Balabolka will read texts aloud for you. It is able to recognize DOC, RTF, PDF, ODT, FB2, and HTML files, and also read clipboard content.

This program differs from other TTS applications in the availability of lots of useful and interesting options.  The program allows you to read a whole text or its selected parts. The great thing is that you are allowed to format the text, change numbers in the text with words, find homographs in the text, and even set the program to read foreign words with another voice. Moreover, the program can be set to spell-check the text; the dictionaries, if there aren't any on your PC, can be downloaded from the program's site. Besides its main purpose, reading texts, Balabolka can also save a text as an audio file for you, or split and convert it to several audio files. The supported audio file formats are WAV, MP3, OGG, and WMA. All you will need to do is just click on the appropriate buttons; in case of splitting a text, you will be offered to check whether the text was divided correctly, edit it if you want, and then select to convert the items into audio files. Balabolka is capable of recognizing all the voices installed on your computer, moreover, you are offered to download some from the program's official web page, or even buy ones of higher quality.The list of the program's possibilities and options described above is not full, to get acquainted with the whole list I would advise you to try the application yourself. Moreover, this will no be a problem at all, as the program is free and fast to download and install.

To use SAPI 4 voices, download and install the redistributable Microsoft Speech API file (827 KB). Also, you may download and install the Microsoft Speech Control Panel (928 KB); the Speech Control Panel will add an icon to your Control Panel to enable you to list the compatible text-to-speech engines installed on your system and customize their settings for your use.

“Balabolka is an outstanding software, but I’m going to have to say that if you really want to get the best out of this program, you need to purchase a new VOICE for Windows operating system. The program makes it clear that you can use SAPI 4/5 voices, those are separated by tabs on the main form.”

Features:

• Generation of a natural and intelligible voice for reproduction of texts.
• Use of motor-To-Speech Text of Microsoft Speech API (SAPI).
• Possibility of using voices installed on your operating system, download the free voices from Lernout & Hauspie TTS TruVoice / RealSpeak TTS from the official website or buy other commercial voices.
• Modification of various parameters of the voice (tone and speed.)
• Ability to change the rules of pronunciation of words.
• Support for DOC, RTF, PDF, ODT, FB2 and HTML.
• Saved from the texts reproduced to WAV, MP3, OGG or WMA.
• Customizable interface by using skins.
• Support for TTS engines SAPI 4 and SAPI 5.
• Language Support:
  English, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish,Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian.
• Balabolka supports skins that allow you to customize your window appearance. Download 41 Skins Pack

Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice TTS engine (free voices):

• American English (1 MB)
• British English (2.5 MB)
• Dutch (2.6 MB)
• French (2.2 MB)
• German (2.2 MB)
• Italian (2 MB)
• Japanese (3 MB)
• Korean (3 MB)
• Portuguese (Brazil) (2.4 MB)
• Russian (2.9 MB)
• Spanish (2.4 MB)
• Microsoft Voices Mary, Sam and Mike (7.5 MB)

RealSpeak TTS engine (free voices, published on the server of Microsoft):

• British English (19.4 MB)
  Mirror
• French (22.5 MB)
  Mirror 1 Mirror 2
• German (20.7 MB)
  Mirror 1 Mirror 2
• Italian (21.5 MB)
  Mirror
• Spanish (21.7 MB)
  Mirror 1 Mirror 2

Yaroslav Kozak (Lviv, Ukraine) created the Ukrainian voice UkrVox:

• UkrVox Igor (3.8 MB)

To get better voice quality, you can buy commercial TTS engines.

High Quality Commercial Voices:

• Acapela Group
• AT&T Natural Voices
• Cepstral
• Loquendo
• NeoSpeech
• Nuance
• SVOX
• IVONA
• Fonix Speech

 

“Please feel free to submit your comment”

OS Requirements:

Win 2000/Win 2003/

Win XP/Vista/Win 7

Related posts:

1. BlogRadio
2. Hanso Recorder
3. Jet-ToolBar
4. Free CD to MP3 Converter
5. Free Disc Burner Platinum

 Print This Article