Looking for a natural voice speech engine? Curious about what software can read your e-mails. Here is the latest TTS (text-to-speach) news.

AT&T Natural Voices

AT&T Natural Voices are available in 16khz or 8khz Versions. The 16khz versions have a richer, fuller sound and are more natural sounding. The 8khz version is slightly less expensive and takes up less disk space, but generally doesn't sound quite as good. A good analogy might be that 16khz voices sound like voices over FM Radio, while 8khz voices sound much more like voices over the telephone.

NeoSpeech

Kate and Paul are US English voices, available in 16khz or 8khz versions, supporting SAPI5 Speech applications including all NextUp.com Products, most newer TTS programs from other companies, as well as TTS functions built into Windows XP. Each voice requires slightly under 300mb of disk space, and is available on CD or via download. They support speed and pitch adjustments, and require a minimum of Pentium II, 400mhz with 128mb RAM.

TextAloud 2.0

TextAloud converts any text into spoken words. Instead of the valuable time you spend reading on your computer, imagine being free to relax, get up and stretch, or work on other things while the information you need is read to you in a pleasant, natural sounding human voice. Better still, leave your computer behind. TextAloud's unique Text to MP3 conversion can save your daily reading to MP3 audio files to download to your portable MP3 player. Listen to email, online news, or important documents while you exercise, work or commute.

NewsAloud
http://www.deprice.com/newsaloud.htm

NewsAloud personal news agent finds the stories you want, then reads them aloud in a natural, human sounding voice. Stop plowing through email or spending hours surfing the net for the news that interests you. Instead let NewsAloud do it so you can listen while you work on something else, or get your news to go and listen while you excercise, commute, or get outside for a change.

In depth information on these TTS solutions is available at:

AT&T Natural Voices
http://www.deprice.com/attnaturalvoices.htm

NeoSpeech
http://www.deprice.com/neospeechsapi5voices.htm

TextAloud 2.0
http://www.deprice.com/textaloud.htm

NewsAloud
http://www.deprice.com/newsaloud.htm

More reviews for TTS software can be found at http://www.deprice.com