I just found out there were programs that could translate written text into speech. (yes I know I am behind the times) I was thinking about this at work today and thought it would be of help to me when writing fanfics as I would be more likely to catch errors when I hear them than when I read them. I did a quick little google search on the subject and realized I was in over my head.

My question to the computer guru's on this board is if any of you people have ever used a program like this? Which ones are the best? Are there any that don't sound like Stephen Hawkin? (I read that AT&T made a Realvoice(?) version that sounded good) And finally are there any free ones that are of good quality and easy to use?

Thank You.

I don't know if there are any free/cheap systems with reasonable quality (it's really one of those computational problems that no-one has solved yet) but this looks to be a free, simple app for Windows:

http://www.datafurnace.net.au/sayzme/

Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but looks ok.

drinian wrote:http://www.datafurnace.net.au/sayzme/

That thing uses the Microsoft Speech API and that simply sounds crappy (yes, with English texts, not that you think I tested an english TTS with German text XD)
If you use Windows XP, you might get an demonstration of it when you run narrator (start/run).

Actually last night I downloaded a free version of NaturalReader. It is pretty simple to use but also very limited (only reads 1000 letters at a time). Anything better out there?

The only one I've ever worked with was IBM ViaVoice. It did sound like Stephen Hawking, but this was of no consequence to me since the primary function of the program is taking dictation rather than reading to you. Anyway, I ran reading tests for a total of nearly two consecutive days, hoping to minimize errors in voice recognition. It didn't prove to be of that much value, especially since my writing at the time often incorporated non-words and unconventional emphatics. After so many hours of recon-refining, it still messed up on words even while I was speaking slowly. I found it was simply easier to do things the old fashioned way; rambling your novel into existence might look cool during a demonstration, but it can be a little intimidating spilling your mind aloud when you don't know who might be walking down the hall.

The only practical application I can see for it is archiving transcripts of clear voice recordings.