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CLEMMONS, NC - As a university professor and research scientist in Austin, Texas, Lecia Barker navigates the busy life of an academic while always on the lookout for those special programs or technologies that will simplify her massive workload day to day. While searching for new resources to assist her with her reading, she discovered that Text to Speech technology would enable her to simplify her reading, research and lectures, and listen to them on the go. After sampling a variety of other Text to Speech products with little success, Lecia chose TextAloud, from NextUp.com (http://www.NextUp.com) as her Text to Speech program of choice, and has continued to use the product for years since.

Priced from $29.95, TextAloud is the popular software program that combines Text to Speech with realistic-sounding voices and an uncluttered, easy to use interface. TextAloud allows PC users to experience their reading by ear as an alternative to visual reading, simply by turning their text files into natural, human-sounding speech. From websites, articles and e-mails, to eBooks, documents, and PDFs, TextAloud exports almost any written text into spoken audio. Best of all, it exports the text into the most popular sound file formats that can be listened to anywhere, via MP3 player, iPhone (R), car stereo, computer, and more.

"I'm an extraordinarily busy person with multiple projects going on at any given time," Lecia comments. "Sometimes I need to review a research article on which I'm about to give a talk, or to review a lecture I'm preparing -- or sometimes I just find an article I want to listen to. So I feed them into TextAloud and listen while I run or exercise. Or sometimes I'll listen just as I'm doing other things, like housework."

As she quickly began to depend on the program, Lecia found that TextAloud's best feature is its easy and seamless ability to speak copied text almost instantly, and it is a feature she still turns to on a constant basis. "When I copy something from a file, TextAloud automatically asks me what I want to do with the copied text," she adds. "The 'Append' feature is really handy, as well, because sometimes you can only copy one page at a time or you have multiple articles you want to listen to."

Lecia does most of her listening to TextAloud sound files on her iPod (R). She also uses the program's Premium Voices to enhance her experience. "Using Premium Voices is important for me, because I am hard of hearing -- I wear hearing aids, though it's not severe," adds Lecia, "and it's easier not to zone out while listening."

For Lecia, TextAloud is ultimately not just a time-saver, but a tool that has transformed the way she works and lives. "TextAloud is invaluable when I need to be reading, yet on the move at the same time," she adds. In the end, the program assists her in almost any reading scenario, from intensive listening, to reviewing or refreshing material, or in simply letting her know when to sit down and take a few moments to really absorb the material. "I've tried other TTS packages," she comments, "but TextAloud is the best."

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 /purchase.html.

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, Greek, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, Castilian (European) Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

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. 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.

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.