Text to speak

[Dearelliot]

Any suggestions for a good Text to speak site, 'Free,'
I tried Natural Reader...I'm old dumb had some issues, it is probably me...but any others?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I just use the built in features on my phone, which is where I do all my writing.

 

[HectorBidon]

Google Translate. Copy a couple paragraphs into the text box, then click the listen icon.

 

[OddLove]

Balabolka is free, easy, simple. I use it for proof reading to help find errors. It's minimal, only one male voice and one female voice. But the little slider bars at the top let you adjust the pitch of the voice, as well as the reading speed.

I've copy and pasted up to 8k words onto it at once and it read through it fine. It's not perfect, it's not something you could create E-books with. But for personal use with finding spelling/grammar errors and clunky or confusing sentences in your stories, it's a good tool.

[EDIT] Sorry, Balabolka is a free software you have to download, not a website. I completely missed the 'site' part after you said Text to Speech.

 

[MadeleineSinha]

Audify is pretty good, range of voices and some intonation.
Still sounds like the computer from Star Trek TOS is reading you porn though

 

[EmilyMiller]

Still sounds like the computer from Star Trek TOS is reading you porn though

I actually adored having iOS read back Nix to me. As most of the cast were synthetic it worked really well

 

[dirk2024]

I just use the built in features on my phone, which is where I do all my writing.

Writing on a phone, especially considering your stories, seems so laborious.

 

[dirk2024]

Any suggestions for a good Text to speak site, 'Free,'
I tried Natural Reader...I'm old dumb had some issues, it is probably me...but any others?

I write in Word, which has the Read Aloud function. It's isn't great, but it works. For some reason, I have to activate it twice to get it to start, and her voice isn't sexy.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Writing on a phone, especially considering your stories, seems so laborious.

I don’t view it as problematic. Not sure if it’s a generational thing, or just having small fingers.

 

[dirk2024]

I don’t view it as problematic. Not sure if it’s a generational thing, or just having small fingers.

My vote is for your deft, delicate fingers.

I can text fairly well, when my thicker fingers aren't tumbling over themselves. I type complete sentences, no shortcuts like "u" instead of "you", so I dodge the generational question. But I have my limits too. I sometimes write on my phone late at night when I'm away from my laptop, and it wears me out. Maybe an age/arthritis thing.

 

[alohadave]

Writing on a phone, especially considering your stories, seems so laborious.

It's convenient for when you aren't at your PC. I do most of my writing sitting in a vehicle waiting for people.

 

[EmilyMiller]

My vote is for your deft, delicate fingers.

I can text fairly well, when my thicker fingers aren't tumbling over themselves. I type complete sentences, no shortcuts like "u" instead of "you", so I dodge the generational question. But I have my limits too. I sometimes write on my phone late at night when I'm away from my laptop, and it wears me out. Maybe an age/arthritis thing.

My SO struggles more with his phone, so it may be a finger size thing.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It's convenient for when you aren't at your PC. I do most of my writing sitting in a vehicle waiting for people.

Or if you have ten mins free at work (or are in that kind of meeting ).

 

[crookedletter]

Phone touchscreen keyboards are designed for smaller fingers than mine. I don't even like typing text messages.

I use Word's read aloud function. The voice is pretty soulless but it's still a good way to catch mistakes.

 

[alohadave]

I write in Word, which has the Read Aloud function. It's isn't great, but it works. For some reason, I have to activate it twice to get it to start, and her voice isn't sexy.

And if you use Word Online (or whatever they are calling it today), it's free to use with the Immersive Reader function.

 

[alohadave]

Or if you have ten mins free at work (or are in that kind of meeting ).

Yes, and I try not to write porn on my work computer.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

it may be a finger size thing

That's what she said.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yes, and I try not to write porn on my work computer.

Presley - I tried it once and the HR manager spanked me

 

[EmilyMiller]

That's what she said.

 

[SmilingLez]

ReadEra is okay and it is free. On the other side of the speech to text, I have noticed with my New Jersey accent that a lot of my words do not transfer correctly. Also sometimes, comma (,) gets translated as coma. There are many other faux pas and I find myself giggling when they occur

 

[StillStunned]

Presley - I tried it once and the HR manager spanked me

Back in the late-90s, in my first job, a friend made a habit of sending incredibly filthy GIFs (or whatever they were called then) to my work email. Of course they clogged up the prehistoric server, which I'm pretty certain ran on coal, or quite possibly just on wishful thinking.

Anyway, I got a bollocking from HR. There was absolutely nothing sexy about it.

 

[Dearelliot]

I write in Word, which has the Read Aloud function. It's isn't great, but it works. For some reason, I have to activate it twice to get it to start, and her voice isn't sexy.

I use word, I'll have to figure out the text to speech

 

[alohadave]

I use word, I'll have to figure out the text to speech

Which version do you have? Read Aloud is available in 2019 and later versions.

 

[SyleusSnow]

Balabolka is free, easy, simple. I use it for proof reading to help find errors. It's minimal, only one male voice and one female voice. But the little slider bars at the top let you adjust the pitch of the voice, as well as the reading speed.

I've copy and pasted up to 8k words onto it at once and it read through it fine. It's not perfect, it's not something you could create E-books with. But for personal use with finding spelling/grammar errors and clunky or confusing sentences in your stories, it's a good tool.

[EDIT] Sorry, Balabolka is a free software you have to download, not a website. I completely missed the 'site' part after you said Text to Speech.

Yes, Balabolka is incredibly useful. That it runs locally and doesn't expose you to the potential risks of putting your porn on an online "cloud" service makes it even better. Plus, it can open many file formats and edit them too... e.g. open your story that's in MS Word format and you can edit as it reads it to you.

BTW, better voices are available for it on Windows 11 (for free): see this page and scroll down to where it talks about windows 11 and NaturalVoiceSAPIAdapter

 

[Dearelliot]

Which version do you have? Read Aloud is available in 2019 and later versions.

I mean wordPad