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April-June 2007

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TextAloud
By Bonnie Synder, P*PCompAS
Pikes Peak Computer Application Society, Colorado Springs, Colorado

When doing extensive reading on your computer monitor, do you find that your eyes fatigue from the glare on the screen ... and your neck gets a "crick" in it? Well, I may have found a computer program that can resolve those problems. The program is called "TextAloud." This program can load and read Word files, text files, Web pages, and PDF files. When I say the program "reads" these files, I mean that it has eight built-in text to speech voices that you can adjust for pitch and rate, which will read the document back to you in speech, so you can just sit back and listen. In addition, the Web site that supports this program (NextUp.com) has links to a variety of commercial text to speech voice sites.

Another feature of this program is its portability option. If you don't wish to be tied down to your computer while reading your documents, TextAloud gives you an option to convert them to MP3, WAV, and other sound file formats, so you can load them into your MP3 player or burn them to a CD and listen to them on a portable CD player.

TextAloud also provides a toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox to make reading and capturing Web pages very easily done. Plus, the toolbar has magnification options that will magnify the entire Web page (instead of just portions of one, as the built-in magnification program that comes with Windows XP).

To try TextAloud out, you can download a fully functional 30-day trial version from the NextUp Web site. They also have other talking software—one to hear the news from various sites and another that will speak the weather. If you choose to purchase TextAloud, it is only $29.95, which I think is very reasonable. It is always a good idea to check NextUp.com periodically, too, as they come out with free updates on a regular basis.

The people at NextUp.com are really terrific and are very open to suggestions for improving or adding on to their products. In fact, they encourage user input by providing a monthly prize for the best user suggestion. They also have a free, optional monthly newsletter to which you can subscribe, and they will send it to you via e-mail.

So, if you feel the need to rest your weary eyes, try out TextAloud. I think you'll be very pleased you did.

NOTE: We have written permission for re-publication by any non-profit.