Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Standard Vs. Vista Speech

Hmm... perhaps this was my problem. I did spend quite a bit of time on training, reading several different passages and training on almost all corrections and still, it was not very good... BUT I was using the cheapo microphone that got shipped with the product. I figured, oh, they wouldn't ship it with a microphone that wasn't good enough for the product to work, would they?

Now I wonder whether I should get a different microphone and try all over or whether there was something about my voice that is just problematic.... though I don't think my speech is unusual.

This is some funny stuff:

To: cypherslock and Leanne King, and everyone else (Leanne I buy your WSO's and they are great)

I bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking when it was version 3. I now have version 10. It was a good product way back when, now it's great product. Caveat, I'm not using Windows Vista, I'm using XP and I will give up XP when they pry it from my cold dead hands (just a little bit of humor there. OK, humour for Leanne, the Aussies and Brits.)

I can write a 1,600 word article, oops, I mean I can dictate a 1,600 word article in under 10 minutes. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist about my writing and so it can take me up to another 20 minutes to edit that article and the article almost always turns out to be a 2500 words long. (I know, I know everyone has told me, "That's not an article that's a Special Report, and for heck sake it's probably even a small e-book.")

I have dictated some comments into forums and found that the best way to do this is to open up Word or OpenOffice and dictate into that because then I can use many of the advanced features.

The really cool advanced features in version 10 are that I can say things like, capitalize "really advanced features" and it will do exactly what I tell it to do. Here's an example, this is an example, This Is a Further Example, I said, "capitalize this is a further example" and it did capitalize what I told it to. Well, you didn't see it but it did capitalize What I Told It to do. It will do things like Bold and a lot of other really cool stuff just by telling it what you want to do in somewhat simple and plain English.

BTW, I'm not an employee I don't make one red cent from this kind of review or recommendation I've just been using this for a long time and think it is one of the greatest things for computers in the entire world. (I've been reading science fiction since I was 12 years old, not quite 100 years ago , and have always dreamed of being able to talk into computers and get them to do what I want them to do, or give me the information that I want.) Oh yes, you can enter words in Google and some of the other search engines and get Dragon to do stuff for you online by just speaking into your microphone. The command is, 'Click Search' after you've entered some words into a search engine, works like a charm. It clicks the button, amazing huh?

(Segue to microphone, that's an old broadcasters term and I am a very old TV news reporter) I got my microphone from eMicrophones.com (usual disclaimer, I'm not an affiliate, not an owner and not an employee.) The quality of service from these guys is absolutely phenomenally great. What I got was an Automatic Noise Canceling Microphone. (The voice command for this was capitalize 'automatic through microphone' and that's what the program did, this is so amazing I can't tell you how excited I am.) My microphone is an ANC-750 and currently it costs about $65, and let me tell you it is absolutely worth it. The quality of your microphone is really one of the key components of getting this program to work correctly. There are better and more expensive microphones, this was just the one that I chose and it has been really great. Big Warning, an automatic noise canceling microphone puts out a kind of high-pitched humming in the background that cancels out sounds coming from within the room. If you record in Audacity or some other program with your ANC microphone you will hear this background hum. So, you will probably need another microphone if you're going to do voiceovers or record audio. Believe it or not the little microphone that comes with Dragon is perfect for recording audio, no hum whatsoever.

Please, let me give you one more tip, the more you speak, let me rephrase that, the longer you dictate your sentences, the longer you speak into the microphone the more accurate your sentences are going to be. If you only say three words your sentences can be kind of goofy. When you say a sentence that is extremely long and you just keep talking the program knows what you're trying to say and it will put the right words on the screen. (From the word "When" to the word "screen" were all said in one long dictation into the microphone, and the program got it correct.)

The Single Most Important Thing about Using This Program Is: The more you dictate using this program, you will get more comfortable and choose the right commands talking into a microphone, you will get faster, you will get better, and then you will get more productive. Bottom line, the more you use it the better you get at using it.

827 words, 10 minutes including editing. And I really hope this helps any of you who are thinking about getting a program like this and using it. PLEASE, check around for coupons, upgrades and discounts. You can usually get this program for less than retail if you do a little bit of searching.

All my best,
Palo

Davor,

Are you politely saying my post was too long?

(9 words)

LOL, yes, when I get going I keep on going. Davor, thanks for the comment

Palo

I have been looking at Dragon Naturally Speaking and was wondering if it will work with a digital voice recorder? I like to record my thoughs and articles on the move and it would be great to plug it into something like DNS and have it converted to text.

Thanks
Noel

Just a quick note to those thinking of pulling the trigger on Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Windows 7 is shipping with voice recognition, I've tried it out and it's not that bad.

I use Dragon on Windows XP, when I transition to Windows 7, I do not think it will be a problem using that for my main voice recognition program.

Also, a quick technical note on on Dragon, if you're running Google desktop search you should turn it off before using Dragon as I find it locks the user files.

I would also recommend getting the Preferred version of DNS if you can stretch your budget.

The extra features are worth it for me.

Sam

The ad states that the newest version of DNS 10 Preferred works on the 64 bit platform. Oh, but that is Vista 64, I see you said Windows XP. That is a good question. You could probably call their support number and confirm. I have a good feeling you will be just fine though.

I found that a good quality microphone made all the difference in the world. (It cost about $100).

Also I spent about 4 or 5 hours training the software.

It's still not perfect by any means, but it is still way faster for me.

Sam

Dragon Naturally Speaking Standard version 10 is being offered today at Staples for $75 with a $45 rebate.