Dragon NaturallySpeaking Review & Giveaway

This Giveaway is Closed

I will be dictating this entire review via Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I will not be making corrections, so if there are grammatical errors or words appear to be misused it is certainly not intentional, but is an accurate representation of how Dragon NaturallySpeaking works for me.

(Begin using Dragon)

I am on the computer well over 8 hours a day. The majority of that time is spent typing, and I have to admit…it can get a bit annoying and tiresome. So when I first heard about Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance, I was absolutely sold. A software program that enabled me to be hands free while I worked? Yes please, sign me up!

When I was offered the chance to review the software for my blog, I jumped at the chance.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is speech recognition software, which was created by Nuance. There are two versions available for PC’s:

1. Dragon Home –this is for the home computer user, and will run you about $99. 99 although you can typically get a pretty good deal on it through Amazon. although this version is pretty basic it definitely has enough interesting features to keep most computer users intrigued.
2. Dragon Premium –this is for professional use mainly. The premium version of Dragon definitely has a lot more bells and whistles to it. Consider it a personal assistant, except this personal assistant will do basically anything you tell it to. From basic speech to text to more complex computer commands, Dragon premium can revolutionize your home office. Dragon premium generally retails for around $199.99, however once again you can generally find it for a bit less on Amazon.

Do you have a Mac? No problem, Nuance has a Dragon for you to. You can check out all the specs of Nuance’s Dragon products by visiting their website.

Initial Impressions of Dragon

**The version of Dragon that I am reviewing is the premium version. This review will only focus on the premium version because I have not used the home version personally.**

First, let’s start with installation of the software. The installation went pretty smoothly although I admit it took longer than I thought it would. still, everything loaded successfully on the first try and without any hiccups.

Now I had to take myself through the tutorials provided to teach Dragon a little bit about myself and to teach me about Dragon. the process was a lot of fun, and it went pretty quickly. However, I quickly noticed that using Dragon while my kids were awake probably wasn’t the best idea. Not really because the microphone picked up on their voices, but more because it’s incredibly difficult to think about what I need to say when there’s a two and a three-year-old hollering in your ear.

I did notice that Dragon did seem to make quite a few mistakes in the beginning, which made and not really seemed to convenient for me to use on a regular basis. I also think that I tend to type and think faster than I speak and think, which I have to admit, surprised me. Perhaps if I was writing more conversationally, and not informationally the words would flow better and faster. It definitely was a bit awkward to use Dragon at first, and I actually stopped using it for about a week and a half because I just worked so much quicker without it.

I knew I had wanted to give Dragon a full month before I reviewed it on the blog, because I really like to get the products that I review a fighting chance. I felt it bit guilty for shelving Dragon for so long, so I picked it back up again and resolved to be patient and let it learn more about me so we could be more efficient together. I do tend to have a patient’s problem, especially for things that I feel slow me down professionally. I always want my reviews to be thorough and honest though, so I knew I needed to take Dragon through my full review process and that wasn’t going to happen if I didn’t use it properly.

Second Impressions of Dragon

Now that I was committed to learning more about Dragon, and letting Dragon learn more about me I noticed that using Dragon was getting a lot easier. It definitely was starting to become much more efficient, and I was starting to see the potential for how it could really help me with my blogging and my writing. Over the next couple of weeks, I tried to use Dragon daily and I could really see the software was benefiting from my regular usage of it. I still was having to learn how to speak naturally and not over annunciate by it was starting to get easier.

I definitely think that Dragon and I still have a ways to go before using Dragon becomes like second nature, although I have to admit that’s probably just my own hangups. I do not get to use it as often as I might have my home office wasn’t in the middle of the family living room. However, the possibilities with this software are absolutely endless. There is so much potential here that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the reviews I read of this product that were dictated by users who could not otherwise put pen to paper ( or fingers to keyboard as the case may be) without this  software.

Dragon is well known for its ability to help people with disabilities engage in life via the computer. From quadriplegics to those who suffer from crippling arthritis, Dragon gives them the opportunity to use their voices to communicate the written word.

I think part of the reason why it’s easy for me to not use Dragon is because I don’t have to. When I think of all those people who have a voice online solely due to this software produced by Nuance, I can’t help but feel a bit of awe.

Would I Purchase Dragon Myself?

Throughout the past month using Dragon, I definitely think that it is the product that I would purchase myself. I see huge potential in what Dragon and I can accomplish together in the future. I do think some of my reluctance comes from the environments that I find myself working in day-to-day. However, when all is quiet and the children are napping I love using my Dragon software. I also would highly recommend this product to anyone that has trouble typing for whatever reason. It is a great product, produced by a great company and if you are willing to put in a bit of effort you will definitely reap the rewards.

I have dictated this entire review via Dragon naturally speaking, and I have not made any corrections. Which hurts my ego a little bit, because there definitely have been a few errors. The best way I know how to show you what Dragon can do that though, is to leave this review perfectly unedited. It is very easy to delete errors, but I wanted this review to show Dragon’s capabilities and not necessarily my own.

(and using Dragon here)
Here is a quick video of me using Dragon…mainly because I just learned how to take videos of my screen! Enjoy!

Nuance provided me with a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking at no cost to myself for review. They did not pay me for this review. They also gave me a copy free of charge to giveaway