Author Topic: Upgrading Dragon?  (Read 2479 times)

BelovedWanderer

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Upgrading Dragon?
« on: October 02, 2018, 12:48:14 AM »
Opinions on updating from 13 to 15? I'm hesitating clicking on the buy button. I've used it off and on, but wondering if 15 functioned any better or if I'd be better off using 13 and waiting for more improvement from a 16.
 

guest14

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Re: Upgrading Dragon?
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2018, 12:58:04 AM »
Didn't they discontinue the software on this program?
 

BelovedWanderer

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Re: Upgrading Dragon?
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2018, 01:10:53 AM »
I'm still able to use it, there aren't any more updates they'll do to it to keep it compatible. So a Word update or some other software update might make it obsolete. I've read a few reviews that 15 is actually worse, so I wanted to ask people who use it continually here if it's worth the hassle.


I'll probably still upgrade. I'm just procrastinating.
 

Arches

Re: Upgrading Dragon?
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2018, 03:38:27 AM »
I upgraded several times in the hope that Nuance would fix what is one of the most frustrating programs I've ever used. In my opinion, the upgrades are a waste of money. I still use Dragon from time to time, but if you're expecting it to improve, you're going to be disappointed.
 

ImaWriter

Re: Upgrading Dragon?
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2018, 05:50:40 AM »
I'm still using Premium 12 on Win7, but I'm going to need a new desktop soon. I'm hating the idea of Win 10, but hate it less than Mac, so I'll need to suck it up and upgrade Dragon. I have until the end of the month to get a pretty sweet upgrade price to 15 Professional, but will admit to being scared.

Dragon is almost 100% accurate for me, so I've learned to overlook the terrible customer service and sometimes horrible software.

If you do upgrade, I'd love to hear some feedback from you.
 

dgcasey

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Re: Upgrading Dragon?
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2018, 10:47:21 AM »
I've been using ver. 13 Basic for a year or so now and it does everything I need it to do, so I see no need to upgrade to the next version. That and the fact that I only paid $16 for the version I have. I'm cheap that way.  :cool:
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author

Re: Upgrading Dragon?
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2018, 04:39:16 PM »
I'm still using Premium 12 on Win7, but I'm going to need a new desktop soon. I'm hating the idea of Win 10, but hate it less than Mac, so I'll need to suck it up and upgrade Dragon. I have until the end of the month to get a pretty sweet upgrade price to 15 Professional, but will admit to being scared.


You can put windows 7 on whatever new computer you get. I've been on windows 10 for a year and a half and I'm finally fed up enough with it that I'm switching to windows 7. I went from 7 for 2009-2013, to 8 (with startisback) from 2013-2017, and then 10 from 2017-now. 10 has been the worst experience I've had other than when I had to use a mac for work for a year, and even that was better than this.




As far as 15 vs 13, 15 doesn't need to be trained, but for me it seems less accurate than 13 with minimal training. Also 15 isn't fully functional if you dictate into scrivener or other programs beside word or dragon pad. You don't have full commands.


I've read there's a way to get these commands in 15, but I can't remember where. Maybe on the knowbrainer forums.
 

The Flying Scot

Re: Upgrading Dragon?
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2018, 07:55:45 PM »
I've been using Dragon 11 since it came out. I've run it successfully on Vista and Win7. A few weeks ago, Nuance sent me a special offer on Dragon Home 15 so I bought it and put it on an SSD running Win8.1.

The first few days didn't impress me then we must have made friends or something because now it understands me. It learns as it goes using an AI feature not found on previous versions. It even notes if you have a sore throat or a cold and it makes allowances for background noise.

I've always run Dragon in as minimal a configuration as possible and talk-type into the DragonPad. I simultaneously record my voice using Soundrecorder (comes free with Windows). When I've finished a chapter or a long scene, I save the recording and the DragonPad into the same folder then load Express Scribe to play back the recording at a fast speed.

This allows me to find and correct any mistakes. Dragon learns from this.

Incidentally, version 15 makes its own recording if you want but I prefer to stick with Soundrecorder because if Dragon crashes (v11 was prone to that), I still have a recording of my work.

One last thing, I found with v11 that the sound card is more important than the microphone so now I always plug the headset into a USB card. I recommend Lindy or Plantronics cards as being excellent quality for the money.