An alternative to reading ...
A friend of Sandra Self asked if she knew of any available software that would turn screen based text into speech. After some research, I found numerous software vendors and it was a case of which one would I buy for this purpose. After trialling both, I think the best two are TextAloud from Nextup.com and NaturalReader from NaturalSoft. Have a look at the links below for more comparative information. Both offer free trials of the software but have only the robotic voices included in the trial software. These voices would drive you mad very quickly! I consider it essential that you buy at least two natural voices which are a huge improvement. TextAloud with two natural voices costs about AU$55 and offers a "Whole House Licence" (multiple PCs) for an extra AU$10. The NaturalReader software offers one licence with two natural voices for US$49.50. I think the NaturalReader may be a simpler interface but the TextAloud seems to offer more functionality and seems to have a higher reputation! I would buy Text Aloud but you can try both!
http://www.honestas.ca/?page_id=195
http://www.pacer.org/stc/pubs/ComparingTexttoSpeechtools.pdf
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