There’s a new, rather remarkable facility available on the internet, kinown simply as Read The Words. It’s a fabulous function for those with challenged eyesight [like me!], and for those who like to take documents with them on their iPod or mp3 player.
Essentially, it’s a website where members can indicate just what they want to listen to — and what voice or language they prefer. And with a push of a button and a few moments for the website to do its magic, one soon gets a small player that will read text back to you, or allow you to download an mp3 file.
Writers can, for example, copy the text of their most recent chapter, and listen to it read back to you. I chose the voice “ROBERT” — and was amazed as how natural the text sounded.
What intrigues me the most, however, is the capability of just indicating a website URL — and then listen to the site’s content being read out loud. I tested this, of course, by listening to Becoming A Writer Seriously. I liked it!
That means one can also log onto news sites — the New York Times, for example — and listen to the latest world events. Or download the file and listen to it on the iPod on the way to work.
Read The Word claims to be able to embed a player right into one’s blog, if it is powered by either Word Press or Blogger. I’ve been trying for the past 30 minutes to get that to work — so far, no luck. But, never say die, I’m trying againg — this time trying to embed the player right here within a post. If it works, you’ll see it right below:
WELL, IT DIDN”T WORK — YET! I”LL KEEP TRYING, as I think it would be a nice additional service to offer to you readers [oh, and maybe listeners too].
By the way, this online service is currently available for free. To my astonishment, it “reads” nearly as well as the shareware software TextAloud, which I use occasionally.
Sorry, comments are closed.