Tim I don't think Kurzweil will turn a Bookshare .brf file into a daisy file. You would need to unpick the grade 2 braille first and I don't think Kurzweil will allow you to save a brf file as a txt file. I could be wrong - of course! Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Grady" <tgrady@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <bookcourier@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, May 02, 2009 9:24 PM Subject: [bookcourier] Re: Simulating DoubleTalk without a BookCourier Yea, I forgot about Kurzweil as I use the Apple now and use a little utility called Ghostreader to turn my text files into mp3s. I'm not crazy about any of the SAPI voices though, so even if I had access to Kurzweil I wouldn't use it, but since Kurzweil can make DAISY files, can it put the tts to a bookshare book? On May 1, 2009, at 9:43 PM, Shelley Rhodes wrote: > Text Aloud or Text to Audio both have this feature and benefit. > Also if you have it ahem, Kurzweil 1000 from version 7 and up will > make MP3 or Wav files of any file you ask of it and it will break > the book into "reasonable" chunks." You can also use any speech > engine installed on your computer, so I have eliquence, Scansoft, > ATT natural voices, Voiceware. I am not positive but I believe that > Openbook offers this feature too. > > There is software out there called Read Please that will read text > files in a window. And there is Nonvisual Desktop Access With > Speech but I haven't played much with this application. Kurzweil > also in version 11 can make daisy files. > > You can purchase voices to add on and find free ones at > > www.nextup.com the makers of Text aloud. > > > Shelley L. Rhodes, M.A., VRT > And Guinevere: Golden Lady Guide Dog > guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx > Guide Dogs for the Blind > Alumni Association > www.guidedogs.com > > The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment > thought of their act as violence; > rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated > righteousness. > The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever > committed. -Gil Bailie, author and lecturer (b. 1944) > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Campbell, Wiley L. (Portland)" > <Wiley.Campbell@xxxxxx > > > To: <bookcourier@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Friday, May 01, 2009 12:37 PM > Subject: [bookcourier] Simulating DoubleTalk without a BookCourier > > > I know it's a work around, but I vaguely recall hearing about > methods to > convert txt files to audio using a screen reader, or some other text > to > audio utility? E. G. I can adjust my JAWS voice to certainly read as > well or better than DoubleTalk, and I could record JAWS reading a text > file to an audio format like mp3; Then load that on a Stream or > PlexTalk > and at least have good speech quality for text file reading without > relying on the built in TTS. > > Is there some simpler utility / method that accomplishes the same > result? Especially a method that can handle large text files like > books? > And perhaps even convert text files to one of the DAISY audio formats > that a Stream or PlexTalk could use, rather than just trying to create > huge mp3 files. > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.13/2091 - Release Date: > 05/01/09 17:52:00 > >