[Athen] Favorite converter for text

[Jean M Salzer]

I've been using TextAloud for my 'new-to-audio' students for going on 5 years and the majority of them buy it for themselves within one semester - not just because I suggest it, but because they can use it for so much of their day to day stuff - research for papers, playback for editing their papers, emails, etc. Most of the students prefer ATT Mike, some of the guys like Crystal :) I like Mike, he sounds like a radio announcer.

For the students who have Macs, I simply suggest they go to the Apple Store and buy a better voice if they don't like what's provided. All the Mac users have laptops and have stated they don't need an MP3 conversion, so they just use the reader. Set up a hotkey to have it talk/stop talking.



Jean
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Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 2:00:02 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: Athen Digest, Vol 41, Issue 28

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Favorite Text to Audio Converter (Shelley Haven)


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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:01:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Shelley Haven <rmhaven at stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Favorite Text to Audio Converter
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen at athenpro.org>
Message-ID:
	<1244336374.3530031245344493252.JavaMail.root at zm04.stanford.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

My go-to programs for simple, versatile, and inexpensive are TextAloud MP3 for Windows PCs ($30 plus $30-35 for separately-purchased human-sounding voices) and GhostReader for Macs ($40, includes human-sounding Cepstral voices).

- Shelley Haven


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jacqueline Dutot" <Jacqueline.Dutot at capella.edu>
To: athen at athenpro.org
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 1:54:49 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [Athen] Favorite Text to Audio Converter



Hello ATHENS folks, 

I was wondering if anyone has a favorite text to audio converter they really like. I would like to use it to create audio files of textbook chapters for learners, so I'd like it to convert both Word and PDF files and be reasonably priced. The only one I've ever used is SpokenText.net and I'm curious what others use and like. Thanks for being a valuable source of AT knowledge for this rookie. <smile> 

Thanks, 
Jackie 


Jackie Dutot, M.A. 
Disability Services Associate-Assistive Technology 

Toll Free: 1-888-CAPELLA, x5926 
Fax: 612-977-5060 
E-mail: DisabilityServices at capella.edu 

Capella University 
225 South 6 th Street, 9 th Floor 
Minneapolis, MN 55402 

www.capella.edu 

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End of Athen Digest, Vol 41, Issue 28
*************************************

-- 
Peace.

Jean Salzer, Sr. Counselor
BVI Program/Alternative Text Coordinator
Student Accessibility Center
UW-Milwaukee
414-229-5660, Mitchell Hall B16

The limits of the mind are often mistaken to be the limits of the world.
-Immanuel Kant
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