ScanSoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Standard Description:

ScanSoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Standard review:
5 stars (Finally speech recognition that works) - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 is not perfect, but I believe it is as close as possible with today's technology. In fact, upgrading your hardware may be the best way to improve the performance. It happily eats up all the processing power I throw at it, and then some. But the result is better dictation that some office workers could have taken. It misunderstands from time to time, but at least it can spell even long and unusual words.



The included headset is of poor quality and should be replaced as soon as possible. This has been the case all the way from version 5 when I first bought it. I have no idea why they would ruin their own reputation to pinch a few pennies like that. It would have been wiser to ship it without hardware at all: This is really a software product, after all. Personally I use a USB headset from Plantronics with very good results. It also works well with a common vocal performance microphone. Coincidentally it will also understand you if you sing...
5 stars (This Rocks) - Much better than previous versions. The engine is cleaner, more precise. Definitely worth upgrading from older versions.
4 stars (Excellent product) - As I sit here with my arm in a cast I am dictating this review using the Dragon software. It installed easily. The orientation was well worth it. The program works, very, very well. I went off and got an aftermarket headset, which I preferred over the ones that came free with the software, but what do you expect for free? All in all great product that I would recommend highly.