over 90% at least. But of course any grammar and syntax is completely missing and must be added manually as I found that trancribing the MP3 files as I listened to them was easier on my hands than manually editing the ones that Dragon had done. br>I believe Dragon will work fine straight out of the box. the- box without much training for some purposes, but if what you're writing is unusual in any way, you'll need to put in some effort to train both the software and yourself. I believe that self-training is far more difficult than software training. Using command phrases to properly format text and apply proper grammar and syntax takes some getting used to. But after a week, I'm starting to get used to it. br>I use Microsoft Word 2010 for the majority of my dictation. It's a fantastic match for Dragon. I also use a piece of software that I developed myself. The commands used to edit text are the ones that don't work in my word processor module, so it's not as good as it is with Word. br>I haven't used this software for application control. I'm fine with talking to my computer to dictate text, but I'm not sure I'm ready to talk to it to get it to do what I want. I suppose it could come to that if my arthritis becomes unbearable. But, for the time being, I'll continue to work with the mouse. br>Dragon Naturally Speaking has fulfilled all of my expectations. That is why I rated it as a five-star product.

Cameron Schroeder

| Sep 01, 2021

I actually walked away from my computer and explained that my trial period had ended. I intend to return this item as soon as possible.

Shawn Branch

| Jan 05, 2021

Excellent accuracy right out of the box! The additional cost was well worth it! The less expensive versions of Dragon take an eternity to train and are extremely frustrating.

Olivia Wade

| Jul 22, 2021

In comparison to previous additions, this one is significantly better.

Mario Banks

| Jul 03, 2021

This is for the version that can be downloaded electronically. I'd love to narrate this review, but DNS Pro has messed up both of my computers and deleted my DNS 13, leaving me in the dark. It loaded on my home computer, but it won't work in Word without the Word add-in, which I have yet to try the ridiculously complicated method of getting it to work. With the $99 introductory offer, I thought I was getting a good deal, but it turned out to be the opposite - My trusty DNS 13, a program I rely on for my job, has been stolen from me. I'm waiting for Nuance and Digital River to provide me with some sort of technical assistance. Their products have always been trustworthy in the past. Why would you release a voice recognition/dictation program that doesn't include add-ins for the country's most widely used word processor? Added: There has been no response to my request for assistance and a refund on one of the two items I purchased; I discovered that I only needed one download for both my home and office computers after reading the agreement. I reloaded Dragon 13 on my computer. There is still no way to get it to work with Word 2010.

Dior Larsen

| May 16, 2021