USING DRAGON
Using the software is very simple, it’s just a case of click on what you want and start speaking.
There is a very small program box that appears with everything you need on it.
MY FIRST ATTEMPT
Obviously the proof is in the pudding, as they say, so I figured I would jump straight into a quick recording.
Below is an image of what appeared on the screen, following by the text pasted into the article for clarity.
This is the first test of recording something with the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 speech recognition software.
I have only spent a couple of minutes actually training the software with my voice so I really do expect there to be some problems at this stage.
I wanted to do a quick recording of my voice and see how well it works before actually spending significant time actually training the system to my voice.
Once I have done this training I will once again perform the same tests to see if there is a significant difference or not.
So far I am very impressed with only a few minutes worth of training their very little mistakes.
The above text, including the punctuation and the new lines were exactly what I said with the exception of the “their” in the last sentence. But to be fair on Dragon, that was probably more down to the way I said it than the software.
So, the next thing for me to do is to spend some more time training and adding words.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So far I have to say that I am very impressed – with very little training (both me and it) the results are excellent. So much better than I thought given my previous experience with the product, although to be fair, that was nearly 10 years ago!
There is a lot more to the product than just voice dictation, you can also control your computer and application by your voice.
So, if you do a lot of writing with your computer and would like to be more productive, or just try something different, then Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 might be for you.
I’m off to train it some more and then I will use it in anger.
In a few weeks I will report back on how I got on, and also look at some of the other features in more detail.
Regarding price, the version I tested, the Professional version that comes with a very good headset, retails for around £620 in the UK and around $820 in the US.
As mentioned earlier, there are a number of different versions, and the cheapest version is under £100 and $100 respectively.
It is worth looking at the feature set and decided just what you need from the software, and whether you need a headset, and then if so, which one. There is a nice looking bluetooth headset for it!
For more information, click here.
So, have any of you used this version or any recent version? If so, what are your thoughts?
There are training documents and videos available at http://www.tinyurl.com/dragondocs and http://www.tinyurl.com/dragontraining. As a declaration of openness, I'm the Technical Manager for Nuance in the UK, and I write for http://www.mswhs.com as well.
thanks Gary
I'll check those out was well.
I've read some of your articles on Phil's site.
Andrew
I use the built-in Windows 7 Speech Recognition with my webcam microphone. I like the ease of use as long as it is quiet in the office! This product seems like a good alternative for people who want advanced speech capabilities.
thanks Tim 🙂
One thing I havent mentioned in this review is that the headset has a noise cancelling microphone and also the software during the training phase listens to your background noise and attempts to filter it, and so far it has worked!
Andrew
can it be installed onto whs so it can be networked?
Todd
I havent tried that yet, but I will add it to my list.
My guess is that it wouldnt work because of the licence requirement on the PC where the software is loaded, but let me see what I can find out.
Also, the headset needs to be connected to the machine where the software is.
Again, I will dig deeper 🙂
Andrew