Dragon Software...Should I ask Santa for it?

Do you know what version of Dragon is being sold for $79? This seems like an insanely low price for Dragon Professional and too high of a price for Dragon Standard. I paid less than $30 on a one-day promo for Dragon 10 Home from Amazon.com. Amazon really is the best place (and I've done a bit of research) to buy this software. If you buy directly from Amazon, you should be able to get free shipping and avoid paying state sales tax, unless you live in Washington State.

Be wary of paying too much money for Dragon 10 because version 11 is already on the market. If you're looking for opinions on the usefulness of Dragon, several threads have already been posted on AW, with really detailed and helpful opinions offered.

My take?

There's nothing instant or seamless about Dragon Naturally Speaking. You have to put in at least a few hours (I recommend at least eight hours) training the program to recognize your speech patterns correctly. I have Dragon 10 Home version, and several people told me I should have bought Dragon Professional, which is more expensive. What frustrates me is the randomness. One day Dragon will work just fine and another day it won't work right at all. Same computer. Same microphone. To be fair, my situation is likely one most software users won't have to deal with - I'm almost completely deaf, and I probably shouldn't even be torturing Dragon Naturally Speaking with my voice.

I had absolutely no luck with wireless microphones or standalone plug-in mics, but what works beautifully for me with Dragon is a cheapie $5 clip-on mike (it plugs into the headset jack on my PC) I bought from an Ebay seller. I have torn through cheap, mid-priced and expensive headsets and microphones of all kinds, and I've abandoned all of them, except for my cheap $5 clip-on microphones.

Late one night last week I awoke to the ad for this on TV. I checked out their website. It looks interesting, but not sure it is something I would use. I can see me talking out loud and having someone think I had lost my mind. lol

Nya RAyne said:

Thanks guys and gals. Where can I fine that link for the more indepth thread? And I actually say it advertised for $79 but the regular price is $99.

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http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184211&highlight=dragon+naturally

You should know that Windows 7 comes with a Speech to Text feature that works as well as Dragon Home version. In fact, I found the learning curve easier with the Windows 7 version.

I will admit that I only used both program for a short time. I found too many errors in the text and editing took twice as long and three times the work than editing typed text. I used it because, for a while, I couldn't type with my right hand. When that reason went away, I went back to typing.

Jeffrey Deaver tells a story where he used Dragon after he had surgery on his wrist. While editing his MS he found an entire (one sided) telephone conversation in the middle of a scene.

We use it at work to subtitle live shows from time to time, particularly on The Nightshift, which only has one person subtitling it (as opposed to two, which is the case when we type live). I've used it a few times for this and it copes remarkably well, especially with pop culture references - we had a discussion on the show last week about John Lennon and it knew to write 'who is your favourite Beatle' rather than 'beetle' for instance. Before this we were using IBM Via Voice but personally I prefer Dragon. I find it easier to use.

We were told though that if you're intending using it for dictation, it's not such a good idea to also use it to control your PC, as it'll assign those commands and so if, for instance, you say 'open' in a dictation situation, it thinks you want a program opened, etc.

Chris P said:

I'd be afraid my singing along to the radio will lead to plagiarism allegations.

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The characters I'm writing about have been known to utter random phrases such as "Fu**ing cat!" and "Damn it, Furby!" (My cat is named Furby. Amazingly Dragon can interpret and correctly spell this word just fine.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is an awesome productivity platform for writers (and, No, I don't work them).

You speak, it types. You can speak a lot faster than you can type.

Unfortunately, there are drawbacks. It's not 100% accurate. You have to train it. You ave to use the same headset and mike (different headphones and mikes set the program back so much that you might as well start over training it). You have to think about your punctuation. It tends to brickwll productivity because you end up trying to think of how the line needs to be rather than just telling the story.

There are ways of getting around all of the above, and I have, but it takes time. The initial jubilation with the software wears off quickly, but it comes back with time and practice.

It's as exciting and productivity-enhancing a product as LightScribe's smart pens. I'm in love with 'em both, but then I'm a tech geek too so go figure.

Dragon 11 works much, much better than Dragon 10. For me, it's also several times better than what comes with Windows. I have both, and it isn't even close. But I will say the Premium edition is considerably more versatile. It isn't really better at ordinary dictation, but it sure has more uses, and works with pocket rcorders, which can be a huge plus.

I use the Dragon 11 $75 version all the time. It does help especially when you are having those manic days and just need to GET IT OUT. The headset that came with it has a cord long enough for me to pace as I talk.

I found that right out of the box it worked pretty well. I did take the time to work and train it so it works very well now. I've got it to the point of discerning "there', "they're" as well as "than", "then". I will alert you to the fact that make sure your computer has the minimum hardware (I had to up my RAM to the 2 gigs, I have an ancient machine from waaaaay back in 2007).

There is a learning curve and set up time, but it's well worth it. Also, if you like dictating, you can buy a digital voice recorder that is compatible with Dragon and add yet another gadget to the arsenal. The biggest gain I was able to achieve through using Dragon was production of more copy. Using Dragon has helped turn the internal editor off when I should be firmly stuck in "creative" mode. If you've go the cash, it's a "nice-to-have".

I have tried the Windows 7 version of speech software and it didn't work. I have been looking at Dragon for two years.

The problem for me is that not only do I have physical disabilities, but my speech and hearing are affected by being deaf in one ear. In fact, the Windows 7 program would ask "What?" on almost every word I said, not matter what. I could read a paragraph of text after doing the training three times, and it might correctly get one word. Also, the box to correct the guesses text was so tiny, I couldn't see the letters in it.

My thought is, if you have a speech or hearing impediment, it may not work for you. If those are fine, try a free version before spending the money.

adtabb said:

I have tried the Windows 7 version of speech software and it didn't work. I have been looking at Dragon for two years.

The problem for me is that not only do I have physical disabilities, but my speech and hearing are affected by being deaf in one ear. In fact, the Windows 7 program would ask "What?" on almost every word I said, not matter what. I could read a paragraph of text after doing the training three times, and it might correctly get one word. Also, the box to correct the guesses text was so tiny, I couldn't see the letters in it.

My thought is, if you have a speech or hearing impediment, it may not work for you. If those are fine, try a free version before spending the money.

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This is why training the program is so important. Any significant accents or speech idiosyncrasies are adapted during this period. You can also select what region of the world/country which may influence your speech (Aussie, southern, Yankee). Training the program consists of reading some excerpts from different text within the program. The subject of the texts varies and I just took the time to read a good swath of them. I also picked a couple of my favorite books off the shelf and opened a word document and started reading/dictating. This is the way to go especially if you write in a specific genre where a lot of specific vocabulary is used, although Dragon does pretty good with pop culture stuff out of the box. I did have to train it in the more base vernacular (yes you have to teach is to cuss). The nice thing about Dragon is that you can correct by voice as well as typing. There are voice commands that help you select parts of a line and change specific things within that line. If you want to go totally hands free you can, or you can dictate and correct manually. Remember, Dragon learns from your corrections and as time passes you will have to correct less and less. You will find that as you tire or get lazy, the mistakes will go up. I just kept at it and the program eventually adds these variations to the words already learned. You really do get out of it what you put into it.

This discussion has been very helpful to me. My only hesitation is that I enjoy the process of creative writing while typing. I'm wondering if dictating would take away from that. Does this make sense? However, if I'm working on a non-fiction project, I can see where it would be really helpful.

Dragon improved—and why I don’t use it for writing.

I must admit Dragon has gone a long way since I first played around with it, many years ago. The key issue is still training, and lots of it. Then again, it can be well trained to even most obscure dialects and/or speech impediments. With decent hardware, and if you are the type that loves to loudly utter their writing, it may well be worth the money. If you’re going to get it, get Dragon 11.

For taking (longer) notes, I actually use it from time to time. I like to carry a digital voice recorder with me, so I can take notes, ideas and dictations on the go. Back in my office, these can be put through Dragon. (Not always, sometimes background noise is just too much, like when taking notes in a train or the car.)

Still I don’t use speech recognition software for writing because

• I change my voice a lot. I could never speak out a dialogue in a »neutral dictation voice«. Instead I’d move about the place, shout, fall into a protagonist’s dialect, or whatever. I found no way of training any speech recognition software into that variation of speech.
• I like to physically write (though on a computer, usually). It helps me to concentrate.
• I just hate having to go through a long text editing out stupid errors. Even if the recognition software is 98% correct, it’s the two percent for which you have to check it all over again. It’s basically like OCR (which I also loathe). The time I lose on correcting is better spent on actual writing, because I wouldn’t make these errors when typing myself.
• I somehow like to see my work »growing«. On paper, or the screen. For me, it’s somehow not comparable to having some little electronic demon typing in my stuff instead.

This is just my personal experience, of course. Your mileage may vary.

Try using the built in voice program that comes with MS windows, XP on. The current version is built on the previous versions so it is pretty good. It works on Wordpad, not Word. If you like it and doing the necessary vocal punctuation you could consider going to Dragon SN.
I have used voice programs, starting with IBM OS/2 Warp V.4 when it was part of the OS, to Dragon version 9. I did not, or have not bothered, to buy a new version of Dragon. I probably will some time in the future because I like to have it around for note taking. The combination of OneNote and voice programs is powerful.

When I was writing legal papers for classes Dragon was very good, once it was trained and the vocabulary and controls set up. It is much faster than typing. But, there is the need to review for errors.

If you have a speech issue, I do, it can be frustrating training the program to distinguish between various words. I accepted that I would need to go back over any document to correct those.

Try speaking a chapter into Wordpad using MS voice. If you find it useful, you will probably find Dragon useful.