Using MP3 Recorder with Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking

Yes, you can buy the recorder that Nuance recommends, or you can buy their app for your phone.  Or another voice-recording app.  But the main thing is that you need to match their bit rate.  An MP3 recorder won't do this on its own.  However, it's a very simple matter to use Audacity open source software to convert your MP3 voice-recording to a WAV file that Dragon will then transcribe for you.

Here's what it takes:

1.  Download Audacity if you haven't already.  Sourceforge  is a safe place to get it.

2.  Make the recording with your MP3 player.  In doing this, remember to do it like you would do a dragon recording -- speak clearly, and state the punctuation.  Save it on your computer in a location that you can easily browse to.

3.  Open Audacity.  In lower left hand corner you will see the sampling rate.  The default seems to 44100. Change this to 22050.  This step might not matter, but that's the sampling rate that Nuance's recorders use.

4.  Go to File -> Import -> Audio.  Browse to your MP3 file and import it.

5.  Go to File -> Export and browse to the location where you want to save the recording.

6.  Save the recording as an WAV file WAV Microsoft (signed)16 bit PCM

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You're done.  You can now hit "Transcribe" on Dragon, choose your options, browse to the file, and hit "transcribe."