[1 - Greetings - Win Something from NextUp.com!]
[2 - "What's New" Page at NextUp.com]
[3 - NextUp.com User Forums]
[4 - Recent TextAloud Enhancements You May Have Missed]
[5 - Win a NextUp.com Golf Shirt]
[6 - Other Great Products from NextUp.com]

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[1 - Greetings - Win Something from NextUp.com!]
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Hello from NextUp.com!

Congratulations to Jack, our contest winner last month.  He's a proposal writer who finds TextAloud to be a great proofreading tool.  For this month's drawing, a lucky reader will win a NextUp.com golf shirt.  We appreciate all of you who take time to send your contest entries, and as always we thank each and every one of you for staying tuned to our newsletter!

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[2 - "What's New" Page at NextUp.com]
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This is something way overdue, but we finally have a "What's New" page at NextUp.com.  You can visit

http://nextup.com/whats_new.html

and read through recent updates to our software and site.  This should give you a quick way to check in for updates to your favorite software, new voice offerings, and anything else we think you'll find interesting.  We'll still keep you updated via this newsletter, but the What's New page will generally have information first, since we try to be careful and make sure any changes are stable and well tested before announcing them to the mailing list.

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[3 - NextUp.com User Forums]
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At least once a week we get a request for newsgroups or other community type sites related to TextAloud or our other software.  We've finally heard you and are happy to announce that NextUp.com User Forums are now live at

http://nextup.com/phpBB2/index.php

Now you can talk with other users, get help, look for common solutions, and get ideas for getting the most out of TTS software and voices in this public forum.  You can register and be notified when your topics get replies, or just post anonymously if you wish.  The forums are moderated, so anything inappropriate will be deleted, but please drop by and say Hi.  If you have a support question and think it is something that others would like to see the answer to as well, ask it in the forums instead of via email, and everyone will see our answer.

All of you who have had contact with us via email over the past years know how much we appreciate and value our customers.  We believe you are some of the smartest and nicest people on the planet, and we are very excited about this growing community.  So please jump in and participate at

http://nextup.com/phpBB2/index.php

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[4 - Recent TextAloud Enhancements You May Have Missed]
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TextAloud is constantly changing through minor updates where we sneak in new features.  Some of these have been introduced to beta testers, some we just stick in and wait for users to find them.  Most aren't documented in the help yet.  If you don't have version 1.459 or later of TextAloud (you can tell by doing Help->About) and are interested in items mentioned here, grab the latest update at

http://nextup.com/TextAloud/download.html

If you haven't purchased TextAloud MP3 yet, you can do so from this page

http://www.nextup.com/purchase.html

* File Splitter Utility
On the main menu under File->File Splitter Utility you'd find a neat little tool to help split up large text files into smaller articles.  This helps work around problems with really large files, and is handy for breaking ebooks into chapters, so each can be a separate MP3 file.  More details on it can be found on the File Splitter beta test page at

http://nextup.com/beta_split.html

* Customizing Shortcut Keys
Power users, and especially sight impaired users constantly use shortcut keys.  These are keys that you see mentioned on the end of menu entries, such as Control-O for opening text files within TextAloud.  We haven't assigned shortcut keys to every menu entry, and sometimes you might want to assign your own or change what we've selected for a particular menu item.  You can do this by going to Options->Short Cut Setup.  From this window, you can assigned or change shortcuts for any main menu entry.

* Saving Article As Text File
If you'd made changes to the text of an article within TextAloud and would like to save that text out as a text file, you can right-click in the text area of the article, and choose Save Article As.  This will let you save it as a text file for later use.

* Disabling the TextAloud Splash Screen
The splash screen is the picture that shows up as TextAloud starts.  This is mainly done because TextAloud takes a few seconds while voice engines load, and we want to make sure users know the program is responding.  If you'd like to get rid of this image during startup, click the Misc. Options TAB, and uncheck "Show Splash Screen at Startup".

* Turning off the Options Panel
This may not be a new one, but it is often overlooked.  TextAloud's window by default has the upper third of the screen taken up by options.  This panel, with the Clipboard, Engines/Voices, File Options, and Misc. Options TABs is how you set various options within TextAloud.  If you don't often change these, you may want to hide the options panel and use that screen space for articles or to make TextAloud smaller.  To do this, simply click View->Options Panels to uncheck the item.  Need to change something later?  Click the menu item again to bring them back.

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[5 - Win a NextUp.com Golf Shirt!]
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We're giving one lucky NextUp newsletter subscriber a NextUp.com golf shirt.  All you have to do to enter is tell us at least one email newsletter besides ours that you always read.  If you don't get any other good newsletters, then just let us know about a web site, trade magazine, other print publications, etc. where you think people who could use our software might be reached.

Send your entry by email to

gimmethatshirt@nextup.com

We'll draw a winner from entries received by Friday, October 31.  Thanks for entering and good luck!

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[6 - Other Great Products from NextUp.com]
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If you haven't purchased TextAloud MP3 or one of our other products with the optional AT&T Natural Voices engine yet, you can do so from this page

http://www.nextup.com/purchase.html

If you've already purchased one of our products like TextAloud MP3 but haven't yet heard the many options we now offer for AT&T Natural Voices, you can listen to samples and get more details on how to purchase at

http://www.nextup.com/attnvmore.html

Be sure to check them all out for a way to add new variety and personality to your Text To Speech programs. 

Looking for a good MP3 player?  For listening to text and a little music too, it's hard to beat the Nomad IIc 64MB which plays both MP3 and WMA files and costs just $82.54 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006F6ZI/nextuptechnologi

If you find our products useful, please share the news with your friends and at your place of business.  We offer Volume pricing with Site Licensing available to schools, organizations and businesses.  If you'd like more information on this or have questions about any of our products, please don't hesitate to contact us at

support@nextup.com

Thank you for your interest in our company & products. 
 
The NextUp.com Team
NextUp.com
The Power of Spoken Audio
http://www.NextUp.com

A Division of NextUp Technologies, LLC
 

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