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CLEMMONS, NC - NextUp's TextAloud software has made several headlines recently,
thanks to its usefulness to the blind. Now, users with aging or visually
impaired relatives are discovering its value as well. Easy to install even
for PC novices, TextAloud is the perfect tool for those helping older relatives
deal with an increasing loss of sight, enabling them to quickly, cheaply,
and easily export e-mails, web pages, magazine articles, books and more,
into spoken audio.
TextAloud most recently proved its usefulness to Warren Scharbert and his
father, Don Scharbert of Joliet, Illinois. Don Scharbert is an
active and knowledgeable longtime computer user with macular degeneration
in one eye and a detached retina in the other. This leaves him with limited
vision, and with screen magnifiers and other tools an increasingly necessary,
frustrating part of life -- pages that might take seconds or minutes for
sighted viewers, may take Don hours to read by magnifier. His son sought
a better solution for him -- and found TextAloud, which not only integrated
flawlessly with his father's existing PC programs, but quickly proved itself
to be an invaluable support for Don's love of computing, bringing the web,
e-mail, and more into spoken audio.
An award-winning program that converts text into spoken audio for listening
on a PC or laptop, TextAloud can also save text to audio files for playback
on portables like the iPod®, PocketPC®, and a wide range of other devices.
Priced at just $29.95, TextAloud is simple for anyone with a PC, and has
become popular for the visually impaired, who are increasingly turning to
the program as their main source of Text to Speech.
As a computer user who enjoys everything from reading e-mail to surfing the
web, despite the difficulties posed by his disability, Don Scharbert was
delighted to discover TextAloud. Like many with visual disabilities, Don
had tried and been disappointed by several other high-end programs, including
one created to work as a magnifier and reader, which crashed his NetZero
High-Speed and was incompatible with many of his PC's configurations. By
contrast, TextAloud was able to integrate directly with Internet Explorer,
and worked like a dream. This instantly simplified such tasks as surfing
the 'Net, visiting his Church's website, and reading his e-mail.
"TextAloud has made the Internet enjoyable again," Don comments. "You just
highlight the text and press Play -- can't get much simpler than that!"
TextAloud also enables Don to read newsletters, online documents and PDFs
with remarkable ease and quickness, even changing the voices depending on
his mood. "Most of all, I'm so happy to be able to get my daily e-mails
from friends and family again," he adds. "Before you spend lots of money
on a text reader that promises the moon, try TextAloud, because it does
what it says efficiently -- and without glitches." A free download trial
of TextAloud is offered from the NextUp.com website.
About TextAloud
TextAloud has been featured in The New York Times, PC Magazine, Writer's Digest,
on CNN, and more. Hailed by critics and users alike, TextAloud is priced at
just $29.95, and is compatible with systems using Windows (R) 98, NT, 2000,
XP and VISTA. The program is available for fast, safe and secure purchase
via http://www.nextup.com/purchase.html.
NextUp.com also offers TextAloud with optional premium voices from AT&T Natural Voices (TM),
NeoSpeech (R), Nuance (R), Acapela (R) and Cepstral (R) for the most natural-sounding
computer speech anywhere. Available languages include US English, UK English, Indian
Accent English, Scottish Accent English, French, Canadian French, Latin American Spanish,
Castilian (European) Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese,
Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch,
Belgian Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, and Arabic.
About NextUp.com
NextUp.com, a division of NextUp Technologies, LLC, provides
award-winning Text to Speech software for consumers, business customers,
educators, and those with visual or vocal impairment, or learning
disabilities.
In addition to TextAloud, NextUp.com markets other innovative Windows software
designed to save time and deliver vital information. NewsAloud™ is a talking
personal "news agent" that finds the stories users want, and then reads them
aloud or to portable audio files. WeatherAloud™ is a weather application
that lets users select and listen to personalized weather forecasts, while
StocksAloud™ reads stock updates and related news headlines aloud for specific
companies of interest. NextUp Talker is an easy and affordable program that
allows people who have lost their voices to use the latest in high-quality
computer voices to communicate with others. Most recently, NextUp introduced
a new text reader, AbleReader, available with the AT&T Natural Voices (TM)
for use on Mac computers. Information on AbleReader is available at
http://www.AbleReader.com.
Note to Editors:
Evaluation copies of TextAloud are currently available upon request. To
receive a review copy, or for more information on NextUp.com or
TextAloud, please contact publicist Angela Mitchell at (904) 982-8043.
All companies and products referenced in this press release are the
trademarks of their respective owners. |
