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If you have a strong interest in text to speech, you might want to look at dedicated text-to-speech devices such as the Booksense XT, the Book Port Plus or the Victor Reader Stream. These dedicated devices let you select your favorite voice, speed up or slow down the rate of speech, set bookmarks, etc.
They also makes wonderful hands-free MP3 and audio book players - since they are generally geared to the visually impaired, all the controls are done through pushing buttons while navigating through voice menus. Perfect for the times you can't look at a screen - in bed at night, while jogging, driving a car etc.
The text-to-speech available in mainstream ereaders is understandably inferior to dedicated devices, and offer only a fraction of their functionality. This is no criticism - the devices are, after all, targeted to completely different markets.
FWIW, in my experience, text-to-speech drains the batteries less than displaying the same info on a screen. I get about 40 hours of playback time on two alkaline AAs in my Book Port, about 30 hours with NIMH batteries, and with lithium batteries, playback time is close to 100 hours.
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