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Add to SafariWhen comparing Text Aloud vs Speech Central, the Slant community recommends Speech Central for most people. In the question“What is the best text to speech software for Windows?” Speech Central is ranked 5th while Text Aloud is ranked 6th.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Excellent product support
Helpful staff, fast response for any questions regarding license, installation, and configuration.
Pro Many options for narration navigation
Most text to speech readers are sorely limited in options for navigating, this program has the most options I've seen so far for moving around while a text is being narrated.
Pro Tools for fine tuning output of narrated text or audio file
You can add tags to do things like add pauses, change the voice (like changing speakers for different characters), speed, pitch, volume etc.
Pro File replication/syncing available via iCloud
Pro Available on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android
It's cross platform, but syncing only partially works for Apple ecosystem using iCloud.
Pro Good value for the money / Cheap
For $10 this app offers a lot.
Cons
Con Program can only display plaintext
Images in documents or ebooks will not appear in this application. This means some types of image or figure/diagram heavy books or complex formatting will not be a good fit for reading with this application. It may require extensive text cleanup and massaging to get narration that makes sense depending on your imported source file.
Con Can't use mouse to navigate/seek track by clicking on text during narration
A user has to stop narration to use the mouse to jump/seek to a different line, word, or paragraph by clicking then activate command Speak From Cursor Aloud by menu or by shortcut. Only the menu buttons respond to the mouse when narration is running. Most options are grayed out until narration is stopped.
Con Hotkey options disappointing
Considering that the toolbars and application are very customizable in the toolbars, it was a big letdown to see how few options there are for hotkeys. Specifically, the navigation options should be hotkeyable as they do not have shortcuts by default. This means an over reliance on the menu and vision to use the application. This seems to fly in the face of accessibility for blind users or power users in general.
Con No voices included on Android version
The app is unusable on Android unless you have voices installed under text to speech output settings.
Con No playback position syncing, even via iCloud
Even though the files replicate across Mac OS and iOS devices, the playback position does not replicate.across iCloud. Each device remembers it's own playback position, but it doesn't get synced to other devices.
Con Doesn't support images
If you have media you want to read where images or illustrations are important, this is not going to cut it.
