Convert text to audio using iSpeech

Posted on November 20, 2008 at 5:45 am

Earlier I wrote an article on Pediaphon, a free software that you can use to convert Wikipedia articles into MP3s. Though it has it’s problems, it’s a decent for anyone who really doesn’t have the time to read an article.

However, Pediaphon only works for Wikipedia articles, which kind of limits it’s use. If you are looking for a free tool to convert any text to MP3 audio, such as Word documents, RSS feeds, text files, any website, etc, then you should check out iSpeech.

iSpeech will convert any website, ebook, or RSS feed into audio instantly. The cool thing is that you can even test it out on some sample text to see how well it works for you. I was actually pretty impressed with text to speech I tried. The voice was clear and everything was pronounced accurately.

Check out this listing of hosting questions that I converted to audio using iSpeech. I was very impressed that it managed to say PHP, MySQL and Apache correctly!

Pretty sweet eh? This is probably one of the best text to audio converters out there. As you can see from above, you can also embed your audio text into your website or blog using the embed code. You can also download the audio in MP3 format or download it as a podcast.

The best thing about iSpeech though is that you can use it to convert any document into audio, whether it be a PDF, Word doc, Rich Text Format, PowerPoint presentation, Excel file, HTML page, or TXT file.

This is great for people on the go who are constantly getting large documents to read or review. Instead of sitting on the plane with nothing to do, you can convert a long Word document into audio format and then sync it onto your MP3 player and listen to it privately.

It’s also an awesome tool for bloggers because you can embed their free widget on your site so that your readers can listen to your posts rather than read them. They can also download your articles as an MP3 download or as a podcast which they can then listen to on their iPods, etc.

It works with WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, Windows Live, and other blogging platforms. According to the site, this can significantly enhance user retention rates on your site. If you want to make money, you can also charge users for podcasts or downloads.

Overall, it’s a great tool that can be used for many different purposes. It’s completely free and works exceptionally fast. Converting several paragraphs of text into audio took less than a minute. Definitely worth bookmarking this site. Enjoy! Source: MakeUseOf

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Comments

3 Responses to “Convert text to audio using iSpeech”

br said on : April 8th, 2009 at 11:42 pm

from the ispeech website, it appears that it is not free.
it is only a 15 day trial period.

Peter said on : November 6th, 2009 at 6:29 am

The ispeech site isn’t free. In fact, it’s quite expensive. However, the good news is that there’s an equally good site that is free. It’s called YAKiToMe! and it’s located at http://www.yakitome.com. It can read any electronic text (PDF, html, MS Word, RSS, email, txt, .PPT, etc.) and convert it in multiple languages using top-quality voices from AT&T. Output is mp3 or wav and it automatically produces rss feeds and downloadable files, or you can listen online. It has a cool feature for adjusting pronunciation, which I couldn’t find on any of the other text to speech sites I’ve visited. You can easily select from multiple quality voices and listening speeds. You can also make groups of audio books and share them with friends. Anyway, the site is great and I use it all the time. Check it out.

Convert text to MP3 audio files using Zamzar Says:

[...] can also check out a service called iSpeech which converts text to audio also and does a very good job, but it’s not free. It’s cool though if you have sight problems [...]
April 19th, 2009 at 10:34 pm