4 stars (students should think first before buying it) - This product works very good, as advertised. However, I bought it in hope to use it for my classes. I was using it with Sony ICD-P210 Voice Recorder. Unfortunately, it doesn't work if you record from your desk, even if you sit very close to the teacher (I've tried both Standard and High Quality recording). So if you want to use this program to recognize your teacher's speech, you will have to ask him to wear a microphone, and to hold your recorder in his pocket, and not to move a lot. For most of my teachers, it is not acceptable. Good luck! 4 stars (Memory Hog) - This is a great product. I bought because I am working full-time and going to grad school at night. I have significantly reduced the time required to produce cousework. Comments: 1) I have 1.12 GB of RAM, about 6 paragraphs of dictation kills the memory. I tried using it with 256 MB of RAM and immediately upgraded. 2) Be patient. The software gets better at recognizing your voice. I have found after about 6 paragraphs of dictation it does not recognize my voice as well. Other then that, it's truely amazing. If you were wondering, I am currently typing this out. I was writing a paper and killed the memory with Dragon. I'll restart and keep working... enjoy. 4 stars (Glad to be speaking...) - i just wanted to take a moment and tell you all that I love this program, It does what it says and is about 90-95% acurate right out of the box. I would positivly buy it again..... Thank you.... ... Nuance Communications Inc :: scansoft :: dragon :: naturallyspeaking :: 8 :: preferred :: nuance :: communications :: inc :: internet :: communications :: scansoftdragonnaturallyspeaking8preferred 04 november :: :: ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Preferred
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. ... Nuance Communications Inc :: scansoft :: dragon :: naturally :: speaking :: 8 :: standard :: nuance :: communications :: inc :: internet :: communications :: scansoftdragonnaturallyspeaking8standard 10 november :: :: ScanSoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Standard