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Gadget Watch: NaturalReader voice software. By Nigel Harris

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12th Sep 2007
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I have been playing with this software for a while and have come to the conclusion that it’s brilliant!

NaturalReader is a free program that converts emails, web text, PDFs and Word documents into speech. The free version will just read the content of the selected text or document to you, but for a nominal fee you can update to the Pro version which will convert it to an MP3 file – ideal for saving onto your iPod to listen to on the train!

It works amazingly well. The free voices are a bit mechanical, but they give you a good idea what the software is capable of. You can hear some samples of the paid for voices on the website. UK English male Charles has a rather plummy voice but rarely goes wrong. For some reason he often stumbles on email signatures – he just can’t manage sign off names like Dan or Dave when reading my emails even though he pronounces them perfectly initially when telling me who the sender is!

I have found this a real boon when I have a mass of long emails and have spent too long at my PC already. Using dual monitors I can set Charles to read the contents of my Inbox to be while I review accounts or a tax return on the other screen.

Thanks go to Kevin Salter for originally bringing this to my attention in his
Accountants Power Tools

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