speed reading mac os x

speed reading mac os x
Any text-to-speech applications for OS X?

Are there any text-to-speech applications for the Mac, similar to TextAloud in Windows? I know that there are some text-to-speech features in the OS, but there are some additional features I would ideally like to find, such as:

* recording text to MP3s
* queuing multiple articles to be read
* adjustable reading speed
* highlighting of text as it is being read
* global hotkeys
* configurable pronunciation dictionary

Not all of these features are deal breakers, but I’d like to find something with at least some of the features above. Does such an application exist?

Thanks!

Yes, there is speech integration in Mac OS X, both speaking and listening. You kinda got me stumped on a few of your bullets there, but I’ll give it my best shot.

You can record text, but not directly to MP3s. You can make a short Applescript or use Automater to save the text to AIFF and if you so desire, add another element to import to iTunes and compress it. Not that hard, did it in 2 min, and you can set it to do it automatically.

Not sure about queing multiple articles in readers like Zeino or whatever that article reader is called, but there again, if nothing else, you can script it.

You can adjust reading speed and various other verbosity qualities, as well as rate, pitch, and volume. You can also have different voices for different things.

You can adjust the default read speed, but I don’t think you can do it on the fly. Could be wrong here, but I’ve never run into that option.

I don’t see any options for highlighting text as it’s being read, but you do have the option of a caption window.

You can set a key or key combo to read text that is highlighted.

You can customize how the computer says certain words.

Speech recognition is also cool, and you can navigate through windows, look up address book entries, and much more without even using your keyboard.

EeePC 901 new 16GB SSD (JM S41 SSD) installed Mac OS X 10.5.6


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