Windows seven and windows vista has voice recognition built in. The review below says that the dragon software works better. The free windows programis definitely worth looking at to get your feet wet. I was impressed with the Windows voice recognition software having looked at voice recognition in the past.You will likely need either a head set microphone or a hand-held microphone. To type a short note is an inconvenience to have to put a headset microphone on. I'm going to give the program another shot when I get around to buying a hand-held microphone so I can give that a try. Speaking very clearly is the key to any of these programs but if you are like me even that is easier than typing. I typed this using Dragon dictation on my iPad. I think that program is free or just a couple of bucks for the iPad or iphone.

I was also impressed with the voice recognition on the new droid phones.


Win 7?s built-in speech recognition: a review | Ars Technica