Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software Review

by Sue
(Webmaster)

Product:
Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software by Nuance Communications, Inc.

Description:
Quite simply voice recognition software turns talk to text.

You talk into a microphone and your words appear right before you eyes on the computer screen. Once you train the software to your voice, it becomes increasingly proficient and accurate. I personally think this software is too cool for words!

Dragon Naturally Speaking not only works for email but for creating word documents, conducting an internet search as well as posting updates to most social media sites such as FaceBook.

Pros:
As a wonderful alternative to typing, the Dragon Naturally Speaking software can rather quickly achieve rates of 100 to 125 words per minute. It is a huge time saver if you have lots of content to write.

It's especially an efficient way to manage your time when you have tight deadlines to meet!

The program is easy to install to your computer and provides clear instructions with great navigation. Usually new programs have my eyes rolling up inside my head and I feel like my brain is going into explode, but this software didn’t create any of those nasty side-effects at all. (Thank goodness!)

Voice recognition software is a great option for everyone, even those with absolutely little or no computer skills.

Cons:
You have to spend a little time (though not much) training the software to your voice. Although Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 touts that the improvements in this latest edition has reduced the “training” time to just minutes, I found that it takes a bit longer to get all enunciations down correctly.

Recommendation:
I personally believe that in just a few years voice recognition software will be the norm and probably even integrated into all computing devises. But until then, Dragon Naturally Speaking has set the standard and an excellent value. (Plus, in case I haven’t mentioned it before, it’s just too cool for words!)

Home Edition- If you do a fair amount of writing or responding to emails, but participate very little on social media outlets, then you can save some money by purchasing the home edition which would more than meet your needs.

Premium Edition- If you participate on forums, have active social media accounts, tweet and so forth, or are building a website, then spend the extra money and get the latest version.

(Dragon Naturally Speaking 11 is the latest as of this review.)

The premium edition offers far more options and features that makes it well worth paying a little more.

Price:
Ranges from $75 for the basic home edition to $175 for the latest premium version (11).
Note: It can be confusing selecting the right Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition software since Nuance, Inc. offers several different software packages.

So bear in mind that the Professional, Medical and Technical versions are geared towards businesses. Everyday users only need to assess whether the home edition or Premium Versions, (the most current one is version 11) would best meet your computing needs.