When comparing Text Aloud vs Intelligent Speaker, the Slant community recommends Intelligent Speaker for most people. In the question“What is the best text to speech software for Windows?” Intelligent Speaker is ranked 2nd while Text Aloud is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Intelligent Speaker is:
Audio format: AAC inside M4A, compatible with iOS and Android.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion 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 Supports sync-ing with private podcast feeds
Audio format: AAC inside M4A, compatible with iOS and Android.
Pro Clean UI
Pro It's a browser extension
Pro Good quality of voice
Pro Can read intranet and texts from desktop
Pro Automatic text detection on page
Just push the button and it will play what you need (but of course, it's not always perfect).
Pro Playback rate control
Normal speed, 1.5x, 2x
Pro Can start listening from context menu
Good for fullscreen mode.
Pro RAM is only used when needed
This extension will not consume system resources when in the background like many other extensions does, because it only runs in the event page and doesn't run in the background.
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.