Review by Ms. Rocki

The Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 is a really good voice dictating program. I am using it right now to dictate my review. Once you get familiar with the program, Dragon NaturallySpeaking works really good and is flexible to use with different programs.

I have used Microsoft speech program with Windows 7. While that program works well too, I found it more limited in its flexibility to use with other programs. Dragon NaturallySpeaking I can use within a web browser and other programs accurately. The program opens a sidebar which allows me to view a cheat sheet so I can become more familiar with commands while I use it. I definitely find making corrections a lot easier with Dragon than I do with Microsoft’s speech program. Using the combination power the headset, speech, and your mouse and you definitely have a very powerful human-machine voice interaction that can be a lot of fun to use.

The stock headphones that comes with this program are not very comfortable, but you can use any decent headset and microphone you may have on hand. Right now I’m using my Turtle Beach headset that I find much more comfortable to use on my head. That said, I have noticed that using a better quality headset that my voice commands are better received as I am having less dictation mistakes to fix. When I was using the stock headset, I had a lot more mistakes occurring which led to frustrating moments. I haven’t had that issue with the Turtle Beach headset yet. It’s been smooth sailing.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking premium 13 is definitely a worthwhile program to have if you’re looking for a more reliable speech dictation with your computer. I only recommend that perhaps you get a better headset to work with. Once you get familiar with this program you’ll find it fluid, practical, powerful, and fun to use.

One of the features I found a little humorous was the option to choose what accent you use. Oddly it didn’t have a Boston or New York accent, but it had southern accent option available. To me, it shows that Dragon is working to have a quality program that will understand all kinds of speech regardless of your accent.

I have use and played around with Windows speech program but Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the way I will choose to go. I find it easier, more fun, and more powerful to use in different programs.