^
The Amazon reviews for that seem to be polarized between people who think it's too scholarly to be non-dull, and people who think it's perfectly cromulent as a scholarly book (and one person who makes a decent argument that while it's well-researched and all, the actual prose and treatment of the info could be a lot better).
Quote:
Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8
This is another book that I wish were available on audio cheap, either as a Whispersync companion or otherwise . . . .
|
IIRC the last time you said something like this you said you
were also looking for more info on better Windows TTS options?
This round-up article is a bit old and perhaps you've seen it already, but maybe it'll lead you to something more usable than the built-ins?:
The Best Text to Speech (TTS) Software Programs and Online Tools
That said, having briefly tested a few of the available options, I think your best bet is to briefly borrow someone's Mac, if you know anyone who has one or has access to one (like, by working at a Best Buy or whatever). The difference between the quality of the built-in Windows voices for which I could find samples, and what's on my current 10.9 OS X Mavericks install (which I will add is the non-upgraded version without the newer high quality voices that Yosemite on my external bootable drive has) is amazing.
There's a built-in command that will automagically turn any text file of your choice into an audio version, and it only takes a few minutes even for fairly long-ish texts.
Plus, there are options for something like 50 voices over almost 30 languages (many of them dialects of English, French, and Spanish, and Chinese, though) and if you don't like any of them, you can always fall back on good old "Fred" and pretend that Stephen Hawking is reading all your books to you.