Consumer Review of Dragon Naturally Speaking - Disgusted!

After nearly an entire year of "training" my Dragon Naturally Speaking software, I have yet to be able to use the dictation, speech to text features as advertised. Read about my experiences, then save your money. You'll be better off in the end!

As a freelance journalist, blogger, article contributor, and all-around opinionated buffoon, I always have something to say. For that reason, purchasing a dictation software program seemed to make a lot of sense. And, with the downturn in the economy, I needed something that could help me to use my time wisely, busting out as much "work" as my one human body could muster. But how could I possibly find more time in the day while avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome? I had heard about voice recognition software, also known as speech to text programs, and how wonderful they were for the user. I thought I might try it out for myself. After all, the more work I could get done, the better, right? As I searched for the right voice recognition program, Dragon Naturally Speaking seemed to be the answer.

I purchased the very best speech to text software package available from Dragon at the time of purchase, January 2010. The Dragon Naturally Speaking version that I selected was the "office" version, which goes above and beyond the basic edition and promises greater voice recognition clarity. I was excited about the purchase and, upon arriving home, eagerly installed it to my laptop. My laptop, which was only a month old at the time, had all of the latest features as well. I couldn't wait to start chatting away into the microphone and enjoy the benefits! The possibilities of how much work I could get done was making my head spin. What if I could be dictating text while driving to work each day? What if I could be sitting around talking into the computer while I also made some arts and crafts items? Oh, the possibilities were endless, or so it seemed.

Reading thru the instruction manual I discovered that the software was not an automatic program. While some of the English language can be readily understood by Dragon Naturally Speaking, for the majority of users (according to the directions) optimal performance depends on adequate training. As a new user, I was instructed to spend a few hours talking into the microphone while reading a pre-approved script that the software could easily recognize. On my first day I spent a total of 5 hours, 3 hours on the second, and a few hours every few days thereafter.

As time passed by and I tried to use Dragon Naturally Speaking 10, I found that I had to make more corrections than I ever would have made if I were simply typing normally. Once again, the instructions indicated that when a mistake or misunderstanding is encountered, users should take the time to verbally correct the mistake, then train the software to recognize that particular word or phrase. I gave the software the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, but no more.

As of today, I have been using the Dragon Naturally Speaking program for a total of 10 months. Despite heavy and repeated use, the software still makes a huge amount of mistakes. In fact, there are so many mistakes that I have found that it is faster for me to just type out whatever I want to say rather than to bother with the software. At a price of $199.95, one would think that Dragon Naturally Speaking should work at a decent, usable level. Sadly, this is not the case.

I have gone thru the entire customer's manual in an attempt to understand why my voice recognition software would not work properly. I tried positioning the boom as directed as well as right in front, to the other side, way far out, under the chin, in front of the chin, in front of my cheek... you get the picture. I have spent countless hours trying to "train" the program. In many cases the training sessions far outweigh the work that is actually done using the program. Finally, when I have attempted to use the Dragon Naturally Speaking software I make sure that the house and all surrounding areas are perfectly silent. To that end, the only noise that reaches the microphone is my voice and, sometimes, my breath. None of these accommodations seem to work, however, as my productivity using Dragon Naturally Speaking is at about 1/4th of what it could be had I simply done the typing in the first place. Sigh - so much for saving time using dictation or speech to text programs.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is a waste of my time in every way imaginable. Not only did the promised voice recognition features fail to work, but it took me three times longer to do the same amount of work I would have done by just typing it regularly. Speech to text software might save time for some people, and maybe Dragon isn't the best voice recognition program or dictation system on the market, but it didn't work for me. I will not be using it again anytime soon. In fact, I plan to sell the program and the headphone to someone else who wants it, as it does not help me at all.

What makes matters even worse? Nuance - the manufacturer of Dragon Naturally Speaking - has been sending me advertisement after advertisement via email and snail mail, offering their "new and improved" version. Oh, I can save some money using their early bird special - only $99 - a savings of $100. Yeah right, like I'm going to pay $298 for a voice recognition software program that is virtually useless to me or my writing career. Alrighty then.

My review of Dragon Naturally Speaking might not be positive, but it is based on my own experiences. I am a quick typist, so their speech to text program and dictation features did not help me to be any faster. I would recommend Dragon Naturally Speaking for people who cannot type, who have limited physical capabilities, who need to rely on dictation to navigate the computer, or who need to use it to navigate between screens. It is not useful for rapid, accurate dictation. It might help people to operate a computer if they can't type themselves, but then again, they might get frustrated with Dragon and give up, too.

tags: voice recognition software, speech to text, dragon naturally speaking, type documents by speech, nuance manufacturing, talk into your computer, dictation software program, computer dictation program software