TextSpeech Pro

Name: TextSpeech Pro
Price: 24.95 $
Rating: 3 (5 reviews)

3.6.6

09 December 2013

Text-to-speech software with high-quality voices.

Overview

TextSpeech Pro is a professional text-to-speech software product, featuring high-quality voices. On OS X, it uses the Apple voices and all voices built by Cepstral.

List of all features of TextSpeech Pro for OS X:

Synthesizes speech from text and enables the high-quality voices (Deluxe version) in all OS X applications;
Includes proprietary high-quality voices for OS X (as an included or optional component to the software);
Can export text to a variety of audio file formats (Deluxe version);
Uses a text editor to convert typed text to speech and then can save the created documents and the selected voice settings (voice type, pitch, speed, volume) for future use;
Can modify and save voice properties like voice type, pitch, speed, volume, word highlighting, XML support (Deluxe only);
Can further tune the speech output using standard XML tags (Deluxe version with high-quality voices).

What's new in TextSpeech Pro

Version 3.6.6:

Note: Although Finder indicates that this is version 3.7, the developer refers to it as version 3.6.6.

OS X 10.9 Mavericks support for audio export and opening of documents

TextSpeech Pro Screenshots

5 TextSpeech Pro Reviews

Very, very brief ability to test. The 150 characters limitation makes it difficult to really test because it ends so quickly. Granted the program says "The demo version of TextSpeech Pro has major limitations" and that is true. It is very limited. Several tests on my MacBook Pro resulted in the program hanging. I had to force quit every time. I rebooted, repaired permissions, and other general maintenance tasks but nothing seemed to get it to run reliably. I ran Activity Monitor and watched the program take more and more CPU time until it "hung" and had to be forced to quit. The demo does NOT let you export an audio file, so no way to test that. I wanted to know how much to buy, so I went to their web site (http://www.digitalfuturesoft.com/). Ha! Try and find out the price or try to buy. It's impossible. No link, no store, nothing. Talk about making it difficult. I finally gave up.

Like (2)

Version 3.5.3

I like to convert my printed books and textbooks to audio books so I can listen to them while driving long distances to work. Few of the books I am interested in are available as audio books. I find it fantastic to listen to audio books since it stimulates the mind in some ways much better than by sight reading a book. I tried GhostReader, TextSpeech Pro, Narrator, and numerous other applications. Two key points are: 1. Is the audio output easily understandable like a real voice recording rather than a computerized voice? This means the sound has to be smooth and have prosody like real human speech. 2. Can the audio output be customized by speed, prosody, pronunciation, etc. GhostReader is the best of the text to speech products because its output is much closer to real human speech than the others. The output can't be customized as much as with TextSpeech pro, however. But it wins out based on how smooth and understandable the speech is. TextSpeech Pro is a very close second. It has the advantage of being able to customize pronunciation - thus making it more understandable (e.g. "read" can be pronounced "reed" or "red" depending on the context and you can choose which one is best for the output. The main problem with TextSpeech Pro that the output sounds harsher, more tinny, and is not as smooth as with GhostReader. The difference is very small. But I would regard the output from TextSpeech Pro as a B- grade and GhostReader as a solid B grade. Neither one is a B+ or A grade. In regard to Cepstral voices and other additional voices versus the high quality built-in voices of Mac OS X Lion, I say the best for audiobook conversion are the built-in Alex and the Cepstral David. Alex is A+. Cepstral David is a solid B. The other voices are simply not worthwhile since the quality is too low - Cs and Ds for audiobook conversion. TextSpeech Pro does have a complicated interface. I wish they would make it simpler. GhostReader's interface is ugly and old. But its output sounds smoother and clearer - just a little bit better than TextSpeech Pro. And its the output that ultimately counts. TextSpeech Pro seems to be much more actively developed than GhostReader. I wish it's developer continued best wishes to improve the output. When it exceeds GhostREader, I will switch to it as my go-to tool. I wish the Mac App store is soon update to match the version you can buy directly from the developer. The Mac App store version - which I have - is still stuck at version 3.5.x

Like (1)

Version 3.7

2 answer(s)

scoutpaget

15 November 2015

Very helpful review - thanks! I've been trying to decide how to spend my money on a text-to-speech tool. I'm currently trying the GhostReader demo - the voices are incredible, but cost $15.00 a piece. It's an expensive product, but I need it, so....

I want more control of the voice though. Too bad I can't find a tts that combines the positives of TextSpeech Pro with GhostReader. *meh*

Psychiatry

16 November 2015

My original review was from 2/23/2012. Today, it is 11/16/2015 - 3 years later. And it is funny how technology has forged ahead.

These days, I don't even bother using GhostReader and TextSpeech Pro. The reason is that using them takes time, the conversion is cumbersome and they create a large file I have to load on my iPhone to listen to.

With thousands of books and articles to read, this was becoming a pain.

SO WHAT I DO NOW IS SIMPLY USE MY IPHONE AND MY KINDLE APP:

1. IF there is a Kindle Version, I simply buy the Kindle version of the book. This saves enormous time. IF there is no Kindle Version, I convert my articles and books into "mobi" format ebooks. I then send to my Amazon Kindle account where they can then be downloaded to my Kindle App on my iPhone. The Kindle App can read third-party eBooks so long as they are converted to "mobi" format. Calibre is an app that does this conversion quickly.

2. To listen to the book, I open the book in my Kindle App. Then I invoke the iPhone's BUILT-IN Real-Time Text-To-Speech converter by swiping down with two fingers. Siri then reads to book aloud for me! (the settings for this are in the Settings-General-Accessibility-Speech panel)

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE IPHONE + KINDLE APP COMBINATION ARE ENORMOUS:

1. For most books, I no longer need to scan them and convert them to text. This saves enormous amounts of time.

2. The files are now very small - no audio data is needed.

3. The iPhone has numerous HIGH QUALITY VOICES available in DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! For English, I prefer the Samantha (Enhanced) voices but there are many other options such as Siri (Enhanced), Alex, etc. You can choose voices which have US, UK, Australian, Irish, South African accent in English as well. These voices are far better than what is available to TextSpeech Pro and GhostReader.

4. I can change the speed that text is read in REAL-TIME. This is an enormous advantage. For easy to read books, I can speed up the reading to 2X, for example. This SAVES TIME.

5. I can keep the books stored in my Amazon Kindle Account so I can download them at any time to any iPhone or iPad. I don't have to take up space on my iPhone if I want.

6. The quality of the Text-to-Speech conversion is VERY VERY HIGH. For nearly all books, the qualitiy EXCEEDS what can be done with TextSpeech Pro or GhostReader. Sure, there are occasional words which are mispronounced and you cannot change the pronunciation as wiht TextSpeech Pro. But the savings in time of using the iPhone's built-in high quality text-to-speech capabilities are enormous and well worth the sacrifice.

NOTE: You can use the iPhone to directly read PDFs also in other Apps such as GoodReader. This saves the step of conversion to mobi format to read in the Kindle App. But I find the conversion to a Kindle advantageous for many books because Kindle keeps track of how much of the book you have read so you can pick up where you read on the Kindle App of any other iOS device you have or even just read it on your Mac at a later time. Kindle allows you to keep your book in the cloud. And you can capture highlights you make on the Kindle App and convert them to your own notes.

Like (2)

Version 3.5.3

Just a question, but one I'm sure many of us have: the description claims that the product "includes high-quality, proprietary voices". As one decent-quality iVox or Cepstral voice might easily be several times larger than this entire package, one wonders about the included voices -- where did they come from; what needs do they address that other voices don't; and perhaps most of all, what does "high quality" mean in this context?

Version 3.5

2 answer(s)

Bosskev

09 November 2009

I hate not tried this company's product. However, having looked at their website, I have two comments: 1) ALL of the voices they feature are sourced from Cepstral, presumably used by TexSpeech Pro via a license from Cepstral. I am very familiar with Cepstral voices as I own and use several of them. And anyone can buy those same voices direct from Cepstral. (BTW, the best ones are David, William, Callie and Diane. Or, for a British accent, go with Lawrence and Millie.) (I LOVE Millie!) 2) Mac OS X has excellent text-to-speech capabilities already built in, and it works seamlessly with the Cepstral voices. No other software required, just the Cepstral voices. So...uh...why would I buy THIS product? I'm not saying I wouldn't or that you shouldn't, it just is not AT ALL clear to my what added value they bring to the table.

Like (2)

Version 3.5.2

Digital-Future

08 April 2010

Dear customers: Here are some clarifications: 1) The best way to learn how to work with the program is to follow the Tutorial in the Help provided with the software (from TextSpeech Pro access the Help menu). 2) TextSpeech Pro is a cross-platform program for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. We also provide a Windows Mobile version and cross-platform TTS SDK and server products. We use Cepstral and the Mac OS X system voices on Mac OS X. The software is specifically designed for advanced text-to-speech use but can also be used for performing trivial TTS tasks (please read the feature list on the description page or see http://www.digitalfuturesoft.com/texttospeechproductsformacosx.php). 3) The demo version does not include any of the Cepstral voices, it only uses the Apple standard voices. Hence, the installation file size is about 100 MB. We cannot allow audio creation due to licensing limitations. 150 characters is enough to demo the software. If we allow more characters, we again will let users violate the license. 4) When having trouble unzipping the installation file, simply re-download the package and try again. 5) The full version can be purchased by going to http://www.digitalfuturesoft.com/ >"Text to Speech for Mac OS X">Download button. There is an online store from then on. Here is the direct link: http://www.digitalfuturesoft.com/texttospeechproductsformacosxcheckout.php

Version 3.5.3

TextSpeech Pro

Overview

What's new in TextSpeech Pro

TextSpeech Pro Screenshots

5 TextSpeech Pro Reviews

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