ReadSpeaker
ReadSpeaker is a suite of web-based applications that uses the latest text-to-speech technology to speech-enable web sites, mobile sites, RSS feeds, mobile apps like iPhone, Android or Blackberry apps, as well as online documents and forms. ReadSpeaker products help people that suffer from reading difficulties, dyslexia, visual impairment, but also non-native English users and seniors. An even greater number of people simply don’t have enough time to read. In the age of smartphones and mobile Internet, these problems can be exacerbated by the use of small screens.
ReadSpeaker applications are all web-based which means they require no downloads from either the web site owner or from the end user who can access the audio version of the web site from any location having Internet access . ReadSpeaker products work with the vast majority of content management systems as well as all major web browsers. ReadSpeaker products can be fully customized to suit the needs of the content providers who wish to provide a talking version of their online text.
ReadSpeaker applications can after registration be downloaded without cost for end-users and work in over 35 languages and 100 voices including UK English, US English, German, Swedish, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Japanese. However, the software is proprietary, and its specification is not a web standard.
ReadSpeaker Features
Here are some of the features that you can find in ReadSpeaker applications.
- Embedded Highlighting: Enables website visitors to see synchronized highlighting of the text that is currently being read, on a word by word and/or sentence basis depending on the setting that has been chosen by the user.
- User text selection: Text on a web page can be selected using a mouse or trackpad and only the selected text will then be spoken.
- RSS to Podcast: ReadSpeaker can convert an RSS feed into a Podcast so that users can listen to their favourite news feeds on-the-go.
- Download MP3 link: ReadSpeaker web-reading products always feature the option to download the text on a web page in the form of an MP3 file. This makes it possible to always listen to a web page for web visitors who don't have Flash and/or Javascript enabled on their devices.
- PDF and Word document reading: Online PDF and Word documents are read by ReadSpeaker products.
- Customizable playback behaviours: For web site owners who request it, ReadSpeaker products can be customized to read a web page in a specific way, for example by muting some elements.
- Customizable Dictionaries : Foreign words, acronyms, abbreviations, brand names for can be corrected in their pronunciation for each web site using ReadSpeaker applications.
- Multi-app integration: For example, ReadSpeaker technology can be jacked-in to existing iPhone apps to have their text content read aloud.