The Puffer Forum

I just down loaded this little program (free version) :

http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.htm

I had to check it out because one of the marketers I work with can't speak English very well (heavy accent) so he uses this program as his "voice". It is really nifty. The free version is sounding robotic, but I can do other things while having the news, read to me and I listen to it like back ground music.

The paid versions look very good.

P.S. this is not a paid affiliate plug or anything. Just thought I would share. Also I had to slow it down.

Thanks, J-P. I have a couple of voice apps, such as the one on the Kindle reader, which I will not use (too robotic). I am too spoiled to the narrated books via flash drive from BARD,NLS. US citizens get spoiled too easily by free oral books. We expect professional voices at least. None of the speech synthesizing programs I have tried come close to satisfactory for me. Instead they get on my nerves. I'd rather read w/large plain typefaces - it is at least faster until I get tired.

But I'll give that one a trial too. I want at least HAL. Are you old enough to remember that movie w/a supposedly synthesized (but really acted) computer voice?

HAL from 2001 space Odyssey? I remember it

the download for the free version is quite robotic. If you test drive the online version it is the "catch copy" to the paid version where you can select the voices.

But not in real time. I just checked the date on the movie. I did see it in the theater but I didn't realize it was a second run... oh well

I was thinking of one of these, so you can finished the articles I've been looking for, especially on your F8 Study!

I have & use ZoomText routinely, but I don't like the synthesized speech. Nor do I use the Kindle speech program. I am too spoiled to BARD/NLS recorded books which are performed by generally quite good live human performers. Speech without inflection grates on me. I have tried to adapt to it, even w/one very $$$ program (on trial, not purchased), but I cannot stand it for more than a very few minutes.

Yes, Hal was 2001, a Space Odyssey. It went mad. Which computers frequently drive quite near... Window7/Office 10 are my current betes noir.

What about speech to text?
http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm

That is one of the moderately $$ programs, good rep., but far from human inflection. Unfortunately Hal and such exist only in sci-fi to date.

our gaming team uses this program to create tutorials. They don't like their own voice or using the PIP feature so they voice over the text to make the "how to" vids.

Being spoiled to audio books makes all the synthesized voice material strictly short-period endurable. Some performers are better than others, but even the weakest of them are better than synthesized speech. From the listed prices of audio books, you would imagine the performers are decently paid. But as BARD/NLS books (and the reader) are free to the the blind and reading-disabled, I don't often have to buy them.