I tried speech recognition a few years back, it didn't work.
Try it now! This technology is consistently evolving. Still not sure? Watch this video review from The New York Times.

The whole trick is a powerful PC.  Here's a tip -- our most productive users are the ones who use a combination of speech recognition and the mouse and keyboard.

What are the hardware requirements for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9?
We recommend using a P4 with 512MB RAM. The faster the machine the better your results. Use 1 GB of RAM if you intend on having multiple windows open.

What kind of sound card should I use?
We still recommend a Creative Labs Sound Blaster sound card. However, we find that the sound card has become less of an issue in the latest versions of Dragon, so we usually tell people to try the sound card that they have and if they have a problem they can either upgrade the sound card or use a USB headset.

Which hand held recorder should I use to achieve best results for speech recognition?
We have tested every digital recorder on this web site. At this time we believe the best digital recorders on the market to be the Philips 9600 and the Olympus DS4000.

What are the settings for wav file format that Dragon is looking for?
Dragon recommends 11,025 Hz 16 bit mono.

What is the difference between Preferred and Professional?
The biggest difference is that professional version allows you to create voice macros like "My Letter Closing" the professional version would then display the paragraph that you have defined as YOUR letter closing. "Letter to John Smith" "My Letterhead"