Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Student Edition Review

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Student Edition ReviewThis appears to be a good product, but the installation process is positively EVIL.
First of all, despite the way it is shown on the Amazon page, you do NOT need to purchase a headset; it comes with one in the box. The suggested Plantronics unit may or may not be better, but you do not NEED it.
Installation is a many, many step process. Enclosed in the box is a slip of paper with a relatively short "product ID" that is required for the first step of many.
The first step is "Eligibility Verification", and the instructions say this can be done online. Perhaps **someone** could do this online; I certainly could not, despite many attempts. Perhaps this would have worked better if the my son's school email address ended in .edu, or if their list of schools included high schools. Perhaps. I do not know.
Further confusing the issue is that the box says Nuance, and so does the website - but the emails come back from ScanSoft or custserv-uk@myidentit-e.com
I would **HIGHLY** recommend skipping the online method entirely, and going straight to the phone. The Tech Support phone number is not included in the box anywhere that I noticed, so I will leak the secret:
call 800-654-1187 during Eastern Time Zone business hours.
Once you have them on the phone, they can generate and give you the much longer (17 characters) Serial number. You will need that just to install the software.
You might want to keep them on the phone while you run the installation from the disk; you will need to talk to them AGAIN.
Once the software is installed and started, it generates a 16 character "Machine Fingerprint" which is tied not merely to your current computer, but the current configuration of the computer. You will need to give this code to Tech Support for the NEXT step.
They should now be able to give you the (are you ready for this?) SIXTY character activation key. I made no attempt to do this online; based on my efforts trying to get a serial number, it hardly seemed worthwhile.
Once THAT has been entered properly, the program will run. It will then walk you through a series of tutorials and training exercises, all of which I skipped because I want the software setup for my son, not for me.
Despite the lack of training, after a minute or two of talking, it worked surprisingly well.
I need to test this with my son for a while to see how useful it will be. For now, I would give it an F- for pain of installation and time required. If I had simply had this sent to him at school, I do not think there is any way he would have successfully installed it.
Using the above notes, it should be possible to complete the installation process about an hour.
Keep in mind that the installation is apparently tied to the exact configuration of your computer. If you do something that Nuance interprets as "evil", like add memory or delete the recovery partition (thus changing the apparent size of your hard disk) you will have to go through the activation process AGAIN. If you purchase a new computer, you have to go through the entire process again - if they let you.
I would rank Nuance on a par with PTC (Paranoid Technology Company), the publishers of MathCAD for unspeakably evil installation procedures. They expect us to trust them that the product is useful (despite the usual shrinkwrap license that says it is probably NOT), but they clearly do not trust us at ALL.
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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Mobile Review

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Mobile ReviewProduct is Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Mobile.
Purchased this product here and it arrived quickly. It came with the Philips Digital Voice Tracer 7655. Before I installed the Dragon software, I tried the Digital Voice Tracer (recorder) and it did not work. Checked the batteries and they were fine. Made sure they were in right, still a dead recorder. So now the fun begins (sorry this might be long). I contact Customer Support via email (I had to register on their web site to do this). They say that I must contact technical support "as they will try to determine if you have a defective/damage recorder. If it is indeed damage then they will be the one to replace it for free."
So I call technical support. They tell me that I must contact Philips to verify that it really doesn't work! Of course, I'm thinking that they're going to pass the buck. They will send me an email and I can reply to that after I talk to Philips. Unfortunately, there is no phone number to contact Philips in the package materials. I check their web site and after getting transferred 3 times to different Philips divisions, a voicemail says that I should contact the people that sold it to me for technical support!
So I email customer service and let them know that 1) I never received an email to reply to and 2) Philips said to contact them. I get a response: "We really do apologize for the miscommunication with technical support. However, technical support department is actually the correct department that will handle your issue, kindly contact them again at 1-407-241-1822, so that they can determine if the recorder is defective, if it is, then they will replace it."
Now this is turning into a major waste of my time. But I dutifully call technical support (again). I have to run through the whole thing again (they want to be very sure that they can't charge me for this call after all) and they tell me that I should send a copy of the receipt in response to an email and they would send me a replacement. So, I do that as well and get the following response: "Thank you for sending the requested file. We will be endorsing this to Customer Service and they will provide you an RMA number so you can return the recorder to us for repair/replacement. Thank you." and another email from Customer Service with a link to the RMA form.
So, here's where I am:
1. I haven't installed the software yet, so I don't know how it works.
2. I have to pay to send the recorder back to them even though they sent me a defective product.
3. I feel like I'm treated like a nuisance to them and they're making me jump through hoops. This is unacceptable customer support.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Mobile OverviewDRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition Review

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition ReviewOkay, I have to admit I was a little bit miffed when I first got the product and realized I had to go through a bunch of hoops to verify my student identity. However, I made one quick call to the company and they took care of this problem immediately by e-mailing me a unlock code. After this it was a simple matter of installing the program, dictating a few sample paragraphs, and then going to work. I was amazed at the accuracy of the program after only a few minutes of use. It had no problem picking out and spelling words such as cardiomyopathy, left atrial myxoma, and other very specific medical terms. As part of the installation process, it does review your documents on your computer and this may explain its ability to recognize all the specific medical terms that I use frequently. However, I have found that it even recognizes medical terms that I know I have not used previously. I have never used prior versions of Dragon so I cannot comment on the difference between prior versions. All I can say is that this program has worked excellent for me so far.Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Student Edition OverviewDragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium provides a whole new way to interact with a PC--using speech instead of a keyboard and mouse--to help you work faster and more efficiently. Dragon turns ideas into text at the speed of thought so you can communicate more freely and persuasively. Just say words and watch them appear on the computer screen--three times faster than typing--with no typos! Tell your PC what to do, and it obeys your commands.
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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred Review

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred ReviewThe original title of my review was going to be "snookered again," but I've since had a change of heart (and sound card). I originally purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 4 years ago which was a total piece of junk. Upon hearing a short review on NPR, it sounded like things had improved.
First off, caveat emptor. You need a good sound card. Nuance is not very helpful here. Their website/docs simply state you need a Sound Blaster 16. I don't know if it's occurred to them you can't purchase a Sound Blaster 16 card anymore (nor would you want to), and they should just bite the bullet and present a list of cards that work well (like they do for microphones). I bought a Sound Blaster X-fi XtremeMusic which seems to work. Second, you need a hefty machine. For me this is a 2.4 GHz dual processor XP workstation with a gig of RAM. The box says you can get by with 512 MB of RAM and a 1 GHz processor, I'm not sure I believe this.
Once you have the right hardware in place the software seems to work fairly well. This review was dictated using the software. However, I'm not giving them five stars because they still seem to suffer from poor software engineering. As an example, take the set up and training process. I was waiting for a new sound card to arrive and thought I would try using my onboard sound card built into my Dell. The setup process did claim that the sound quality was insufficient. Unfortunately, navigating out of the process was impossible leaving me stuck at the "welcome to general training" screen. When the new sound card arrived, Dragon was still stuck looking at the on board sound system and had no UI to allow me to use the new sound card. My only solution was to disable the onboard sound system which luckily forced Dragon back into configuration mode where I could reselect my microphone parameters. A second example of amateur software development was an error message ("can't load compatibility module") that is caused by Dragon's attempt to build a link between icons on the desktop and voice commands. This message wouldn't be so bad if it were not accompanied by random crashes ("dragon is unable to respond, please close all applications using..."). A recently posted knowledge base article states that the error message only comes up if links are invalid on the desktop, and suggest removing things using RegEdit (I kid you not). After uninstalling a SonyEricsson desktop link that I wasn't using, the message went away along with the random crashes.
In summary, Dragon has matured from snake-oil ware (v4) to usable. However, they need to make an investiment in the non-voice rec modules of their software.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred OverviewDragon products have won over 175 major awards for accuracy and ease of use, and are used by more people around the world than any other speech recognition software. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 9 gives small business users and PC enthusiasts the power to create documents, reports, e-mails and more - all by speaking! Fast, easy and amazingly accurate, it's over three times faster than typing. Just use your voice to dictate and edit in Microsoft Word and Excel, Corel WordPerfect, and virtually all Windows-based applications. You can even dictate into a handheld device when you're away from your PC, or use a Bluetooth microphone! It's never been easier to use with no script reading required, so you can get started right away! Dragon products have won over 175 major awards for accuracy and ease of use, and are used by more people around the world than any other speech recognition software. Use Dragon NaturallySpeaking with Nuance-approved Bluetooth headsets Dictate into any Nuance-certified handheld device for automatic transcription when you synch with your PC Supports Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird New indicator that lets you know when you have Select-And-Say functionality available New supported edit controls include Borland's TMemo, TEdit & TRichEdit controls as well as TE Edit from SubSystems and TX Text from TX Text Control Also supports handheld digital recorders and other PDAs that record in. wma and .mp3 format for deferred transcription.

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard Review

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard ReviewI am an instructor for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, but I do not work for Nuance.com. I work for a healthcare software company. I primarily deal with the medical editions used by Pathologists in clinical laboratories.
Here are some pointers for those who have not used Dragon, but are thinking of purchasing.
1. Don't skimp on a headset. Visit Nuance.com. Click on Support > Hardware Compatibility List > Dragon NaturallySpeaking > Headset Microphones Current. While it is possible to use a wireless microphone, if you are just starting out, go with a wired, such as a Plantronics DSP-400 (Amazon has this headset for $[...]. It seems cheap, but it is a very good headset). If you can hook the headset up via USB instead of mic in, you will get better recognition accuracy. Additionally, you don't need an internal sound card if you are connecting via USB as the headset comes with its own external sound card.
A good wireless headset will be expensive, and they do not have as good of recognition accuracy as a wired headset.
2. Once you have your headset, connect it to the PC, and install Dragon. It is a straightforward install.
3. You will have to go through an audio and quality check, and then go into General Training. I recommend doing one of the easier readings. You can always go back through and do additional general training. My BIGGEST piece of advice here is speak with your normal voice. Some of my students seem to want to over enunciate, or speak with a different voice during general training. That is only going to set you up for a difficult time when you begin dictating.
4. After your general training, I highly recommend going through the Tutorials. You should be given an option to do this after your general training. If not, you can get to them through the Help Menu on the Dragon bar.
Note: At some point, you will be given the option of having Dragon scan your email and documents. Nuance recommends this, but I don't. You can always have it scan your documents later via the accuracy center. Additionally, I never recommend letting Dragon scan your email. What it is going to do with these actions, is to learn your writing style. Rather than letting DNS do this at setup, move a bunch of documents you have written to one folder, go to the Accuracy Center, and let DNS scan the entire folder.
4. Dragon has some shortcut keys. The number keypad + key is used to turn your mic on and off. The number keypad / key is used to put your mic to sleep, and wake it up. You can go to Tools > Options to change shortcut keys.
5. Remember that while you can do a lot with Dragon, you will find that your best usage comes with using Dragon, the keyboard and the mouse.
6. Set up some Custom Commands. Visit [...] to learn how to set up Custom Commands. There is a book by Larry V. Allen called Scripting for Dragon NaturallySpeaking that will help you out with Advanced Scripts.
7. When you begin dictating, Dragon WILL make some mistakes. It does not help if you yell at your microphone. You will have to continue to train your profile as time goes. If Dragon makes a mistake, resist the urge to delete the mistake and start over. I use this analogy with my students. Think of it as a new puppy. If a puppy makes a mistake, you don't get rid of it (at least you shouldn't), you should correct its mistake. The same goes for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Use the command "Select That" to have DNS highlight the word, and bring up a menu of possible alternate choices. If the correct word is not there, use the command "Spell That" and then spell the word such as: a m a z o n
8. My last tip concerns the Acoustic and Language Model Optimizer. You can get to it through the Accuracy Center, or the Start Menu. Run that after about two weeks of use, and again on a monthly basis. This will fine tune your profile with all corrections and training.
Enjoy Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It is a great piece of software.Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard OverviewTurn talk into text with speech recognition software!Product InformationWith Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard you can talk to your computer and watch your spoken words instantly appear in documents email and instant messages. You can even surf the Web just by speaking! Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 turns your voice into text three times faster than most people type - with up to 99% accuracy. It learns to recognize your voice instantly and continually improves the more you use it! Just use your voice to dictate and edit in virtually any Windows application including Microsoft Word Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox and AOL. This revolutionary and easy-to-use product gives you everything you need to get started including a high-quality headset. Faster and more accurate than typingE-mail IM and and surf the Web - all by voicePerfect for use at homePerfect for the whole family from busy parents to kids just learning to type.Product FeaturesAccurate speech recognition for PC applications - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard offers unprecedented speech recognition with unrivaled accuracy levels: it's up to 20% more accurate than Version 9 with up to 50% more accurate results than the product delivered just five years ago. Users gain the added benefit of avoiding spelling errors and typing mistakes. In fact the product actually learns from corrections over time.Works with the applications users already have - Dictate directly into Microsoft Word and most other Microsoft Office applications running on Microsoft Windows XP Windows 2000 and Windows Vista. Dragon also supports popular programs such as Corel WordPerfect Microsoft Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox and AOL. Navigate the desktop by voice: launch or switch applications save or print documents and more – even control menus and dialog boxes.With the automatic punctuation option users can omit spoken periods and commas during dictation – Dragon Naturally

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home, Version 11 Review

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home, Version 11 ReviewI'm writing this review, ours should set the computer and NaturallySpeaking 11 home are writing this review as I dictate. Please note I'll be doing no editing whatsoever. So if there any misspellings or miss words or whatever, it's either the software or I can't talk correctly. I'm guessing it's software since I have not been drinking, suffered any head trauma recently, or taken any hallucinogenic. So let's begin.
So what I'm going to do in this test is simply say a few phrases and words that are well-known and you can judge for yourself accuracy.
Mary had a Little Lamb whose fleece was white as snow and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.
I'm mad as hell when I couldn't take it anymore.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Here's looking at you kid.
Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are rated equal yada yada yada.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie pop? The world may never know.
Should a taken a left at Albuquerque.
Once upon a time there through the pigs each one had a house. One pig had a house of straw, another had a house made of sticks, and the third had a house made of bricks.As suggested, words with same sound different meaning:
(Typed by hand) To, too, and two.
Voice:
I want to go to the store.
Are you going to the store to?
Are the two of you going Russian Mark?( program took ? As Russian Mark)
(Typed by hand) There, Their
voice:
their houses over there.
There's no business like show business.
Their car, their house, there you are.
(Typed by hand) Write, right.
voice:
I'm going to write a letter details of your 150 are right or wrong.
Go three blocks down then turn right.
I'm looking for the right words to write.
looks like the programs pretty good getting it right when it writes.
I write about the left.
How do you know when you're right, we come from the left to right about the book he read.( catch you on that one)
Thing seems a pretty good about context. I've tried pretty hard trip it up. I'm sure there are those were more clever than me could do a better job though.
(Typed by hand) Hour, our
He spent hours in our house.
We spent hours on our house.( should have been our)
looking for hours at our photos.
Yours mine and ours.The biggest words I can think of:
subdural hematoma.
Dialectical materialism.
ribonucleic acid
Czechoslovakia
paranormal
psychoanalysis
here he Winkle - Perry Winkle -. Winkle
mitochondrial
dodecahedron
spontaneous human combustion
Freudian slip
hallelujah
aluminum
character
Australia
February
Presbyterian
Academy
xylophone
sink Russell
wildebeest
In general, the program does seem to do pretty good job. The hardest part that I had is learning to speak rather than type. Learning to say the punctuation rather than press it with my fingers. And you really need to look at what's being written in a field proofread closer than normal. That should say proofread closer than normal. For me what seems to be the bind is that I'm talking and then watching it type in reading what types and then talking the next sentence. So I'm not hundred percent just speaking it proofreading as I speak. So the difficult transition to go from typing with my fingers to diving with the program.
But I have to say the number one advantage is that I don't have to think about words like to say but taking consideration can I spell that correctly and simply to say him. So from my perspective of being a very good speller I can express myself much broader and much more in depth than I would have naturally by simply typing them pretty much sticking with the words I knew how to type or spell.
So in general I feel that Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 11 is a very good product and was a very good decision to buy and would recommendupdate:
after using the program for about a week or more, I and the program seem to be working together much better now. I'm not sure if it's that the program has learned my speech or that my speech is learned program. But after looking and reading over what I wrote at first, I can see a significant improvement in my words and with the program's writing. All in all I have to say this program pretty much does what it says it is ( does). I would only think that over time I'll get more use to using the program and the program will get more use to how I speak.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home, Version 11 OverviewDragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Home provides a whole new way to interact with a PC--using speech instead of a keyboard and mouse. Just say words and they appear on the computer screen--three times faster than typing--with no typos! Tell your PC what to do and it obeys your commands. Dragon understands what users say and how they say it.
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Family Tree Maker Essentials 2012 Review

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Family Tree Maker Essentials 2012 ReviewFamily Tree Maker 2012 is too slow. It's slow starting up, sometimes taking 2 minutes while it makes its connection to ancestry.com. Also it's slow every time I make a change to a name because the index on the left side has to reload. I even get "failing to respond" messages while the index is rebuilt (or whatever it's tring to do). The interface has been around since the 2008 version. It's informative by showing 4-5 generations in the middle, the index on the left and the person's information on the right as well as how the person is related to the home person.
Another thing I don't like about this and other versions since 2008 is the reports. It seemed like sharing information with my Aunt was much better with FTW 2005.Family Tree Maker Essentials 2012 Overview
Family Tree Maker Essentials 2012
Discover Your Family Story
Family Tree Maker 2012 Essentials makes it easy to discover your family history. With a one-month membership to Ancestry.com included, you'll have FREE access to 5 billion U.S. historical records, photos, news stories and other family trees. Collaborate with the largest, most active family history community in the world.

What's New in Family Tree Maker 2012 Essentials?
NEW: Get started quickly with an enhanced, easy-to-use interface
NEW: Build your tree more easily with upgraded help topics and video tutorials
NEW: Print more informative family trees by including generation labels & text boxes
NEW: Easily sync your desktop tree with your Ancestry.com tree
NEW: Update and share your tree from any Internet connection with TreeSync
NEW: View combined families, including step families & adoptees, at a glance

We Make It Easy For You
Start your family tree by entering what you know
Hints may appear next to family members after Ancestry.com searches billions of historical records automatically
Share with friends and family using TreeSync
Create Smart Stories automatically with improved content generation and editing options
Create and print many types of charts and reports
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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 Review

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 ReviewThe progress in speech recognition over the years has been mind boggling. 1995 was when I first started using IBM Via Voice and you had to speak each word distinctly. Original Dragon product was called Dragon Dictate and then they changed it to Dragon Naturally Speaking in 1997 and I have been using it ever since, faithfully upgrading to each new version. At that time when you called technical support you could even talk to Dr. Janet Baker, the inventor of the speech recognition and founder of Dragon.
With version 4 they started Dragon Naturally Speaking Medical and that helped in that medical terminology was already included albeit several folds the cost of the regular professional Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Each version has improved the accuracy and they have not made the product unduly complicated or cluttered, as is the usual tendency with software upgrades. Version 11 of Dragon is slower and needs more resources, I could not run it in Windows 7 under Fusion and have to use it in Windows 7 under Bootcamp on Mac. The speech recognition accuracy is almost 97% in this version: it still stumbles on small words like two, to, too, 2; of, off; and, on; for, per etc. But upgrading from Dragon version 10, the improvement is accuracy is noticeable enough to make this upgrade worthwhile. Although program gives you the option of adding punctuation automatically, in my experience it does not work well and you are better off dictating punctuation. Tutorial videos that come with the program and on their Nuance web site are very helpful. In the past it really helped that you could print the commands and pin the sheet on the wall so you could reference them while dictating: not in this version, they do not give you the option of printing commands. But at least it was a pleasant surprise to see that Nuance has not ruined Dragon 11 like their other product Paperport 12.
Sitting in front of your computer screen you say "Search Hardware Compatibility on Nuance" - and out pop the results of your search in front of your eyes. The program will open your browser, search Google and bring the results on Nuance web site on your screen. For sure, you will be wowed!
Since it is going to be a while before the Dragon medical comes out, I decided to buy Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth which comes with PLANTRONIC Calisto Headset with USB Dongle - 81493-02. For general dictation the accuracy is fantastic. By letting the program scan my previous documents, I have been able to add a lot of medical terminology and save money by finding no need to purchase medical version when it comes out.
Previously they did not allow the option of using different accents in Dragon Medical but in this basic premium version you can and that has also helped improve the accuracy of speech recognition. So by selecting the Indian accent and adding medical vocabulary manually by scanning my documents, I have not only improved the accuracy but also saved money.
I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth and the Calisto headset that came with it works really well. Although Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 with Digital Recorder comes with Philips LFH0662/00 Digital Voice Tracer 0662 , if you look at Nuance web site for accuracy of different recorders under "Hardware Compatibility" Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder is the only recorder that gets 6 stars and I have been using it with Dragon.
Nuance's marketing department is very lazy and they use the same cookie cutter boilerplate text for all the different Dragon Naturally Speaking product lines without differentiating them but if you search "Feature Matrix" on their web site you can find the differences in different lines. The very basic Dragon Naturally Speaking Home 11 cannot be used with a recorder, has limited correction playback ability, and does not share vocabulary with different audio input sources. Then they also describe Dragon Naturally "Professional" version which does not show up on Amazon, as of September 2010, but has the ability to record macros and programming VBA scripts. Most users will need Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. The premium version has text expanding commands, for example you can add a command to insert your full address when you say "home address". I still cannot figure out whether Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Student Edition has any less features or just a cheaper version of Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. Looks like anyone can order it and you do not have to be a student. Nuance does not even give you the specifics of Digital Voice Recorder and Bluetooth versions in the product descriptions. What sluggard's?
The technical support from Nuance stinks - almost non-existent. If you run into any technical problems, you are much better off searching it on Google and using the expertise of other users in different forums. Don't expect any technical support from Nuance. Even their web site is disorganized and cluttered. They have all the information available on their web site, but just not obvious. Sometimes you have to search Google to find information on Nuance web site. Thankfully they appear to have some wiser voices in Dragon product development which are keeping their eye on the ball and have prevented Nuance from messing up the speech recognition accuracy and user interface of Dragon, so far. Another annoying thing they have started in this version is the pop up ads from software updater hounding you to buy their program Paperport 12.
For getting speech into the software, you have lot of different options that include corded and cordless headsets and microphones and recorders including PDA's. The whole list of voice capturing products is on Nuance's web site under "Hardware Compatibility" and they rate each one of them for voice recognition accuracy by number of Dragon's. Sony ICD-MX20DR9 32MB Flash-Based Digital Voice Recorder has the highest number of six Dragons. But following are what they sell and recommend and have good voice recognition fidelity:
A). Calisto Pro Bluetooth headset which comes with Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth. But you can also buy it separately. In my experience it has the best speech recognition fidelity of all the microphones I have used, including Andrea. Purchasing Calisto Bluetooth as a part of Dragon 11 Bluetooth is a lot better deal that buying the two separately.
B). Philips SpeechMike - SpeechMike Air 3010 which is a wireless microphone but more expensive or Philips SpeechMike Pro Plus 5276 USB which has a cord. Advantage is the programmable buttons. I used it in QuickBooks Pro 2009 because the buttons could be customized for commands like next field, tab, correct, delete line, etc. But voice recognition accuracy is not as good as Calisto.
C). Dictaphone PowerMic II Nuance-Dictaphone that works with Dragon and they sold it previously only with their Medical and Legal versions. SpeechMike and Dictaphone recorders give you the ability to pause, play, fast forward and customize buttons for different commands. SpeechMike (and Dictaphone) are useful if you are going to use speech recognition in programs other than word processing or plain documents.
D). Voice recorders like Sony ICD-MX20, Philips Digital Tracer and numerous others which you can find by searching "Hardware Compatibility" on Nuance web site.
In last 10 years I have mostly dictated on recorders and then done the corrections at the end of the day in Dragon software. Real time correction can be time consuming and interrupt the flow of work; depending upon your line of work and accent too. Until now, I used SpeechMike 5276 for Dragon speech recognition in specialized software like Quickbooks, Quicken etc. mainly because it has programmable buttons - for example you can program a button to insert Ctrl-Delete at the same time. But now that Bluetooth headset is available, I have been using it with keyboard. At this time I am not sure if Philips SpeechMike makes you more efficient and productive than Bluetooth headset but it certainly is lot more expensive. Now that speech accuracy has improved, and the corrections do not take as much time, I have been dictating real time instead of using a recorder.
Irrespective of those dictation modalities, if you need to write a lot in your work e.g. journalist, lawyers, doctors, students, or for other projects, then you will not go wrong with this product. It will save you a lot of keyboard input and time.Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 OverviewDragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium provides a whole new way to interact with a PC--using speech instead of a keyboard and mouse--to help you work faster and more efficiently. Dragon turns ideas into text at the speed of thought so you can communicate more freely and persuasively. Just say words and watch them appear on the computer screen--three times faster than typing--with no typos! Tell your PC what to do, and it obeys your commands.

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