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Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Upgrade | 
| From: Nuance Communications, Inc.
List Price: $149.99
Buy New: $92.99
You Save: $57.00 (38%)
New (11) Used (1) from $92.99
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 477
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows Xp
Media: DVD-ROM
Edition: Preferred - Upgrade
Operating System: Windows 95
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.3
MPN: A189A-K00-10.0
Model: A189A-K00-10.0
UPC: 780420118799
EAN: 0780420118799
ASIN: B001B5J7RU
Release Date: August 11, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Speech-recognition application for creating documents, reports, and emails | | • | 3 times faster than most people type with up to 99-percent accuracy | | • | Surf the Web by voice or dictate and edit in most Windows-based applications | | • | Dragon Voice Shortcuts collapse common tasks into simple voice commands | | • | Dictate into a handheld device or use a Bluetooth microphone |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Preferred gives small business and advanced PC users the power to create documents, reports, and emails, three times faster than most people type, and with up to 99% accuracy. Surf the Web by voice, or dictate and edit in Microsoft Word and Excel, Corel WordPerfect, and most other Windows-based applications. New Dragon Voice Shortcuts collapse common tasks into simple voice commands. Create custom commands to insert blocks of texts or images such as your name, title, and signature with a single voice command. Format and delete text faster than ever with Quick Voice Formatting. You can even dictate into a handheld device when you're away from your PC, or use a Bluetooth microphone. Most people speak over 120 words per minute, but type less than 40 words a minute. That means you can create documents and emails about three times faster with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Dragon Naturally Speaking never makes a spelling mistake, and it actually gets smarter the more you use it. Dragon Naturally Speaking installs quickly and requires no special script reading to train the system. On-screen help and tutorials will make you an expert user in no time. Use your voice to dictate, edit and control applications like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and AOL. Quickly search for information on the Web or on your own computer. Just say "Search the Web for global warming articles," "Search Wikipedia for George Washington Carver," or "Search eBay for Batman comic books." Searching the Web or your computer has never been faster - or easier. Dictate into any Nuance-certified handheld device for automatic transcription when you synch with your PC.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 I am sure the software is great if Nuance would sell me a working copy August 23, 2008
M. Stone (Wisconsin)
20 out of 23 found this review helpful
I have been a long term user of Dragon Dictate - Dragon Naturally Speaking having first bought into the software during version 3. Although I liked version 8 I have religiously upgraded to enhance the performance of this very complicated and what I hope to be useful software...this version promises to be the first that will be able to recognize more then one voice and reach 96% or better recognition. Which means I will finally be able to spend more time dictating then editing. That catch thus far has been Nuance. The DVD that came with my order has a corrupt file on it and I have emailed, I have called customer service who forwarded me to tech support which had a robot voice that told me that I might be charged $ 15.00 and should have my credit card ready and then was put on hold for a considerable amount of time...how long you might ask...the first day it was 42 minutes before I gave up and went back to work...I am not paid to sit on hold with the people I pay to sell me working software and my supervisor did not understand. Today I was on hold twice, the first time for about 33 minutes - when I had to go to a meeting and the second time for 72 minutes until the battery in my phone died. Another current concern is that Nuance's tech support is only open M-F from 9am to 8pm eastern time: meaning that I will have to wait another weekend to ask permission to use their software. I never talked to a tech support human being, but heard that they were busy serving other customers for a very long period of time. My guess is that there was a mistake someplace in production and none of the current copies are working and that is why everyone is calling. This does not mean that the software is not good and that my review will be as negative as this current (first one) once things are worked out on their end...I am strongly advising that you wait for them to get the bugs out of their support and DVDs prior to ordering.
Error messages August 24, 2008
Jon (Las Vegas, NV USA)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have never used speech recognition software before. Therefore, I was very excited to try Dragon Naturally Speaking 10, Preferred version. I pre-ordered ($99.95) it a week before release and when I tried to install it on my eMachines T3025 I received several error messages that failed to tell me why the software would not install. After considerable time on hold (long distance telephone calls) I was informed by a very polite and heavily accented "technician" that my processor did not possess the 2EE instructions required by the software. Not to be deterred, I purchased a new Dell desktop computer with a Core 2 Quad processor featuring the 2EE instructions and more. Today, when I attempted to install the software, the installation failed. The error message was that the software does not support 64 bit. Nuance's web pages offerred no help that I could find. I dread the thought of additional long distance phone charges for being on extended hold; therefore, I'll post this on Amazon with a copy to Nuance. I have high hopes that someone more savvy than I can get me up and running. I'm waiting... :)
 An Outstanding Product That Will Amaze and Delight You September 23, 2008
G. Girard (LA, CA)
15 out of 24 found this review helpful
I have been using speech recognition products since IBM ViaVoice and Dragon Dictate were battling it out. This is by far the best version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It is compatible with both Internet Explorer and Firefox, as well as Microsoft Word. I am using it right now to dictate what looks like to be a lengthy post addressing some of the one star reviews posted above. I think they are pretty absurd, but let me be a more specific.
M. Stone received a DVD with a "corrupt file" and therefore is advising everyone not to purchase now but to wait until some unspecified time in the future when he believes that the product will be bug free. LOL Even though Stone claims have been using speech recognition software from Dragon from version 3, Stone doesn't provide any guidance as to whether or not Dragon speech recognition software works very well at all. IMHO, version 9, for example, was a pretty slick and useful speech recognition product itself. Version 10 is better. His tale of woe with tech support may be true. Speech recognition software is some of the most complicated software the consumer can buy. At least there is someone to call. Who would you call when you have a question about Microsoft Office? In any event, his complaint about the "robotic voice" is kind of lame when everyone knows that phone trees and automated phone systems are ubiquitous in customer service. At least we need to get a tech support representative eventually, the tech will be knowledgeable and based in North America. In any event, I am very skeptical his story-- I ordered mine Wednesday from Amazon, received it on Monday, and installed it today without a hitch. As far as the $15 charge, the charges actually $19.95, and only applies after your first free tech support call. Moreover, in all my years of dealing with Dragon, I have never had them charge me for a tech support call. moreover, I believe it is their policy not to charge anyone for tech support calls dealing with installation. If you think about it, that doesn't even make sense. If you're selling a product and the consumer can't even install it, you're not likely to gain much goodwill by charging them 20 bucks to get some help just to install the software.
Moving right along to "Jon "L. V. Teacher" -- he has never used speech recognition software before. I would sure like to know how he bought the upgrade product no previous product to upgrade. He claims he pre-ordered it for $99.95. I wonder which version this is -- my upgrade to Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred version 10 was $69.99, and I didn't pre-order. It has gone up $20 since I ordered it. There is a stripped-down version called "Standard" and a very expensive professional version not at issue here. In any event, he tried to install it on an eMachine. eMachine went out of business several years ago. They were always bottom-line budget computers. Installing a state of art speech recognition product on an unsupported bottom-line budget computer and then claiming that it doesn't work is less than reasonable. I have no idea what he is talking about regarding "2EE" instructions. It doesn't sound like he does either. Then he complains that he purchased a top-of-the-line 64-bit Dell. Not much consumer software runs on 64-bit PCs. The specifications for most software assumes that you have a 32-bit version of Windows. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred explicitly states as one of its minimum system requirements that you are Windows system be 32-bit. Seriously, if you buy a 64-bit version of Windows you better know exactly what you're buying it for and know that all of your software is going to be compatible with it. Mr. Las Vegas teacher obviously didn't make this minimal inquiry. However, Nuance provides an FAQ and, interestingly enough, the first question they addressed is whether or not any of their versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking run on 64-bit operating systems. They explain "No" and why. [...] . A comparison matrix for all of their speech recognition products that covers every conceivable detail is here: [...]
As for Mr. Beckwith in Elk Grove "Hey!" -- I live 10 miles away from you. I can't believe that you have purchased each Dragon since version 5 and you're giving it one star based upon the price? First of all, you claim that this upgrade says that it comes with a microphone. Well it doesn't and there is no claim that it does. If you have purchased Dragon speech recognition product since version 5, then you should know that during the first 30 days you can find extraordinary deals, like I did -- I paid $69.99. It has already gone up to $89.99. And will soon go up to $99.99. So Mr. Beckwith gives a product he didn't buy one star and decides that he will "wait for a software upgrade at a lower and more reasonable price." You have already waited too long, Mr. Beckwith. Wait more and pay $20 more. In the excellent review by David Pogue in the New York Times, he notes that if you already own Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 9.5 you can get away with skipping this upgrade. I tend to agree with them. However it has sufficient additional features that I'm willing to shell out the upgrade price.
Finally, as to the merits of the software itself. It takes about 5-10 minutes to go through a very essential training process so that the software recognizes your voice. Additionally, Mr. Beckwith is correct in that you will have to buy a high-quality microphone in order to get the maximum quality this software is capable of delivering. I am using a $300 wireless Plantronics USB CS50. He did not really need a $300 microphone to use speech recognition software, but you cannot use a five dollar plastic beige-colored microphone that some computer vendors give you for free. It must be reasonably high-quality microphone with a microphone element that sits close to your mouth. The Nuance and NaturallySpeaking website has a whole list of Nuance approved microphones. Any of these will give you anywhere from adequate to outstanding quality. Speech recognition is here for everyone to use and is surprisingly user-friendly and extremely accurate. However, if you are new to speech recognition there is a learning curve and you must invest, at a minimum, about $50 for a wired headset microphone specifically designed for speech recognition. A little bit of time googling vendors who do nothing but sell microphone for use with speech recognition will yield results. Dragon NaturallySpeaking supports wired microphones, wireless microphones, Bluetooth mics, array microphones -- for reasonably inexpensive wired headset microphones, Andrea has been in the business for a long time.
Overpriced .. Unnecessary Components for Upgrade August 24, 2008
Tim M. Beckwith (Elk Grove, CA USA)
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
I have used and upgraded several versions of NaturallySpeaking over many years (I started with version 5) for work. When I retired I (A) bought Preferred 8 and (B) a really nice Parrott microphone for use at home. When Preferred version 9 came out I bought a software only copy here from Amazon at a considerable savings. Later I was able to freely upgrade to version 9.5 via a software download (9.5 simply provided Vista compatibility). This upgrade says it provides a headset microphone, which is unnecessary if you are truly simply seeking to upgrade the software. Besides, the headsets provided by the manufacturer are notoriously poor. I will wait for a software-only upgrade at a lower and more reasonable price.
Don't bother buying this version if you have a 64-bit machine October 25, 2008
tech geek (SE Ohio)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought a new computer with XP 64-bit on it to be able to load it up with memory for NaturallySpeaking to use since I was a V9 user and was quite happy with the product on XP 32-bit. After spending over $2000 for the computer and $99 for the upgrade, I found out that DNS 10 will not even install on a 64-bit computer! What??? The one application that can make full use of a fast machine with fast drives and lots of memory (and the "lots of memory" requires a 64-bit machine!) doesn't run on 64-bit? You're kidding, right???
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