Text To Speech Program

 I've used various text to speech programs in the past, but my favorite one for years has been TTSReader. The homepage is HERE. Here's the link at Download.com, HERE.

Here are the reasons why it prefer it to others:

1. It's free.

2. You can convert text to mp3 or wav files extremely quickly.

3. You can adjust the speed and pitch even in mp3 recordings.

4. You can choose to have the program automatically read copied text. Or you can turn that function off.

5. It sounds the most natural to me. But maybe that's because I'm used to that voice because I've used text to speech programs that have been using that main voice since the mid 1990s.

Notes and Warnings:

1. When installing, be careful you don't accidentally install bundled programs that might be included with TTSReader either from the Download.com website or the Homepage website. So, read carefully the installation prompts.

2. Sometimes words that are in all caps aren't read by spelled out. To prevent that from happening you'll need to do some minor editing. Use a program like Editpad Lite (here, or here) to convert all the text into lower text. To do this using Editpad Lite, just click on "Convert" and then on "To Lowercase." Save the file, then open it using TTSReader. From there you can have TTSReader read the document on the fly, or convert it to mp3. Don't forget to apply warning #1 when installing Editpad Lite.

3. Be aware that some abbreviations are incorrectly read. For example, "St." is always read as "street" when the text sometimes means "saint." The abbreviation "Gen." is always read as "general" when the text sometimes means "Genesis." A sentence ending in the word "in" with a period after it (like this "in.") will be read as "inches" instead of the word "in" (as it is normally read without the period).



If anyone has recommendations for a better text to speech program, you're welcome to post recommendations in the comments.