15-Minute Reviews :: TextAloud v2.248

Hello everyone and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is TextAloud version 2.248 by NextUp Technologies—A text-to-speech application to convert raw text into MP3 or WMA.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“TextAlouds unique Text to MP3 or WMA conversion can save your daily reading to audio files to download to your portable player. Listen to email, online news, or important documents while you exercise, work or commute. TextAloud is easy to learn so you can put it to work for you right away.

Everything is user friendly, from the help function to the VCR style playback controls. It has never been easier to keep up with the information you really need. Includes Firefox toolbar. Support for Natural Voices, Neospeech, Cepstral, Acapela BrightSpeech and Elan, and ScanSoft RealSpeak Voices.”

Quick Pros

• Easy-to-use layout – Places everything you need for common use at your fingertips
• A lot of options to alter reading, style, and more
• Does what is supposed to do; Take plain text and convert into audio
• Does accept .doc, .pdf and .html (saved) ad well
• Supports websites via plug-in

Quick Cons

• Requires ‘pricey’ third-party voices to sound decent (Note: See update)
• Lacking on other advanced features such as use in Word, etc.

Expansion

While I’ve dabbled in this application previously, giving it another run through when not a trial is handy. This application can have many uses; From grabbing patches of text for tranferring into MP3 for while out on your morning run or drive; Preparing a PowerPoint presentation for remote use when you might not have the strongest speaking skills; There is a lot that this application could be applied to.

I found this application easy to use. Either open a file with the File->Open command, which accepts .txt, .doc, .pdf and .html (saved, of course), or simply cutting and pasting in a block of text for it to either read aloud or convert to WAV, MP3 or WMA. I did find it awkward to change the settings for the file output (Options->Voices And File Options->File Options tab just to get started with changes) but other than that, it does flow fairly smoothly.

Once you dive past the ‘simple’ interface, there is a lot of options and functions within the menus. Functionality such as clipboard-monitoring and more is buried away for you to find like a treasure. Options such as randomizing the voices, and choosing which voices to use (And if you paid for the other voices, disabling Microsoft’s.)

When it comes down to it, it does what it is intended to do; Take text and convert it into speech. It is based on Microsoft’s TTS engine (Primarily SAPI5) and simply controls what the TTS speaks and how it speaks it.

My biggest beef with this application, is that to get decent-quality speech, you have to go and purchase a SAPI5-compatible voice (or voices for variety.) These voices start at $35 and go up from there, more than the application itself costs. With an application like this under Windows XP, you need to buy a better voice or you end up straining to listen to interpret how it is being said, rather than focusing on what is being said. At least under Vista the new Anna voice is usable. I feel that this application could really deal with having at least one good voice bundled with it.

Final Verdict

While the application does well, it is heavily based on Microsoft’s TTS engine, and as such it more ends up being a decent portal for text-to-speech. That said, I feel that this application would be a much better value to incorporate an AT&T or similar voice just for the fact that Windows XP’s voices are less then stellar. While I did not have the chance to test other voices during this review besides Anna and Sam, I have worked with SAPI5 voices, and some of their speech replication is unbelievably good.

While free, this application is good for those who are looking for a good text-to-speech application. As for paying $29.95, while the price isn’t very high, it really should include a good voice or offer a ‘package’ that has a bundled voice, say, for $59.95. I would more likely purchase the one with a bundled voice than the standalone one, just because I dislike the quality of the Sam voice, and there isn’t a lot of people on Vista yet to enjoy Anna (And honestly, Anna isn’t a top-notch voice either.)

Update on Bundling Voices

The author has made it possible to purchase voices with the purchase of TextAloud for discount prices; As of this update, it is the choice of AT&T’s Crystal and Mike for $25 (A discount of $10) and if you choose these voices, you can also purchase NeoSpeech’s Kate and Paul for $25 as well (Another discount of $10).

Posted by BladedThoth on Saturday, June 16, 2007