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Let your computer do the talking. Install eSpeak and can make your computer say anything in a wide variety of languages.
Looking for a light text to speech program? If you listen to your favorite blog while doing the dishes, or simply make your computer say bad words to your friends so you can laugh like school children, eSpeak is a great tool for the job. It is "a compact open source software speech synthesizer for English and other languages," according to its website. You can use the official versions of eSpeak Linux and Windows.
Using eSpeak
In Linux, eSpeak has a delightfully minimalist user interface
Enter some text, select the language and press play, the text is spoken and read the words highlighted in real time. Then you can pause or stop the conversation at any time by pressing the appropriate buttons. It's that simple.
Need to listen, not a text in English? There is a good chance eSpeak can speak their language.
Major European languages are supported, see the official list of languages supported by eSpeak, if you're curious. There are also English accents, but I could not hear a difference.Can you?
The Windows interface is a bit more complex, giving you the ability to open files. TXT and speed controls and more.
Those lips move while eSpeak chilling conversations that could do without. You can save any particular string of talking to a file. WAV, ideal for dubbing in grisly images of revolutions anonymous.
As in the words of command for Mac, you can use eSpeak the command line in Linux. This is a great way to open TXT files. We cover
You can also use the command interface of the pipe on the results of other command line programs. For example, calendar | espeak to read a lot of questions and answers at random for you today.
Do not know where to find that pesky "|"? Is the option of changing the backslash key, which is probably just above the enter key.
Potential Uses
Like the idea but not sure what to use? So you could listen to articles while doing other things. Washing dishes is much better when you are listening to MakeUseOf. It could also be perfect if you are editing something you've written. Hearing your work read aloud, even by a machine, it can sometimes make obvious grammatical problems. Try that next time you're writing something.
The command line interface provides anyone with some computer knowledge to make a custom startup sound read or recite poetry time at random. Let us know if you come up with something in the comments below. For most people, however, this software is not only a great source for creepy robot voices. Use to amaze your friends.
Installation eSpeak
Ready to install eSpeak? Find the download in this article.
Linux users should check your package manager before downloading any files; eSpeak is almost certain that in that country. Ubuntu users can simply click here to install eSpeak.
This software can be fun at first, but the real challenge is to think of uses for it. Can you think of any? Let us know in the comments.
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