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View a PDF file for this press release An easy to use and affordable program for transforming text into speech, TextAloud is popular with a variety of users the world over. From commuters and educators, to visually disabled users seeking alternatives to screen readers, learning disabled users, as well as thousands of others seeking to listen to their reading for entertainment, TextAloud has proven a valuable tool for a multitude of uses - and all at a price starting at just $29.95. "Using TextAloud, I render to voice all of the books I should have read while in school," comments Walker. "Almost all the classic novels and histories are available as downloads on a myriad of Internet sites. This way, the hours on the Interstate fly by -- and I learn something in the bargain." TextAloud allows him to make a productive use of those long commutes -- time that would otherwise be wasted as idle time, as well as in his other endeavors. Walker is a retired railroad electrician who previously spent 34 years working for the Santa Fe (later BNSF) Railway. In addition to his work for the dealership, he now spends his time restoring old sports cars and in vintage racing with his local club - and even there, TextAloud has proven useful. "When I'm working on a car in the garage or traveling to a race, the voices in my head are doing something worthwhile." Walker discovered TextAloud while searching for something to render some of his books on Astronomy and Cosmology into a voice similar to the computer-simulated voice of Steven Hawking. He found this option with TextAloud - as well as a wide variety of non-robotic-sounding options that made spoken speech as natural to listen to as a live reading. Walker has also suffered from glaucoma nearly all of his life, and recently underwent surgeries to remove cataracts. "During the recovery period from my eye surgeries, it was a real joy to be able to continue reading my books and e-mails using TextAloud, and without being dependent on wife or kids for help," he adds. "The tool I like the most with TextAloud is the ability to change voices in the middle of a text," comments Walker. "For instance, P. G. Wodehouse wrote several stories from different points of view, so the ability to have different voices narrating helps to give me a clearer division of the story." His other favorite feature is the ease and speed with which TextAloud can render text to speech. "This means I can spend an evening dividing books into chapters, setting up the program the way I want the narrations to sound, and have the finished product on my iPod, ready to go." He likes dividing the book text into chapters for easy reference, as well as for listening. "It's also easier to find where you left off," he adds. In his listening, Walker uses a first-generation, 20 GB iPod, and even with many books and sound files has been unable to fill the entire thing thus far. "With TextAloud, the voices bring a life to forgotten texts that probably haven't existed since the author died," he adds. "TextAloud has made it possible to continue learning, which is truly the secret of not growing old, no matter how old you may be."
About TextAloud NextUp.com also offers TextAloud with optional premium voices from AT&T Natural Voices™, Nuance®, Acapela® and Cepstral® for the most natural-sounding computer speech anywhere. Available languages include U.S. English, U.K. English, Indian Accent English, Scottish Accent English, Arabic, Cantonese Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Belgian Dutch, Faroese, Finnish, French, Canadian French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, Castilian (European) Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
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