Anyone have experience with Dragon voice-recognition software? I'm wondering if it could be used to cut down on occasional transcript costs for audio recordings. Have a staff member recite the recording instead of manually typing it. Just curious.

I've used it for the past 10 or so years. Primarily I use it to transcribe/take notes of Defendant interviews once a case is targeted for trial.

Once the user has "trained" the software--it should get you in the 90-95% accuracy range. For an actual transcript, that's not too good. For taking notes of an interview--you can watch the video (with headphones on) and transcribe notes at the same time.

It will take a newer computer with considerable horsepower to handle the program. Other thought is obtaining a quality headset/microphone combo. The one that ships with the product is garbage.

Just my two cents.

I echo the comments regarding Dragon. Like other party, been trying to use it for 10 or more years. When it hit version 7 or 8, became fairly functional, but still requires committment to work well and even then, you still have mistakes to correct. If you buy, consider the "professional" version, not just the "off the shelf" consumer level Likely be more robust and able to handle legal terms.


For long dictations, it will require lots and lots of proofing. Not sure it will justify this type use, unless newest version has hit new levels. Also, takes lots of RAM. Unless you have plenty ram, don't try it as you'll have lots of freezing of computer. Works well for doing quick short like one-five paragraphs.

Now having said all of the above, I'm about to buy the newest update. I'm a user since version one, in the professional legal version so have an investment to maintain. I'll use it in "best use" enviroment for short jobs.

Another reality of Dragon is being consistent, consistent, consistent...as to headset, location of mic, quality sound card and lots of RAM, wording, etc. Still a good product for proper use. I'll also acknowledge that there may be users who swear by it and use it in a lighly proficient manner!

While I understand cost and "taxpayer dollar", I would offer some alternatives. Look at www.copytalk.com. They offer some "unlimited" dication plans at very reasonable rates. The product is very "plain" and no formating but our office does a quick "cut and paste" then the ladies format it. Best bang for the buck by far. Also check out www.etypist.com as they are group from Cleveland who transcribe for one cent per word, I think and have 24 hour turnaround time. Best and most expensive is "www.speakwrite.com which is from Austin and they are "tops" by far.

I personally use all three and will be glad to discuss with anyone.

B.Helwig
Yoakum County Criminal District Attorney

An option that you probably already have, if you are using Microsoft Word as your word processing program, is to try out the voice recognition software that is already a part of Word. All you need is a microphone to hook up to your computer and some time to train it to your voice, and you can be up and running. Just click on "Tools" and "Speech" and it should get you into the program. Good Luck.