Any Dragon Naturally Speaking users?

[ushi]

I’ve been using this software for the past week! Many of the articles I do require research and this has been a wonderful timesaver! I keep my DragonPad open and verbally record notes and thoughts as I do my web research. If I need to keep track of the sources I paste them in a word document as I go. Once the research and outline are done it all gets pasted in the word document and I write from there. Does anyone have tips on how you use it? I’d love to learn from others who are using this software!

[rochesterny]

I have one piece of ADVICE. TRIPLE check your work when you use Dragon. I use it sometimes as well, for speed purposes. In cases where you are able to get away with writing text the same way you speak it, it's one of the best tools out there.

It works well as long as you are dictating full sentences (i.e. not "word" by "word). The more verbal text you give to DNS in single chunks the better it works. It's when your sentences get shorter (i.e. when your brain gets fried) that it doesn't work as well...

The other problem it has it that sometimes it will misinterpret words in a way which won't get picked up by your spell check. For example whenever I used it, "your" always gets transcribe as "her".

[hexemaus]

I use it for a few projects here and there.

One thing to keep in mind...many content companies have, as part of their agreement, clauses that state you will not use any electronic or artificial means to create content. I had always thought they meant article spinning software until I mentioned using DNS to an editor. She pointed out that our agreement specifically prohibits the use of such "artificial or electronic" article generating assistance. I never thought of DNS as being "artificial" or "electronic" article creation assistance. She explained that it wasn't article spinners that necessitated that clause in the agreement. It was writers using speech to text software - because of the increase in grammatical errors that were being missed when writers didn't fully proof their work.

Just food for thought. If you use it to do the actual writing part of your articles, as the previous poster mentioned, double and triple check your text, but also check your agreements with the content company. If they have a clause that bans the use of electronic, artificial, or automated article creation, odds are they're talking about speech to text software as well as spinning software.

Personally? I understand why they don't want you to use DNS or similar programs. I've seen how DNS can slaughter an otherwise grammatically correct sentence. However, the way I see it, if I use it and then triple check my text before I turn it in...any errors are mine to bear, no matter how the text came to reside on the page. However, rules are rules...

[Hoping2]

I liked it a lot when I used it. It made things go much faster and it was kind of fun to use. You do have to double check everything, though, because it will substitute words, particularly homophones, and Word won't pick that up. Unfortunately, I switched to a Mac and now I can't use it anymore. I'd have to shell out another 100 bucks to get the special Mac version, so it would be nice if they made a universal version. If you switch back and forth between the two, it won't transfer.

[ushi]

The best use for me has been in the research phase. Just like I can't read my own handwriting from scribbled notes, sometimes the program garbled some of my words--especially when I had a cold--THAT was wild! As for final proofread, I still read articles out loud. For longer or more complex ones I still need to print them out and read them. Have to find what works to create a quality finished product!

[imwriterblog]

I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking in the past but found that it actually slowed me down a bit - I guess it is because I am a fast writer anyway and I have my own wriitng style that works well when I write from the top of my head. However, I know LOTS of writers that use it with great success.