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TextAloud at Bits du Jour
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Posted by Ike Washington
Jan 22, 2008 at 11:33 PM
Just to say that I wandered over to Bits, thanks Daly, and though Topicscape isn’t for me, I’ve been impressed enough by TextAloud, Text-to-Speech software, to get out the credit card - with the discount only $15 or so. Quite a slick application. Good-looking interface. Good intergration via Firefox/IE and global hotkeys.
What impressed me most was its ability to turn text articles into mp3 files quickly. Been dumping them into a folder which syncs with an MP3 player. Plan is to listen at night to stray articles noted during the day rather than read them. Aim is to preserve my eyesight.
Five hours and counting…
Ike
Posted by quant
Jan 23, 2008 at 01:03 AM
while the idea is nice, I think the outcome depends on your memory. Mine is crap ... really really bad ... that’s probably why I “thrive” when I use proper PIM.
If I don’t have a pen/pencil with me (when reading paper book) or a noteking soft open (when reading ebook/article), I don’t even look in the book, I don’t want to!
For me it would be useless waste of time ... same with listening if I couldn’t make a note exactly when I wanted to jot down sth worth noting/remembering.
I do it for the last maybe two years ... I read less ... but I think I understand more and really remember (the important stuff) much much better ...
Ike Washington wrote:
>Been dumping them into a folder which syncs with an MP3 player. Plan is to listen at
>night to stray articles noted during the day rather than read them. Aim is to preserve
>my eyesight.
>
>Five hours and counting…
>
>Ike
Posted by Matty
Jan 23, 2008 at 02:17 AM
I have been using this type of software to help with proof-reading my writing. You will not believe how many more errors you catch when you listen to your writing.
The best program I have found is a plug-in for MS Word that can be downloaded for free from a University in Scotland. The program is called Wordtalk, google will pull it up.
cheers,
Matt
Posted by Ike Washington
Feb 10, 2008 at 04:43 PM
quant wrote:
>If I don’t
>have a pen/pencil with me (when reading paper book) or a noteking soft open (when
>reading ebook/article), I don’t even look in the book, I don’t want to!
>For me it would
>be useless waste of time ... same with listening if I couldn’t make a note exactly when I
>wanted to jot down sth worth noting/remembering.
It’s useful as a complement to taking notes. Say I’ve spent a productive research day working through journal articles and I’ve pulled together a crib sheet of major points etc, the last thing I want to do last thing is to wade through my crib. But that’s exactly what I should be doing if I want the major points etc to compost in my head. So, I’ve been using TextAloud to produce an mp3 file of my new notes and heading off to the gym with my MP3 player. I’m amazed to find that it works… I remember stuff better, I think. Possibly just the novelty…
Ike
Posted by Ike Washington
Feb 10, 2008 at 04:44 PM
Matty wrote:
>I have been using this type of software to help with proof-reading my writing. You will
>not believe how many more errors you catch when you listen to your writing.
>
>The best
>program I have found is a plug-in for MS Word that can be downloaded for free from a
>University in Scotland. The program is called Wordtalk, google will pull it
>up.
>
>cheers,
>
>Matt
Thanks for this. Yep, pretty nifty.
Ike