There would be more of a RAM requirement. The battery drain issue is one that we still need to measure. >>> maryotten@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Wednesday, April 13, 2005 2:41:29 PM >>> Larry, Of the synthesizers mentioned, I much prefer the doubletalk, and that includes over keynote, which, while phonemically accurate, sounds so mechanical as to put me completely off. I have access to software dectalk and to via voice and eloquence, but still prefer triple talk pci. Other than the subjective quality, what are the other considerations? I've always heard that the disadvantage to things like dectalk software or eloquence is that they do require memory, whereas the speech chip, being self contained, does not. I would think that the responsiveness of the bp would be negatively affected with a software synthesizer. That is certainly the case with my pc, which has plenty of ram and a 2.2ghz processor. And what about battery drain? Would the present chip drain more or less from the battery? Mary