When comparing Capti Voice vs Natural Reader, the Slant community recommends Capti Voice for most people. In the question“What is the best text to speech software for Mac and iOS?” Capti Voice is ranked 1st while Natural Reader is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Capti Voice is:
You can use it on any internet enabled device. Desktop Mac and Windows versions uses your default browser and java to drive a webapp. On linux you'll have to straight up use the website or run a virtual machine. On the Mac and Windows the "desktop app" is more than just a shortcut to the website. Disconnect your wifi and close your default browser (set to clear cookies, offline data, active logins, cache, site preferences, browsing and download history). Upon launching the application again, the default web browser should open, the document should still be there and the webapp should still function. Everything needed is stored locally somewhere.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Semi-Desktop and Webapp versions make it pretty much crossplatform
You can use it on any internet enabled device. Desktop Mac and Windows versions uses your default browser and java to drive a webapp. On linux you'll have to straight up use the website or run a virtual machine. On the Mac and Windows the "desktop app" is more than just a shortcut to the website.
Disconnect your wifi and close your default browser (set to clear cookies, offline data, active logins, cache, site preferences, browsing and download history). Upon launching the application again, the default web browser should open, the document should still be there and the webapp should still function. Everything needed is stored locally somewhere.
Pro Supports many formats
Supported formats include: Adobe PDF (.pdf), Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx), Plain and Rich text (.txt, .rtf), EPUB books (.epub), OpenDocument (.odt, .odp), DAISY books (.zip).
Pro Offers a one week premium plan trial
This is enough time to know whether the upgrade or product on the whole make sense for the user.
Pro Has shortcuts to get around easier
Here's the link to shortcuts on the FAQ webpage.
Pro Limited free account available
For feature differences and limitations of the free version visit captivoice.com
Pro Intelligent dictionary lookup
You can look up translations and definitions of words and phrases. Capti will automatically take into account the part of speech of a word and its use in the sentence to generate the most correct translation and definition.
Pro Very useful in schools
Capti is very easy to use in a school setting: there's a special organization account features for managing students, sharing content with students, monitoring student activity, etc.
Pro Offers very high quality voices on all platforms, including online
When using Capti on iOS, Windows or Mac you can download very high quality voices.
Pro Reads many formats
Formats include: Microsoft Word, PDF, eBook (ePUb), text, and RTF files, webpages.
Pro Prices reflect arrogance
It could be a perfect suite of voices if macOS could in extension include them when working on alternative apps or browsing, etc. You could if you preferred go along for the Standard Offering but as set forth before, Natural Reader ought to include macOS users and with recognition other than imposing Google Chrome as the default.
Pro Simple but effective playback controls
You can click on a any sentence and the voice will jump to wherever that sentence is and continue on from there. Forward and back button is for one sentence. Shortcuts are available as well for pause/read, forward/back by one sentence.
Cons
Con Inconvenient to use
Says it is free, then takes you to the iTunes page to pay, Capti does recognize accounts set up through iTunes, to change voices you pay, to open a pdf to read you have to buy coins to use.
Con Very disappointing
Advertising say great things, reality is much different.
Con Does not automatically sync
Capti Narrator does not automatically sync additions from local files to playlists on the hybrid desktop/webapp client, only if you add them to a cloud storage.
Con Free account somewhat limited
10 MB per document/ ebook
No images
No access to view the original layout for PDFs
No annotation features
Searching limited to current document, not globally
Only one playlist allowed
No access to translation features
No access to a word/vocabulary game
Con Desktop Version for the Mac Depends on Web Browser
Only available as fully native apps for iOS and Windows. The client on the Mac uses your default web browser and java to function.
Con Can't move documents freely between different playlists
On iPhone and iPad, users have to delete and re-add documents if they wish to transfer an item from one playlist to another playlist.
Con No Linux desktop version
Website or running a virtual machine will have to do for readers on Linux distros.
Con Subscription service
$1.99 / month or 9.99 / 6 months.
Con Mac version routinely fails to start
Users on the Mac frequently have to bring up the Activity Monitor, quit Capti View, and open it again to get it to load.
Con No Safari Support
Great options although it could be more affordable. It is not as if most average consumer is financially strong enough to afford all? If prices were lower, their premium offers could sell like other very successful great ideas.
Con Free version available, but upgrades are costly
$69.50, $129.50, or $199.50, does not appear to be a lifetime purchase, there seems to be a limit on how many images that can be used with the OCR function within the different tiers.
Con Few hotkeys, not user configurable
The shortcuts/hotkeys that exist are simple and work well, but they are not user configurable which might be a problem for some. The app is more GUI driven, a travesty since accessibility is a big attraction for people seeking software like this.
Con Unstable on MacOS High Sierra
Encountered stability issues on MacOS High Sierra. Changing voices or opening a .docx Word document can cause crashes.
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