Sayz Me - free text-to-speech reader - make the computer talk - accessibility software - page magnifier

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Sayz Me - simple text to speech application.

Description

Sayz Me is a very simple text to speech reader. Copy text from web pages, emails or documents and this free utility will read the words out aloud to you. Sayz Me uses the Microsoft speech engine and synthetic voices. Listen to text and give your eyes a rest. Great accessibility software as you can adjust the font size and color to assist reading. Very simple and easy to use. Best of all its free. You can download Sayz Me from Source Forge.

Features include:

- Speaks the clipboard contents

- Speaks text from files

- Speaks user entered text

- Select speakers voice

- Adjustable pitch, speed and volume

- Highlighting of currenly spoken words

- Select font, font size and color

- Double click to jump to a particular word.

If you have tried and enjoy using Sayz Me please drop me a note in the Source Forge Forum - any suggestions or feedback is greatly appreciated.

Requirements

Sayz Me has been tested on Windows 98, 2000 and XP.

Please ensure that the Microsoft Speech API 4.0 and the Microsoft synthetic voices are installed. Be sure to install "spchapi.exe" first, followed by "msttsl.exe" - the installation order is important! (These files should have been installed automatically in the default Win2k setup.)

More information about the myriad of Speech setups can be found at the Microsoft Speech website

Sayz Me will definately not work on Linux, Unix, Mac, etc (yet!)

Installation

Download from Sourceforge.

Download from Simtel.

Unzip and run the setup file.

Screenshot

Documentation

Simply copy text to the clipboard and Sayz Me will read it for you.

Sayz Me Example Use

1. Open any document that contains text (eg favourite web site).

2. Highlight and copy some text.

3. Sayz Me will maximize and begin reading the copied text.

Tip: double-click to jump to a particular word.

Controls

Pause Button - yeah, you guessed it, pauses the speaking of text.

Hide Button - hides the application in the system tray (next to the clock).

Read Button - reads the text that has been copied or typed into the program.

Reset Button - stop reading, clear displayed text and empty the clipboard.

Exit Button - uhhu, it exits the program.

Menu >> File

Open... - open file and read text.

Save as Text... - saves the text to a file.

Exit - exit program.

Menu >> Options

Say Greeting - turn off the annoying greeting on startup.

Listen to Clipboard - automatically read any text copied onto the clipboard.

Empty Clipboard - empty the clipboard once reading begins.

Use System Tray - program will hide in system tray next to clock.

Minimize after Speaking - minimize after reading is completed.

Maximize before Speaking - maximize before reading copied text.

Menu >> Options >> Text Settings...

Font List - select the font.

Font Size - select the font size.

Highlight Characters - number of characters highlighted while reading.

Highlight Color - the color of the currently spoken text.

Menu >> Options >> Voice Settings...

Voice List - select voice.

Speed - adjust rate at which the voice reads the text.

Pitch - adjust tone of the speakers voice.

Volume - adjust volume of the speakers voice.

Test Text - text to be spoken when test button is pressed.

License

Open Software, distributed under the BSD License.

Disclaimer

The software and the accompanying files are distributed "as is" and is without any warranties whatsoever whether expressed or implied. No warranty as to performance, security, reliability, merchantability, or fitness for any specific purpose is granted. You use and copy Sayz Me at your own risk.

To Do

- integrate with open source speech engine

Developers

Here's a snippet of code using the wincom32 stuff.